The Mirror Crack'd

Not cross buns As Easter approached supermarket chain, Iceland, was criticised for promoting a line of hot cross buns without crosses. They pointed out that the traditional versions with crosses were still available but I'm not sure whether the pale cross atop the buns is generally perceived as a Christian symbol and if it is how far it acts as a deterrent to non-Christian shoppers. In any event, Iceland now finds itself under fire for 'wokery'. Instead of coming up with this misguided marketing stunt, wouldn't it have been easier to promote teacakes, equally traditional and effectively the same thing - only without the crosses? Flagging enthusiasm Crosses also feature prominently in the flag of the UK, of course. With the cross of St George combined with the saltires of SS Andrew and Patrick (the latter made up for the purpose) to create the Union Flag or 'Jack', the Christian symbolism is overt and unapologetic. Unfortunately, Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Par

Whichever party wins the UK general election this autumn (that'll be Labour, then) will have a mountain to climb. A quick totting-up of the rough cost even of restoring sequential Tory-led and Tory government budget cuts since 2010 let alone increasing them (if I were a smoker this would be a 'back of a fag packet' calculation) reveals the full scale of the eye-watering costs involved in getting back to anywhere near where we were fourteen years ago. I'm neither an economist nor statistician (or mathematician for that matter) - as will rapidly become apparent to any reader who is - but even the approximate figures are truly scary. It almost makes one wonder why any political party would want to take on this monumental task. I suspect the Tories actually don't and will be quite relieved when they lose. Ever the opportunists, defeat will give them five years (at least) on the Opposition benches to fight their internal battles, elect a new leader and get their shit tog

Me old China Oliver Dowden - you know him, sandy-haired geezer, bit of a nonentity, sits on the government front bench  - anyway, he's the Deputy Prime Minister and this afternoon he warned the House of Commons of China's "cumulative attempts to interfere with the United Kingdom's democracy", including the hacking of the Electoral Commission in 2021, potentially affecting tens of millions of people. Funny, I could've sworn the Tory government did that in its Elections Act 2022. And that's not all David 'call me Lord' Cameron was also busy back-tracking on his previous pro-China stance. You might remember him in 2015 enjoying (or pretending to) a pint of Greene King IPA down the Dog & Duck with his old bezzie, Xi Jinping, President of China. Well, that was then and this is now. As Foreign Secretary he's been persuaded that China now poses a major threat to the UK's economy, democracy and way of life. Funny, I could've sworn successiv

When, ten days ago, I posted my piece about the manipulated image of Catherine, Princess of Wales, and her children (see Snap Judgment) I didn't know of her cancer treatment. Had I known, I would have adopted a gentler, though I hope no less critical, tone. But I didn't know, and nor did any of us outside the immediate royal circle, which rather goes to strengthen the case against the monarchy. For Kate and her family the diagnosis of cancer (as yet unspecified) will have been a devastating blow, as will the chemotherapy she is currently undergoing. On a human level, of course I sympathise and extend my best wishes for a full recovery as, indeed, I did at the time of her father-in-law's diagnosis. It is particularly cruel, then, that on top of all this she has been obliged to record a video statement to reassure the public. As if she didn't have enough to contend with already. But such is the unpalatable obligation placed upon any royal personage - noblesse oblige. Whic

Are you dead? Imagine my surprise on receiving the following text from British Gas the other morning: "Hello, we noticed you haven't topped up your electric meter recently. Is everything OK? If you need help go to..." As it happens, due to the munificence of our caring government, I'd topped up my pre-payment meter with a lump sum for the winter and still had twenty-five quid left to go. Despite this I'm clearly not getting through the lecky fast enough to sustain Centrica's profit margins, which soared tenfold to £751m last year. Nice of them to ask, though. Water, water everywhere  Talking of privatised utilities, I've written previously of my [non]engagement with struggling Thames Water. Over a period of months I received first inducements, then pressurisation and finally threats to accept a smart meter in my flat, all of which I ignored. It seems I was not alone - apparently no one responded. The beleaguered company finally gave up and now seems likely

As the axiom has it, if you're in a hole, stop digging. What you don't do, if you occupy a senior position in the constitutional arrangement of your country and have disappeared from public view after a serious operation, is to fuel already feverish speculation about the state of your health by sending out an obviously doctored photograph to the press and media and expect them a) not to notice or, b) not care when they do. But that's just what Catherine, Princess of Wales, did - presumably with the connivance of her husband, the heir to the throne of the UK, who apparently took the photograph/s - and in so doing made a bad situation immeasurably worse when outlets which had published the image in good faith issued a 'kill notice' to withdraw it after digital manipulation was spotted. Kate issued an immediate apology for her photoshopping inadequacies but the damage was done, only to be promptly compounded by the royal household's refusal to issue the original un

All abroad Time Out reports that St Pancras International's train services could be expanding to new countries but the station will have to be expanded first. Rail operator HS1 is currently looking for a consultant who will explore growth options for the station. This is to keep up with future additional train services as well as Eurostar's expansion from 1,800 passengers an hour to 2,700 passengers an hour by 2025. Maybe they should keep tunelling until they reach Euston. After Sunak's HS2 cancellation there's plenty of spare capacity there. Go figure The irony of it! Brexit was supposed to have meant us taking back control, right? So how come eight years after flouncing out of the EU we're getting better connected by rail to Europe while our much-trumpeted new internal high-speed connection starts and ends in the middle of nowhere? Wormwood Scrubs to Handsacre anyone? Nah, mate, I'm off to Dortmund for the weekend. Auf wiedersehen! What a bore As reported in R

Today's news cycle started with analysis of yesterday's budget delivered by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, but interest rapidly waned as more important issues emerged. Let's face it, yesterday's fiscal [non]event was pretty much an irrelevance anyway. Apart from having shot Labour's non-dom tax fox and hinted at an autumn general election there wasn't much more to be said about it. The government's in a holding pattern until it gets kicked out of office. Move along, nothing to see here. Really, the budget statement was an hour of our lives we'll never get back. Almost anything would be a welcome distraction. This is not to detract from the importance of the news stories that took over the airspace today, two of which were events of real pitch and moment. The first was the joint press conference in Berlin by UK Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron, and his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, promoting post-Brexit Anglo-German co-operatio

As I write Birmingham City Council is debating making swingeing cuts to its budget as years of government underfunding and a catastrophic £1billion equal pay error risk bringing council provision to its knees. I was a local councillor in a London borough between 2014-2018, during the first two years of which I represented the Labour Party. Even at that point, government-imposed cuts to services (estimated at 40%) were taking hold. I suggested, in all seriousness, that if things got any worse, and local democracy were to be further eroded, we should resign en bloc as councillors and refuse to implement the Tory government's will. We had not been elected on a mandate of cuts to vital services, I reasoned, therefore the honourable thing to do would be to refuse the act as the goverment's henchmen and women. To say my proposal went down badly with my party colleagues, especially the leadership, would be an understatement. A bucket of cold sick would have gained a better reception,

The 17th century poet and satirist, John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, lampooned King Charles II for never saying a foolish thing nor ever doing a wise one. The same critique might be applied to George Galloway. The newly-elected MP for Rochdale today took his seat in the House of Commons representing the Workers' Party of Great Britain, a socialist grouping he founded in 2019. Without any fellow WPGB MPs he remains a lone voice in the Chamber but, then, that's precisely the way he likes it. And when it comes to upsetting political applecarts, he has form. A former Labour MP, he stood for Respect against Labour's Oona King MP in Bethnal Green & Bow in 2005 and won. He later pulled off the same stunt in Bradford West in 2012 and has just done it for a third time in the Rochdale byelection. He is an arch-opportunist who doesn't tend to stick around once elected and is rarely seen in his constituency post-election. However, in a remarkable show of candour for a politician

Has the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom just suffered a nervous breakdown on live TV? What else could explain Rishi Sunak's unscheduled appearance at the lectern outside Number 10 on a rain-drenched Downing Street earlier this evening looking dazed and confused? He delivered a rambling, incoherent address about national unity before turning on his heels and heading back indoors, taking no questions. It was an utterly bizarre and bemusing performance. When a friend rang me to tell me Sunak was about to speak to the nation we, like many up and down the country I suspect, speculated as to the possible subject. Was he calling a general election? Were we at war? Was the King abdicating due to ill health? Was the Princess of Wales' condition life-threatening? When Sunak finally appeared the pretext appeared pretty flimsy: the outcome of the Rochdale byelection. What followed was a rambling series of non-sequiturs about peaceful protest, mob rule, community cohesion and patriotis