The Latest Breaking News from Tanya Gold

If you want to annoy an economist, try mixing up stock and flow. This is a mistake commonly made even by business journalists (though not Jonathan Prynn, of course) when attempting to describe the value of large companies.

Infrastructure is good. Countries and regions with more factories, power supplies, ports, telecommunications and yes, rail lines, tend to be wealthier than those with fewer.

When will Jeremy Corbyn’s vanity — his most essential characteristic — run out? Still MP for Islington North but denied the Labour whip for stating that the problem of anti-Semitism under his leadership “was dramatically overstated for political reasons”, he keeps his supporters on tenterhooks with a constant drip of…

Each Sunday I cook a meal for 20 people. I don’t have 20 friends: this meal is for the guests of the Street Food Project in Penzance. Its remit to is provide a hot meal 365 days of the year to anyone who needs it, and it has never failed…

I’m afraid I have what might be shocking news – Ken Clarke is quite right-wing. He may hold heterodox views on Europe (a conviction that cost him the party leadership on multiple occasions), but Clarke’s reputation as a Tory ‘wet’ belies both his record and his admiration for Margaret Thatcher.

Rishi Sunak is reportedly unhappy as Prime Minister: I am not surprised. He is too shiny — possibly even too idealistic— to appreciate the novelistic possibilities of decline. It seems unlikely that he will be a successful Prime Minister — 13 years are stacked against him, alongside the furies of…

Less than 12 months ago, he was prime minister. Barely a year before that, it seemed not inconceivable he could govern for a decade (people make fun of this tweet but it was right at the time).

The 2001 general election was a disaster for the Conservatives. After four years in opposition, a young new leader and the twin crises of fuel protests and foot and mouth disease, the party achieved a swing of just 1 per cent and a net gain of a single seat, taking…

The thing to understand is they really mean it. Of course, politicians often dodge and dissemble, but they also hold beliefs that they hope to enact when in power.

Succession is the final act of leadership. For as long as power has been concentrated in the hands of mortals, men and women have sought to ensure they are followed by their chosen heir – perhaps an oldest child or political protégé. But if you want to make god laugh,…

Lord Ashcroft thinks about polling the same way I feel about my emotions: they are a snapshot, not a prediction. Even when 100 per cent accurate – which no survey professes to be – they still do not necessarily tell you what will happen in the future.