By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In his column for Saturday's Daily Mail Simon Heffer argued that the new Culture Secretary Maria Miller should order a judge-led inquiry into the BBC's handling of the Jimmy Savile affair. The investigation, he argued, should "find out how such behaviour could be allowed and who were responsible for […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. At the last reshuffle, David Cameron did something quite unusual: he didn't change the name or purpose of any of his government's departments. During the Blair and Brown years, changes like these were rather common. People may remember the poor Department for Constitutional Affairs, or the old Department of Trade and […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Michael Gove is under attack again this morning over school playing fields. The Guardian has a story headed "Michael Gove 'made council let free school be built on playing field' ". (He didn't: Departmental officials spoke to the local authority in question.) And the Daily Telegraph reports that the […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Fortunately these aren't today's headlines. The Olympics aren't just going well, they are going very well. This hasn't stopped the newspapers teasing David Cameron for his photo stunt in front of the telly or for not doing more for school sports. Let's be clear, however: if the Olympics had gone […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter There’s much heat and fury about gambling at the moment, in the wake of a recent Commons report on the subject and today’s news that Brits are losing over £1 billion a year to slot machines. In response, Harriet Harman has said that New Labour erred by having a […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I might be one week too early but I'm awarding gold to Tony Blair, Seb Coe and John Major. Blair and Coe won the Olympics for London. Coe, in particular, deserves his medal. He's been Lord Continuity through the whole process. He was there at the beginning of the bid […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter What an unforgettable night. For years to come we'll be remembering Britain's golden day. The Olympics is turning into a golden moment for Britain as a whole. The world is looking at a nation which is more self-confident, more patriotic and more at peace with itself than some of us […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Cameron holds but doesn't wear his helmet Cycle safety might be about to become a political hot potato. Hours after Bradley Wiggins became the most medalled* Olympian in British history a less celebrated cyclist was killed when they went underneath the wheels of a shuttle bus, apparently transporting athletes from […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Burley: Speaking for Britain? One view of Danny Boyle's Olympics show is that it was Tony Blair's Millennium Dome Opening Ceremony revisited – or, as Aidan Burley put it, "leftie multi-cultural crap"…Welfare tribute next?…The most leftie opening ceremony I have ever seen – more than Beijing, the capital of […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I was very fortunate to be at last night's opening ceremony. It was an occasion I will never forget. The Olympic ring(s) emerging from that industrialised stage; the rural scenes; the Red Arrows; the performance of great hymns and Shakespeare; the powerful portrayal of Jamaicans arriving in Britain on […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter As the Olympics prepare to begin, and as Fleet Street shifts instantaneously from uniform criticism to uniform praise, let's pause for a moment and consider Boris Johnson, London's Mayor, in the light both of his history to date and his speech yesterday at the Olympic clock countdown (if "speech" […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter The Crown Prosecution Service has today announced that eight of the thirteen people arrested as part of the Operation Weeting investigation into phone hacking will be charged — among them Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks. The details can be found in this formal statement here, but here are the […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, appeared on Sky News earlier today. When asked about the Olympic security situation, he said the 3,500 troops apparently deployed to make up for a gap in security contractors' capabilities were part of an armed forces "contribution" which was always intended […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Mr Cameron has said that were England to have an anthem for its sporting teams his own choice would be "Jerusalem" – the musical setting of William Blake's poem by Sir Hubert Parry. The Prime Minister added that he could understand why people felt that English teams should have […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter About year ago — as I mentioned briefly in an article for The Times (£), at the time — people in government regarded these Olympics as a reprieve. Their thinking was that, even if our economic torpor hadn't ended by now, the Games would act like a shot of […]