Patience Wheatcroft
09 April 2025
Sweat, the play Donald Trump should watch
How did Trump secure a second term? Why has he started a tariff war? The 2017 winner of the Pulitzer prize for drama offers an explanation
Read the full article02 April 2025
The chancellor’s dodgy forecasts
Rachel Reeves was insistent that she would only have one major budget-type event every year but circumstances have forced her to abandon that pledge
Read the full article24 March 2025
Rachel Reeves’s greatest failure
Does the chancellor really think the same as Boris Johnson?
Read the full article19 March 2025
The government’s case for cuts
Wes Streeting has taken a scythe to the nation's health services. Will it work?
Read the full article12 March 2025
Don’t cut welfare. Raise taxes on the richest
If ever there was an opportunity – and a need – for a government to say that it needed to raise more cash from taxpayers, this is it
Read the full article05 March 2025
The Tories lurch towards the extreme
Kemi Badenoch doesn’t see Trump’s regime as authoritarian – she sees it as the Conservatives’ blueprint for power
Read the full article24 February 2025
This laughable war on Rachel Reeves
Right wing politicians and media have made themselves look ridiculous with flimsy attacks on the chancellor
Read the full article12 February 2025
How Rachel Reeves could get growth – now
The plans she has suggested so far will only yield economic benefits years into the future. But what can she do straight away?
Read the full article04 February 2025
Badenoch is a dud. How long does she have left?
How long has the Conservative leader got before her notoriously ruthless party decides they’ve had enough of her?
Read the full article29 January 2025
Five years on, the calamity of Brexit leaves us isolated
The glorious vision Brexiteers sold of Britannia in 2016 has failed to materialise
Read the full article22 January 2025
The drive for renewal must go far beyond AI
The nation’s problems are so deeply ingrained that no single technology could ever sweep them all away
Read the full article15 January 2025
Nigel Farage is a noisy man with no ideas
The Reform leader will not give up power over his party if that is the price for Musk’s money
Read the full article08 January 2025
Welcome to the Lords. Mind the buckets…
Previous governments have known that the Houses of Parliament need urgent attention, but have baulked at the potential bill. Will the current administration be any different?
Read the full article31 December 2024
Make 2025 the year we get real about Brexit
A little humility from the Tories, a lot more help for Ukraine and a ban on BBC interview platitudes are all on my wishlist for the new year
Read the full article15 December 2024
Why are Labour dragging their feet over House of Lords reform?
The government talked big about a new chamber - but still wants to rig the old one to suit its purposes
Read the full article11 December 2024
Is the Church of England doomed?
The next Archbishop of Canterbury must tackle decline, division and the tarnished legacy of Justin Welby
Read the full article08 December 2024
Why Farage is targeting angry young men
Reform have shown no interest in solving their problems - but they definitely want their votes
Read the full article04 December 2024
The absurd hysteria over the assisted dying bill
Fears that we are on “a slippery slope" to widespread euthanasia are misplaced
Read the full article25 November 2024
Putin is about to inflict a refugee crisis on Europe. Here’s how to stop it
Giving frozen Russian assets to Ukraine would save Zelensky and send a defiant message to Trump
Read the full article20 November 2024
The devastating failure of Justin Welby
The church, both Anglican and Catholic, has conspicuously failed to provide the leadership the UK craves
Read the full article12 November 2024
Kemi Badenoch has already wrecked the Tories
In making them a carbon copy of Reform, the new leader of the opposition shows she is neither thoughtful nor serious
Read the full article04 November 2024
The EU are baffled by the Budget and Starmer
Concerns over youth mobility and Northern Ireland are growing in Brussels
Read the full article29 October 2024
Prison doesn’t work. Here’s what to do instead
Early release is a sticking plaster, not a solution. We need a wholly new approach to sentencing
Read the full article23 October 2024
Is Britain ready for its inevitable tax rises?
Clearly, the chancellor has no intention of courting short-term popularity as the budget looms
Read the full article09 October 2024
The Conservatives are about to enter the abyss
By the time another election looms, Conservative MPs will sniff potential doom and ditch their leader for a more Machiavellian individual
Read the full article02 October 2024
Time for Reeves to face the budget conundrum
As October 30 looms, Reeves must prepare to perform a fiscal juggling act
Read the full article25 September 2024
Can slow news really rescue old news?
With readers increasingly moving away from newsprint, the format’s future could be in jeopardy
Read the full article17 September 2024
What’s the point of buying the Spectator?
A little influence over a national publication may be enough to keep Sir Paul Marshall, yet another would-be media mogul, happy
Read the full article11 September 2024
The neverending Tory leadership race
The next leader will be unlikely to take the Tories into the next election
Read the full article04 September 2024
Reeves needs to be a bit braver with her accounts
If Rachel Reeves wants to be a truly reforming chancellor, she should embrace a more radical approach to accounting
Read the full article28 August 2024
Tone-deaf Tory six are leading the party towards oblivion
The new crop of MPs are faced with a Hogwarts-style parliament as the Tories’ leadership crisis rumbles on unabated
Read the full article21 August 2024
Shame in public life seems to have vanished
The government has demonstrated a conviction that dangerous behaviour has to have consequences
Read the full article