Rupert Hawksley

1 week ago | inews.co.uk | Rupert Hawksley

The clash of Mary, Queen of Scots, and England’s Elizabeth I has given rise to dramatic interpretation since the 16th century. And now, in its competing visions, colliding of loyalties, twinges of envy and jockeying for sway, it serves well as a model for the competitive relationship between Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner. The Chancellor is battling competing pressures on public finances and is guaranteed to alienate one demographic or another by any moves she makes.

1 week ago | inews.co.uk | Rupert Hawksley

Alan Yentob has the recognition he deserves in the tributes and obituaries from those who worked closely with him. His death has bestowed on him the clarity he fashioned in his television biographies of other remarkable figures. And now he is gone, we can see what a gap he leaves. British cultural life has lost a great champion, the BBC a founding father. His work was not always as appreciated as it has been at his death.

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Rupert Hawksley

In our nation’s pitched battle between young and old, Wednesday will be notched up as a trench victory for the pensioners. The Prime Minister announced his screeching U-turn on cuts to the winter fuel allowance during Prime Minister’s Questions, admitting people are “still feeling the pressure of the cost of living crisis, including pensioners”. And yet amid all those people still feeling that pressure, it was only the “including pensioners” being offered a reprieve.

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Rupert Hawksley

Britain has always been good at marking important moments of collective reflection, such as Remembrance Sunday, the more recent Covid-19 Day of Reflection or, as we saw earlier this month, the anniversary of VE Day. Simply put, Britons care about the past and their heritage. We value the power our nation’s collective history has to bring local communities together across generations and backgrounds, and we understand the way that history is embodied in our local buildings and townscapes.

3 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Rupert Hawksley

Donald Trump likes shiny things. Sadly, they don’t retain his attention. Readers may remember Trump’s last presidential visit to Saudi Arabia, during which he was entranced by a glowing orb constructed to mark the opening of Saudi’s Global Centre for Combating Extremist Ideology. (A centre to combat the kind of extremist ideology that defines atheism as “terrorism” and bans conversion away from Islam?