The Spectator

1 day ago | spectator.co.uk | Eliot Wilson

It is easy to despair of young people as self-absorbed, isolated from reality and unwilling to take on the hard tasks that previous generations had to face. I have done it myself, and I suspect humans have been doing it since Adam and Eve worried that Cain seemed to lack dedication and work ethic. It is particularly tempting when we look at the armed forces: serving your country is physically and mentally demanding, inherently dangerous and inadequately rewarded.

1 day ago | spectator.co.uk | Eliot Wilson

Sir Keir Starmer’s cherished agreement on defence with the European Union seems to have been high on the diplomatic agenda for a very long time without ever quite reaching its top. The Labour party’s manifesto for last year’s general election promised an ‘ambitious new UK-EU security pact to strengthen cooperation on the threats we face’. We have heard the word ‘reset’ in terms of our relationship with the EU so often that it has lost most of whatever meaning it once had.

2 days ago | spectator.co.uk | John Power

Sir Keir Starmer wants you to believe he’s serious about bringing immigration down. Faced with the political threat of Reform and growing anger over record levels of both illegal and legal migration, Labour has finally begun to talk the talk. But Restoring Control Over the Immigration System, the white paper in which the government details its borders crackdown, is flawed.

2 days ago | spectator.co.uk | Ross Clark

If the consequences of Labour’s heavy losses in the local elections were not already clear, they became so in this morning’s press conference to relaunch the government’s migration policy. Reversing years of generally friendly attitudes towards migration, dating back to Tony Blair’s day – when the UK opened its doors to migrant workers from Eastern Europe seven years ahead of most EU countries – Keir Starmer has unashamedly tried to reposition Labour as an anti-immigration party.

2 days ago | spectator.co.uk | Laurie Wastell

What really caused the countrywide unrest after the Southport massacre last summer? Last week, a report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), shed a much-needed light on this vital question. This was the second part of HMICFRS’s inspection of the police response to the public disorder that followed Axel Rudakubana’s attack on a dance class in Southport on 29 July, which killed three little girls.