When a Prime Minister is facing difficulty, it is tempting to view each U-turn or scandal as symptomatic of something larger. Yet certain stories feel ripe for extrapolation.
The Government has refused to deny reports that HS2, that once grand project, may never reach its terminus at Euston — instead stopping at Old Oak Common in west London.
At a time of record borrowing and double-digit inflation, spiralling costs must be a concern for the Treasury. However, while cutting capital investment budgets is always superficially attractive, the unintended consequence is often to dent growth for decades to come.
For the news to come out hours before the Chancellor made a major speech on the future of the UK economy, amid growing concerns the country is being left behind, is simply bizarre.
It has to be asked at some stage — for a project initially designed to traverse the country, including the now-scrapped line to Leeds, how small ministers now envisage it to be? Taxpayers are already on the hook for preparatory work and compulsory purchases while the Elizabeth line, is already facing huge pressures.
The core idea of public transport is it takes people where they want to go in a speedy, reliable and cost-effective manner. Done correctly, it can also boost productivity and economic growth. The Government is at risk of losing track of the basics.
Holocaust Memorial Day
In May 1944, Susan Pollack, along with her mother and older brother, was forced onto a cattle truck and taken to Auschwitz. Susan, 14, was separated from her family on arrival, afterwards discovering her mother had been sent to the gas chamber to die.
Now 79 years later, on Holocaust Memorial Day, Susan’s message to people is to “learn, reflect and do what you can to improve”. She has spoken in schools in the UK and around the world, educating young people not only about the horrors of a genocide that murdered six million Jews on our own continent but also how anti-Semitism and hate more widely can lead to unimaginable darkness.
And so tonight at 8pm we light a candle, to remember those who were murdered in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, to combat rising anti-Semitism in Britain and ensure the testimony of survivors lives on.
We are failing, Rishi
Just when Rishi Sunak thought his week couldn’t get any worse, Sir Rod Stewart calls up Sky News to tell viewers that it’s time for the Tories to hand over.
The legendary singer and long-standing Conservative voter made the impromptu call while building his model railway at home and listening to reports of people trying to access healthcare, before offering to pay for others’ scans.
Clearly, Sir Rod thinks Maggie Thatcher may have done it better.
