If some horrendous human rights abuse were uncovered in Dubai, and the Telegraph or Spectator neglected to cover it fully and frankly, competitors would be gifted the ultimate competitive advantage.
And thus we arrive at the most important (and inevitable) of all deflationary trends: demographic change. Retired people tend to consume less than their working age compatriots – thus putting downward pressure on demand as the population ages.
Mike Freer’s announcement is a significant milestone. As he prepares to leave the room, Labour is knocking on the door. We have little sense of how it would rearrange the furniture.
In the previous five elections, the size of the shift in the polling gap between election day and six months before has been between six per cent and 12 per cent towards the Conservatives.
P.S: A poll that compared Sunak’s performance against Sir Keir to, say, Kemi Badenoch’s, Penny Mordaunt’s and James Cleverly’s might tell us something worth knowing. This morning’s nugatory exercise does not.
The public is absolutely exhausted of politicians who are only prepared to offer half measures, and to see our country limp along in a stupor of inaction and failure.
The MP for Harborough this week took a step towards fame when The Times picked up his attack on the Prime Minister’s failure to stop record migration.
Farage is 59 – a rubbery, ebullient 59, but 59 nonetheless. Does he really fancy a decade’s prospective work to recast the right, with no certainty of elected office at the end of it?
Killing the Bill at Second Reading would have meant no opportunity for emergency press conferences and Star Chamber findings at Committee and Report.
Our deputy editor talks to Michael Portillo about the proposed purchase of the Daily Telegraph and Spectator by a financial alliance linked to the government of Abu Dhabi.
In his youth he was mocked for being weird, but in middle age he upholds conventional wisdom.
It’s starting to feel that this issue might also end up in the too-difficult box – and therefore that the sale might ultimately go through, regardless of what Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, does in the immediate term.
The involvement of a fund linked to the Emirati government in a proposed purchase of the Spectator and Telegraph titles has sparked concern amongst Conservative MPs.
Whatever their political colours, people’s view of the issue looks clear. We will await the verdict of the Lords and the Secretary of State with interest.