PMQs sketch: Starmer’s speechwriters on strike February 1, 2023 Train drivers, teachers, civil servants and apparently Keir Starmer’s speechwriters are on strike today. It’s the only explanation for the Labour leader trying yet again to get a non-answer out of Rishi Sunak about when he knew Nadhim Zahawi paid a penalty to HMRC. Trying to point out that Sunak probably did know the thing [...]
In this recession, it’s the tail end set of kids starting work who aren’t alright February 1, 2023 People who started work during lockdowns escaped the fate of those entering the labour market in 2008, but it’s the young people still at university we need to be worried about, writes Sascha O’Sullivan.
Analysis: When is a plan for the NHS not a plan for the NHS? January 30, 2023 As Rishi Sunak faces yet another scandal after sacking Nadhim Zahawi, his ’emergency’ plan to speed up NHS wait times in A&E falls flat of what is needed, writes Sascha O’Sullivan
Analysis: Jeremy Hunt has been E for Everywhere, man January 27, 2023 Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, today said financial stability had to come before tax cuts, but said a competitive ’low tax environment’ would be the backbone of future growth. Sascha O’Sullivan looks at his speech.
Analysis: A wind brewing over energy subsidies January 26, 2023 Windfall taxes, state aid rules, subsidies in the US. Comment and Features editor Sascha O’Sullivan looks at the brewing storm over incentives for climate firms in the UK – and holding onto the ones we have. Of all the arguments during Brexit, state aid was hardly the one to get the most airtime. But it’s [...]
PMQs sketch: Nadhim Zahawi? Don’t know the guy January 25, 2023 Conservative party chairman Nadhim Zahawi is under investigation for failing to pay his taxes, a woman was murdered after an offender was mistakenly allowed to "walk free", and Rishi Sunak is still short (but only a bit shorter than Keir Starmer), Sascha O'Sullivan debriefs on Prime Minister's Questions.
We’re instinctively afraid of Big Things, but we don’t need to break up the Home Office January 25, 2023 Whether its Big Government or Big Tech, we have an innate fear of anything too large or unwieldy. But breaking things up - or making them smaller - won't in itself fix problems in the system, writes Sascha O'Sullivan.
PMQs: Keir Starmer goes for our hearts – through the NHS January 18, 2023 As nurses go on strike in England, Keir Starmer has used ambulance wait times as an emotional bit of rhetoric to drag Rishi Sunak's attempt to be a "good manager" of Britain, writes Sascha O'Sullivan
Big Business needs to check its screen time and stop throwing money at trying to go viral January 18, 2023 A viral TikTok about Negroni Sbagliatos pushed up Lidl's prosecco sales, but the truly valuable viral videos are luck of the draw.
Analysis: Sunak is giving the police exactly what they want with protest laws January 16, 2023 Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and other protest groups will face even tougher criminal sanctions under the Public Order Bill. But our ability to demonstrate could come under the hammer too, Sascha O'Sullivan writes.