Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 3

Move civil servants out of London: fine. But that won’t curb Whitehall’s grip on Britain | Simon Jenkins

It matters less where civil servants work than who they work for – and that is one of the most centralised governments of any western democracy

The government has announced an army of civil servants, thousands strong, is to head into the darkest provinces. White papers in future will have the tang of JB Priestley and farm subsidies the fizz of Jilly Cooper. Yes Minister’s Sir Humphrey Appleby will be a Master of Foxhounds. Like all Sir Keir Starmer’s actions just now, it should be worth a few vot...

Will Nigel Farage and Reform UK kill off the Tories? Don’t be so ridiculous | Simon Jenkins

History proves byelections to be futile polls on leaders. If I were Farage, I would apply for the Tory whip and capture the party from within

The Runcorn and Helsby byelection belongs in the rubbish bin of politics. British byelections are charades, mock polls, playtime for pundits. They reduce normally sensible analysts to hysterics. That most pragmatic of prime ministers, Harold Wilson, refused point blank to comment on them.

Yes, Reform’s Nigel Farage had a field day. He is the latest jester to...

Here’s a radical way to save England’s collapsing justice system: get rid of juries | Simon Jenkins

We’re saddled with an archaic system. As record numbers of trials stall and costs soar, it’s time for us to ditch this relic

Are the middle ages about to end? We all know Magna Cartaset the principle that justice delayed is justice denied. These days, outmoded British judicial systems amount to precisely such a denial of justice, playthings of a legal profession supremely confident of its perfection. No aspect of these systems is more superfluous than juries. There is no conclusive evidence they ...

Youth centres may seem tame fare for politicians. But I've seen firsthand how they cut crime | Simon Jenkins

By steering Britain’s young people down a positive path, these centres answer a chronic need. Why doesn’t the government protect them?

At next week’s local elections, few will be voting on how their council is run. They will be passing judgment on Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and other national figures. Local democracy no longer thrives in Britain. An opinion poll would be cheaper.

Cut to the humble youth club. I supported a private charity in my old borough of Camden, north London, that was strugg...

UK politics: Badenoch calls for broader review of equality and gender recognition laws – as it happened

‘These laws were written 20 years ago plus when the world was different,’ Tory leader says

The chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that there may be legal challenges around the efficacy of gender recognition certificates (GRC) ahead.

Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if yesterday’s supreme court ruling had rendered the legal document worthless, Kishwer Falkner said:

I think the next stage of litigation may well be tests as to the efficacy of the GRC, and or...

Votes for 16-year-olds? Sorry, but I’m not convinced | Simon Jenkins

If Starmer is serious about bringing young people into his ‘social contract’, then protecting them from the tech giants must be his priority

I remember being 16 in the 1960s. The prime minister seemed geriatric and I was sure he should be in care, while a group of us went to meet our young MP, a certain Margaret Thatcher. She was young, but she didn’t seem as if she was with the times. We could not dream of voting for someone like her. Matter closed.

Sixteen-year-olds are great fun but they are no...

Trump’s tariffs are ruinous, but are western sanctions any better? Just look at Syria | Simon Jenkins

Sanctions as a form of economic aggression are macho and myopic, yet countries including the UK refuse to call a halt

Among the more improbable countries that Donald Trump punished most severely last week was Syria, with a 41% tariff in retaliation for its part in the “raping and plundering” of the US economy. That should teach it a lesson for toppling Bashar al-Assad last year.

The Damascus regime that subsequently came to power is pleading for help in keeping order and restoring its economy. But...

The tariffs are bad, but Britain should remember this: Trump will be gone in four years | Simon Jenkins

The UK is among those least hit by the US president’s war on the world economy. Retaliation at this point makes no sense

The tirade was astonishing. On Wednesday afternoon the world watched as the leader of its most powerful nation accused friends and foes alike of having “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered”, and simultaneously waved a bogus list of tariff imbalances. The playground paranoia was cringeworthy. What on earth was going on?

The answer can only be that Donald Trump is America’s elected...

Donald Trump is moving fast and breaking things, but that may result in a better US | Simon Jenkins

The chance of the president succeeding in his radicalism is small, but amid the chaos are challenges to convention that were overdue

“Move fast and break things” was Mark Zuckerberg’s motto in launching Facebook 20 years ago. It seemed the antithesis of management-school custom and practice. But it worked, to be imitated after a fashion by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other digital tycoons with similar success. Donald Trump is now seeing if it works in government.

The smart money in Washington was th...

GCSEs harm our young people. Ministers should have the guts to abolish them – and start again | Simon Jenkins

A report out this week highlights how destructive the cult of the exam is in Britain’s schools. But it doesn’t go far enough

Just say it. Spit it out. Abolish GCSE. It has nothing to do with young people or their advancement. It has everything to do with quantifying, measuring, controlling and governing their preparation for life.

Last year, Prof Becky Francis was asked by the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to draw up proposals for the curriculum in England’s secondary schools. In her in...