Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 19

Loyalty has long been the Tories’ secret weapon. Without it, Sunak stands no chance | Simon Jenkins

As rebel rightwing Tories jockeyed for position this week, they tore up any remaining hopes of a Conservative election victory

I once pondered a career in politics but an elder statesman strongly advised me against it. I asked why. Because, he said, you are too interested in politics. Stick to journalism. A political career was not about politics, but about loyalty.

Never a truer word was spoken. As the tottering frame of Britain’s Tory party heads for collapse at the end of this parliament, it is...

Sunak must be firm. Ukraine’s fate will be decided by war and diplomacy – not by sanctions | Simon Jenkins

The western response has been blighted by stupidity. Sanctions hurt trade and have little effect on despotic leaders

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to London yesterday on his surprise tour of European capitals suggests a last throw of the dice in his bid to drive the Russians from his country. He has justice on his side and is desperate for logistical support. He has shown he can use it well and deserves to get it.

As he did in his meeting with Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, he is also requesting additio...

Britain is in desperate need of radical ideas. So where are Labour’s? | Simon Jenkins

Railways, water companies and the NHS are in crisis – we need bold new policies to fix them, not Keir Starmer’s timid dithering

What sort of Labour is Keir Starmer’s government now promising? Before previous elections, the party’s promise has been the same. It is the expectation of a change for the better, whether or not fulfilled.

What that means – perhaps higher taxes and a bigger state – emerges in the months leading up to voting day. That is when policy is still fluid, lobbyists insistent and ...

Our newly crowned king has made ‘service’ his brand. But whose interests will he be serving? | Simon Jenkins

From climate activists to arts bodies, every interest group will be crying out for the support of our outspoken monarch

So much for the magic, now for business. The coronation weekend reasserted Britain not as a modest, symbolic, “bicycling” monarchy of the sort adopted by many of Europe’s other hereditary kingdoms. Its royal family remains spectacular, drenched in history, religion, ritual and extravagance, an all-bells-and-whistles celebrity institution. Heredity is indefensible as a basis for ...

Richard Sharp is out at the BBC: now can we think about how we hold other miscreants to account? | Simon Jenkins

Society is making strange decisions. Some in high office lose jobs and deserve to, but we also ignore others whose sins are egregious

What have the now former chair of the BBC, the Labour veteran Diane Abbott and the ousted chancellor Nadhim Zahawi all got in common? Indeed, what do they share with Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Matt Hancock?

The answer is that they have all been accused of things that so upset people as to cause them to lose or risk losing their jobs. Failing to disclose having ...

Young people are wising up to the Great British student rip-off – and they're voting with their feet | Simon Jenkins

As universities wind down teaching for yet another round of exams, more and more prospective graduates are asking: why bother?

This week begins one of the worst deals offered by any British professional institution. Almost all universities are about to stop teaching students and subject them to pointless exams, mocks and quantification, before passing or failing them, then packing up and reassembling some months later in September. For an average price oftens of thousands of pounds a head (except...

Michael Gove’s housing reforms are the only ray of light in this doomed government | Simon Jenkins

Instead of caving in to the building lobby, he is trying to return power to the people about the future of their communities

As the present Tory administration staggers on, one minister at least is showing some terminal creativity. The levelling up, housing and communities secretary, Michael Gove, is galvanising housing policy, sort of. This year, he has at last abandoned the absurdity that there is a national housing need of a fixed number of houses a year.

Councils in England have been told they...

Sunak needn’t worry – maths mania already has our schools in a stranglehold | Simon Jenkins

The obsession with a subject most people don’t need to study until they are 18 is typical of a system that fails to equip pupils for modern life

Rishi Sunak is clearly gripped by maths. Today’s attack on what he sees as Britain’s “anti-maths mindset” is his second this year. The prime minister wants to embarrass all innumerates and make not being good at maths socially unacceptable. Lack of maths, he says, is costing the country “tens of billions a year”. So he wants students in England to study ...

Sturgeonism is dead but the independence cause is not. Westminster beware | Simon Jenkins

Despite the troubles facing the SNP, a revolution would be needed to remove it from power. Its core demand still stirs so many hearts

There is palpable glee in Westminster at the current predicament of the Scottish National party – with Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, arrested last week, but released without charge pending further inquiries, as part of an investigation into SNP finances. But the unionist joy is misplaced.

Even without a resolution, and...

The decline of churchgoing doesn’t have to mean the decline of churches – they can help us level up | Simon Jenkins

Lockdown accelerated an existing trend. We need to reconnect the use of these buildings to the communities around them

For Christian worship in England, the Covid-19 lockdowns were a disaster. All churches were forced to close by the government. Where office working and high-street shopping led, Christianity followed. It stayed at home. Recently published research suggests that fully a quarter of Anglican churches are no longer holding weekly services. Five, 10, even 20 parish churches are being...