Category : Political

After humiliation in Hartlepool, where now for smalltown detective DI Starmer? | Marina Hyde

When a character’s USP is that he gets the job done – and then he singularly fails to get the job done, questions will be asked The Labour party is now mainly an argument about which wing of itself was worse. Come on, guys – you’ve got so much in com...

Decor without decorum – this is home economics, Johnson-style | Marina Hyde

The lavish No 10 flat refurb flouts a basic rule the rest of us live by: if you can’t pay for something, you can’t have itWell, I for one won’t be happy until I see Dominic Cummings in a rattan armchair, looking right at Oprah Winfrey and saying: “Th...

Boris Johnson has a text addiction and it’s bad news for all of us | Marina Hyde

The alleged Dominic Cummings leaks may just be a distraction from the bigger issue: we’re led by a man with no self-discipline and a very busy phoneIncredible that Boris Johnson’s craziest ex is not actually someone he’s had sex with. When you think...

The prospect of a new Bond means one thing: Britain is still totally relevant | Marina Hyde

The health of the franchise is mystically entwined with the health of the nation – Regé-Jean Page has given both a boostNews that “betting has been suspended” on the next James Bond suggests one thing alone: Britain is healing. You will be powerfully...

David Cameron has ghosted Britain over Greensill. At least it's not the first time | Marina Hyde

First the former PM left us to deal with Brexit. Now he’s not answering calls about a growing access and lobbying scandalBack when David Cameron was a PR for culturicidal London TV franchise Carlton – his sole non-Westminster job before politics – th...

The culture war is a box of matches the UK government can't help playing with | Marina Hyde

Like with everything else, the race report has been deployed to stoke maximum division. No good can come of this low-effort politicsClassical liberal, thought leader, guitar-bothering divorce meme Laurence Fox launched his campaign to be London mayor...

How did the man with no self-control swallow the words 'Barnard Castle'? | Marina Hyde

Standing in his god-awful new briefing room, Boris Johnson restrained himself from naming the new location for bottling Covid vaccinesHow did he do it? How, in the name of everything he takes unseriously, did Boris Johnson announce that up to 60m dos...

How long until Priti Patel's next brainwave: housing asylum seekers on the Falklands? | Marina Hyde

In a typically inept week for our flag-festooned government, the home secretary wins top prize for incompetenceGibraltar: for some the least appealing rock, bar Paul Burrell. News that the British overseas territory is being considered by the Home Of...

Women killed: 118. Statues 'killed': 1. So guess which is the national priority? | Marina Hyde

The government wants tougher sentences for attacks on statues than on women: its culture war gets ever more absurdSuch a strong look for the government’s police, crime, sentencing and courts bill to allow for longer sentences for attacking statues th...

How many nurses' salaries does it take to redecorate Downing Street? | Marina Hyde

It’s the standard unit of measurement for top football signings – and can be usefully applied to political expenditure too There’s no point demanding a retrospective VAR review on the footage of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak clapping for the NHS last...

Never mind about the economy, Britain has a new luxury brand – Rishi Sunak | Marina Hyde

As pandemic announcements go, the chancellor’s second budget can’t compete with his Instagram hoodie shotsExchequer spokesmodel/gyoza-toting architect of Eat Out To Spread It About/the Conservative party’s idea of a cool person. Wherever you were bef...

Johnson is subdued but his dog is causing havoc. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? | Marina Hyde

Forget the spad wars at No 10 – the real drama is over Dilyn, the prime minister’s sexually incontinent canine“I won’t be buccaneering with people’s lives.” I think you dropped an “any more”, prime minister. But hey – let’s not tell our sad stories....

From Farage's flotilla to rotting exports – it's the story of Brexit, in fish | Marina Hyde

Four years ago, Brexiteers led an iceberg-worthy event on the Thames. Now they’ve ghosted an entire industry“Every revolution evaporates,” declared Kafka, “and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” The government’s Brexit deal has gone...

Ten years for breaking Covid travel rules? Borders are the latest Boris Johnson fail | Marina Hyde

The government’s new quarantine restrictions sound tough – but they’re exactly one year too lateYesterday’s news that the government had still yet to sign a single contract with a hotel for its quarantine scheme felt puzzling. Traditionally, politici...

Britons want a bit of drama from their leaders – and Keir Starmer isn't serving it | Marina Hyde

The lawyerly Labour leader may think the public want calm and competence, but has he met them lately?Like all desperate thrill-seekers in this interminable lockdown, I was momentarily stirred to hear there were some handbags between Boris Johnson and...