John Connolly

London, Stafford

News Editor at The Spectator (Eau Claire, WI)

News editor @spectator [email protected]

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Articles

Why is the ONS saying inflation has gone down?

1 week ago | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

The rate of inflation remained flat at 3.4 per cent in May – still well above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target. Bizarrely, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in their figures released this morning, claims this is down from 3.5 per cent the month before, even though just a couple of weeks ago they admitted that figure was overstated due to an error.
Starmer’s winter fuel U-turn is a big mistake

1 month ago | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

One of Keir Starmer’s first mistakes in office was to remove the winter fuel allowance from all pensioners other than those in receipt of pension credit. His latest big error is performing a U-turn and telling us that the government is, after all, looking at loosening the eligibility criteria, so that many more pensioners will qualify for the money next winter. How can both these things be true? Because the former was a political error, the latter an economic one.
Is net zero possible without slave labour?

2 months ago | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

So, Ed Miliband has relented, and decided that after all it is not a good idea to build his green energy revolution on the back of slave labour in the Uighur region of China. Miliband had refused to back a Lords amendment to the Great British Energy Bill, first reported by Steerpike, which would have forced the putative government-owned green energy company to address the use of slave labour in its supply chains – Labour MPs were ordered to vote against it.
How the kebab mafia took over the French high street

2 months ago | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

Last week, the police in Britain launched a three-week operation codenamed ‘Machinize’. It began with nearly 300 raids on nail salons, vape shops and barbershops, which in recent years have become a common sight on British high streetsThirty-five arrests were made and 97 people suspected of being victims of modern slavery were placed under police protection.
Trump’s tariffs are just bizarre

2 months ago | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

They would restore manufacturing, force trade barriers to be taken down, and allow new industries to be created. There have been various different explanations for why President Trump’s new tariff regime made sense. And yet when they were finally revealed yesterday one point was clear. There was no logic. The tariffs were just weird. The big reveal turned out to be a board that flapped around in the wind outside the White House.
The minimum wage has been raised too high

2 months ago | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

Council tax is going up. Train fares are rising. Broadband will cost more, and so will electricity and water. April opens with a blizzard of price rises that will make it far harder for everyone to make ends meet, especially if they are on a low income. The one compensation is that the minimum wage is going up as well. There is just one catch, however. The UK now has one of the highest minimum wages in the world – and very soon it is going to become painfully clear it will start costing jobs.
The truth about the Gaza protests

Mar 31, 2025 | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

A series of striking videos have emerged from the Gaza Strip over the last week. Crowds of Palestinians, chanting slogans against Hamas, have taken to the streets in a rare public display of dissent. Some have criticised the mainstream Western media for treating these images with restraint, claiming a missed opportunity to spotlight what could be interpreted as a grassroots uprising against a regime they have long failed to critically interrogate.
Trump: UK encryption laws are like what you get in China

Feb 28, 2025 | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

Keir Starmer may have survived his meeting with Donald Trump yesterday – with the President saying he was ‘inclined’ to support the Chagos deal and might not impose tariffs on the UK – but it appears the US President still has plenty of concerns about the state of this country. Speaking to The Spectator’s Ben Domenech yesterday, the President was asked what he thought about our new Prime Minister. While Trump conceded that ‘He’s different.
Trump: UK encryption laws are like what you get in China

Feb 28, 2025 | spectator.com.au | John Connolly

Keir Starmer may have survived his meeting with Donald Trump yesterday – with the President saying he was ‘inclined’ to support the Chagos deal and might not impose tariffs on the UK – but it appears the US President still has plenty of concerns about the state of this country. Speaking to The Spectator’s Ben Domenech yesterday, the President was asked what he thought about our new Prime Minister.
Starmer’s surprisingly ruthless foreign aid cut

Feb 26, 2025 | spectator.co.uk | John Connolly

Ten years ago the idea of a British prime minister announcing a cut in foreign aid to 0.3 per cent of GDP would have been unthinkable. David Cameron’s Tories had exempted the Department for International Development from austerity, repeatedly declaring that it would be wrong to balance the books on the backs of the world’s poorest people.