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Sir John Major’s speech to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation was an interesting step by the Conservatives last night. On the one hand, you have the man who famously gave us the concept 22 years ago of a new vision of Europe with “Britain, France and Germany all clearly in the...

You might be forgiven for thinking that the ‘No’ vote has been rather complacent, given the sudden flurry of activity this week. The minute the Sunday Times published the results of a YouGov poll, we had a flow of opinions and politicians trying to recapture the...

There’s a depressing familiarity about the tensions between Russia and the West at the moment. While it’s not yet up there with the very real fears that I had growing up in the seventies and eighties that bombs could start falling at any moment, I must admit to a...

The House of Commons Defence Committee released a report yesterday underlining disquiet within Nato about its ability to respond to Russian aggression should it move against a member state. The report seems to back the statements made by General Sir Richard Shirreff in July to...

If the Chancellor has his way, at least another £25 billion pounds will be cut from the UK budget in his quest to overcome the UK’s deficit and bring it back to a surplus. This isn’t the first time the figure has been bandied around – it has been forecast by a number of other...

The UK Land Registry has reported a general trend of rising house prices in England and Wales in 2013, averaging at some 3.2%. Looking at London alone, that price rise is a startling 10.6%, compared to a fall of up to 10% in the North East. The average house price in the UK as a...

  Fresh concerns about household debt levels have been raised this week by the Resolution Foundation, a think tank that focusses on the UK’s standards of living. Their research suggests that an estimated 600,000 people currently need to use over half their net income to...

The Airports Commission isn’t due to make its final report until 2015, but in a week where the future of Heathrow has already been in the news, it has produced a short-list of options for expanding the UK’s airport capacity. Set up in 2012 and headed up by Sir Howard Davies, the...

On Thursday George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will be giving his Autumn Statement. As is generally traditional these days, the headline elements of that speech are already being shared around to raise interest and political capital. On Monday we had confirmation of...

I found myself in something of a dilemma while looking at the papers this week. I have this cherished mental image – perhaps foolishly – of being a generally reasonable and moderately self-aware individual. Moreover, I generally tend to have a default position of repugnance...