Ed Balls
Enjoyable and informative but where’s the drama? Political Currency reviewed
The first episode of George Osborne and Ed Balls’s new podcast, Political Currency, opened with an old clip of the…
Did Ed Balls mean to make a documentary on the joys of Trump’s America?
The thing I most regret having failed ever to ask brave, haunted, wise Sean O’Callaghan when I last saw him…
Ed Balls’ Christmas Day starter recipe
Cooking the Christmas dinner is my job in our house. And I love it. All those courses and juggling of…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, soon got used to the surprise of the Conservatives being returned in the general…
Take it from Taki: this could be the start of something really big
OK. Magnanimity in victory is a sine qua non among civilised men and women, so let me not be the…
Spectator letters: The mobility scooters strike back
The real road menace Sir: I write in anger after reading Mark Mason’s malicious attack on mobility scooters (‘Hell on…
Andrew Marr’s diary: Why this is such a tooth-grindingly awful election
So far, what an infuriating election campaign. We have the most extraordinary array of digital, paper and broadcasting media at…
Ed Miliband could still win. Here’s what would happen next
He could still win. Here’s what happens if he does
Ed Miliband’s 100 days – and the first Ed Balls Budget
There will be tax rises to suit every taste. But the people he’s expecting to pay will probably just leave
Zac Goldsmith: How my dad saved Britain
If you’re grateful not to be in the euro, it’s James Goldsmith and his ‘rebel army’ you should thank
Lord Green must answer for HSBC’s sins – but maybe it was always too big to manage
Stephen Green — the former trade minister Lord Green of Hurstpier-point, who became this week’s political punchbag— was always a…
Why my friends love the idea of a nasty, stupid mansion tax
I see all the flaws with a mansion tax, I really do. And yet some little piece of me, some…
The Spectator's Notes: Quangos - a world of perfect hypocrisy
The accusation that the Tories have been installing their people in public appointments should evoke only a hollow laugh. They…
Portrait of the week
Home Britain’s gross domestic product grew by 1.9 per cent last year, the most since 2007, according to the Office…
Ed Balls's secret: he doesn't care whether his tax plan makes sense
There were a million people who voted Labour in the 2005 general election but not in 2010, when the party…
Any other business: How François Hollande let France miss the global recovery train
I’ve always respected stationmasters, but that sentiment is not universally shared. A distinguished friend of mine across the Channel described…
Welfare wars
George Osborne is refreshingly uninterested in his public image, believing that he will be judged by the success (or otherwise)…
High-speed fail
A year ago the electoral strategies of the two main parties seemed set. The Conservatives would stand as the party…
Guido Fawkes to Damian McBride: Who's spinning now?
When Gordon Brown eventually became aware that his Downing Street was about to be engulfed in the Smeargate scandal, he…
The Spectator’s notes
Andrew Mitchell was forced to resign as the Tory Chief Whip last autumn because he called policemen at the Downing…
