Category : Political

Matt Hancock, could you honestly think of no one better to run test and trace? | Marina Hyde

With the system in chaos, Dido Harding says the increased demand could not have been predicted. Yes, reallyDo you remember Ye Olde Operation Moonshotte, an ancient promise by the elders of this government to test 10 million people a day? My apologies...

Tutting at the decor while Britain burns: that's life in the Cameron chumocracy! | Marina Hyde

His memoirs in the bag, the artisan politician has emerged to weigh in on Brexit. Pity he wasn’t so alert when it countedWhat ho, David Cameron! I note the artisan politician has surfaced briefly from his money trench to offer a wan opinion on the go...

The Tories' biggest trick? Convincing the world they have a cunning plan | Marina Hyde

As the cock-ups continue to pile up, some people bizarrely still seem to think it’s all part of an ingenious strategyAnother dignified week for Boris Johnson’s administration, which now wishes to override its own Brexit deal by claiming not to have u...

Who says Britain can't negotiate a Brexit deal? We've got Frosty the No Man | Marina Hyde

Setting ourselves up as the country you really can’t trust seems an eccentric way to launch a new era of global dealmakingRight at the start of Gladiator, there’s a bit where Russell Crowe’s forces are waiting for the return of the negotiator they’ve...

This is mission control to Dominic Cummings: you have a problem

Talking about a ‘Nasa-style’ nerve centre is not a good idea when your mistakes can be seen from spaceAnother universe-beating week for the government, as Matt Hancock unveils Operation Moon Shot, and Dominic Cummings cuts the ribbon on a new “Nasa-s...

Farage, Ferrari and a Bafta Rising Bile award: Welcome to Fox News UK! | Marina Hyde

With an ultra-rightwing news network in the pipeline, here’s a schedule guaranteed to give the Beeb a run for its moneyStories that various UK versions of Fox News are planned to counter the BBC provoke a two-word response. Yes! Finally! I know there...

Boris Johnson has given us a new mantra: Leave home. Forget the NHS. Save Pret | Marina Hyde

The government is urging us back to the office. Given the commute delays, they’ll soon want us to sleep there tooLike me, you will have been transfixed to discover that failed former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott is being lined up for a senio...

Yurt alert: how the holiday PM dodged the great British exams meltdown | Marina Hyde

You’ll have heard that Boris Johnson is on vacation. The most nuanced rejoinder is: lol, a vacation from what?Enormous thanks to the Daily Mail for tracking down Boris Johnson to a clifftop Scottish cottage, with some naff sort of yurt clinging on ga...

Welcome to Gavin Williamson's disasterclass – where incompetence is core curriculum | Marina Hyde

The education secretary’s handling of the A-levels results has all the hallmarks of Johnsonian government. He’ll probably get promotedWhen Gavin Williamson was sacked as Theresa May’s defence secretary for leaking information from the National Securi...

Nigel Farage's 'crisis' in the Channel is a second wave of nonsense | Marina Hyde

Britain’s most unflushable war buff has taken to the beaches on a one-man mission to drag No 10 further to the rightWhat a pleasure to have the news agenda still dictated by former drivetime radio presenter Nigel Farage, who resists the suggestion th...

Get set for the next round of Britain's Brexit brinkmanship | Marina Hyde

After four years of agonising ineptitude, we know how it goes: we give up the brink, and hand it over to the other sideThis week’s reports that Britain could leave the EU transition period without a deal elicited a thumbs-up emoji from Tory Euroscept...

The Russia report had one big revelation: how little Britain really wants to know | Marina Hyde

Historically, the British state has always had more whitewash than the deepest whitewash-mining concession in the UralsToday’s publication of the long-delayed Russia report reveals grotesque incuriosity. “The outrage isn’t that there was interference...

'Over by Christmas': now where have we heard Johnson's new slogan before? | Marina Hyde

Much like the prime minister’s crass pre-cooked jokes at PMQs, this upbeat line feels prematurely deliveredBarely a week ago, the government launched its scheme to entice people back into cafes and restaurants, beneath the banner “Eat Out to Help Out...

Johnson has seen the light on 'face coverings'. Just not on toxic mask-ulinity | Marina Hyde

From gunslinging Gove to cock-of-the-spads Cummings – there’s no covering up the cost of this performative machismo “The scientific evidence of face coverings … that’s been growing. So I do think that in shops it’s very important to wear a face cover...

Chris Grayling's track record? There is no longer a track: just a stretch of scorched earth | Marina Hyde

His career has been a series of breathtaking failures. Yet he’s just been made chair of the intelligence committeeNews that Chris Grayling is to be appointed chair of the intelligence and security committee feels like a cosmic inevitability. There is...