Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

Aside from watching my new book Suicide of a Nation rocket to Number 2 in the Amazon bestseller list - making it the second biggest selling book in Britain behind a children’s Easter book about a fluffy chick - I also spent this weekend watching something else. Matt Godwin newletter 30/03/26 Mounting evidence that Britain is about to be plunged into a major financial and political crisis, which could clear the way for an early general election. I remember Nigel Farage telling me six months ago that he thought the next general election could arrive much sooner than 2029, potentially as early as next year. I was sceptical. But now, amidst the ongoing War in Iran and an intensifying energy crisis, I not only think Farage was right but am also coming to the view it could arrive even sooner. Just look, for example, at the clearest warning sign of all: government debt. Britain is currently spending somewhere around £140 billion a year just servicing our national debt - just paying o...

While the war in Iran has diverted public attention away from the Labour Party’s continued failures, it won’t last long. Interest in the Government’s continuing scandals and broken promises will soon pick up and Starmer will pay the price. Despite the Prime Minister siding with public opinion over the war, this strategy will not boost his popularity, or Labour’s, in the long run. The war against Iran is good news for Sir Keir Starmer in only one meaningful respect: it has reduced public attention on Labour’s domestic pathologies, infighting and betrayals. Front pages, TV bulletins and social media that were chock-a-block with tales of leadership challenges and failed policies have rightly focused more on the war against Iran in recent weeks, the greatest, most significant development in global geopolitics since Russia invaded Ukraine. Given that almost all domestic news is bad news for Labour, this has granted the Prime Minister a breather. One scandal that has yet to fully capture...

Keir Starmer has no response to the Morgan McSweeney phone shambles, no timeline for publishing the defence investment plan, and no strategy to shield businesses from rising energy costs. However, the Prime Minister has received one piece of good news today. After the elections, the Commons will not be sitting until the King reopens parliament on May 13, making it that much harder for would-be plotters to depose him. Once again, there is a will, but not a way. Annabel Denham, Senior Political Commentator. Daily Telegraph 27/03/26 As Britain contemplates a 1970s-style energy crisis, our Prime Minister is in Helsinki attending a summit of the Joint Expeditionary Force. Never-here will be eager to present himself as a statesman of consequence, a bridge, a broker of alliances, particularly after his very public falling out with the Man in the Baseball Cap, which may have very marginally increased his cred with the Left. Yet it is hard for Keir Starmer to sustain an image of Churchill...

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan arrested at her home in Gloucestershire for breaching police bail conditions Daily Telegraph 26/03/26 An NHS doctor has been charged with “multiple counts” of inviting support for Hamas. Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, 31, of Pilning, Gloucestershire, was arrested at her home on Thursday morning for breaching police bail conditions imposed following previous arrests. The Metropolitan Police said she had been charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 for allegedly inviting support for a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, on four separate dates from July to December last year. Dr Aladwan was also charged with using “words that were threatening, abusive or insulting intending thereby to stir up racial hatred or having regard to all the circumstances was reckless as to whether racial hatred would be stirred up” under section 18 of the Public Order Act in King Charles Street, London, on July 21 last year. She was further charged with publishing or distributing written material t...

Sir Keir is so in thrall to the judicial process that he cannot see where the national interest lies Daily Telegraph 25/03/26 Sir Keir Starmer is a human rights lawyer who has failed to recognise that he is now a politician running the government of the country. He is so in thrall to the judicial process that he cannot see where the national interest lies, as seen with his bizarre and ill-starred decision to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This fixation with procedure was on full display during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, the last before the Easter recess. He was asked by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, to remove the moratorium on drilling new wells in the North Sea for oil and gas. The urgency of this decision could hardly be greater. The war in the Gulf has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 per cent of the world’s oil and gas supplies are transported. We face huge price rises and potential shortages. The i...

The Chancellor is painting garages as the villains, but refuses to cancel plans to raise fuel duty Daily Telegraph 24/03/26 While Donald Trump’s assault on Iran rages on, Rachel Reeves is fighting a battle of her own. In an effort to appeal to hard-up households and backbenchers, the Chancellor has vowed to stamp out “price-gouging” and crack down on any company seen to be “profiteering” from the conflict in the Middle East. Her sights so far have been set on petrol station operators, which are increasing prices to combat the soaring price of oil. Politically, it is a savvy move as she attempts to recast someone else as the villain while refusing to cancel her planned increase in fuel duty. Ms Reeves told the House of Commons on Tuesday: “Let me say again, this Government will not tolerate any company exploiting this crisis at consumers’ expense.” However, whether her accusation stacks up is another matter. Petrol stations are the final step in a long global supply chain. Th...

Daily Telegraph 19/03/26 Sir Keir Starmer’s dwindling circle of allies has pushed back against Angela Rayner’s criticism of what she called his “un-British” Indefinite Leave to Remain policy. In truth, Two-Tier had little room to manoeuvre – having personally authored the foreword to the white paper on “Restoring Control over the Immigration System.” Yet, it is Rachel Reeves who appears increasingly exposed, with Rayner, Miliband and Burnham all lining up to challenge the Chancellor on her own turf. Annabel Denham, Senior Political Commentator To listen to Sadiq Khan today, you’d think it was 2020. The Mayor of London has declared that “the evidence is overwhelming: Brexit has been a disaster for London and the UK”. According to Khan, rejoining the EU is now “inevitable”, which will come as news to the millions who voted the other way and the large number who’d really rather that politicians focused on the present. When pressed on the morning media round, trade minister Sir Chri...

A year after tax rises removed thousands of jobs from the economy, businesses are braced for a new set of disastrous Labour measures Daily Telegraph 20/03/26 With just a fortnight to go, the reality of a new slate of socialist measures which will land on the heads of business in Labour’s “April Armageddon” is setting in. What started a year ago when the rise in employer National Insurance contributions kicked in and thousands of jobs were kicked out of the economy will continue this April when the next set of measures come crashing down on businesses. The broader economic context could not be worse. One in six young people are now unable to find a job, GDP per capita is falling, and gilt yields are rising as we battle stubbornly high inflation and rising oil prices. Even after a year of job cuts and hiring freezes, Labour’s choices have business confidence stuck at levels not seen since the global pandemic. All of this is down primarily to a Cabinet that neither understands nor ca...

The pathway to long term employment has been disrupted by the Government’s punitive taxation changes Daily Telegraph 17/03/26 We need to talk about Neets. For the first time in over a decade, the number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training has crept back towards the million mark. That’s roughly one in eight young people. And the details are more troubling still. Around 57 per cent are economically inactive – not working and not even looking for work. Nearly half say they have a health condition related to mental health: in just five years the number of young people claiming disability benefits has almost doubled. Our youth unemployment rate, now about 16.1 per cent, sits awkwardly above the European average. However one chooses to dress it up, this is not a healthy picture. We have a crisis. The truth is that much of this was predictable. A string of policy choices has quietly raised the cost – and risk – of hiring. The rise in employers’ National Insur...

The infection is not a random airborne hazard. There will not be a national epidemic Daily Telegraph 17/03/26 The Covid pandemic has left a heightened state of anxiety about any outbreak of infectious disease. This is easily inflated into mass panic, as we are seeing with the outbreak of meningitis among young people in the Canterbury area. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has gone as far as saying it is “unprecedented”. It isn’t. Yes, meningitis is a potentially serious, and – as we have tragically seen in recent days – even fatal infection, but it is well understood. Responses should be proportionate. An inflammation of tissues surrounding the brain, it can be caused by several viruses and bacteria. The bacteria are quite common in the UK population – around 10 per cent of us carry them at any one time. That figure is perhaps 20 per cent for teenagers and young people. These bacteria are transmitted by prolonged or close contact, such as sharing a household or kissing. People li...

Property Industry Eye 11/03/26 With rental supply remaining tight across the capital, London’s buy-to-let market is presenting renewed opportunities for investors, with rents and yields rising in several parts of the city. That is according to Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He said: “Conditions for letting property are favourable at present given the level of stock being sold and demand remaining strong in most areas, so many longer-term landlords are taking advantage.” However, Leaf added that many landlords are choosing to leave the market rather than benefit from current conditions, citing tighter regulation and higher taxes – a trend reflected in the latest Savills report, which found that the UK’s private rented sector recorded its largest value decline this century in 2025, falling by £48bn. Leaf explained: “The reason why many are leaving the sector is the looming Renters’ Rights Ac...

Everywhere you go outside of the cities, you can feel the impact of Starmer’s policies Daily Telegraph 15/03/26 The narrative goes that Sir Keir Starmer is the most un-ideological Prime Minister that Britain has ever had. Try telling that to its rural communities. While the government has been buffeted around by a series of economic, diplomatic and internal crises, one part of its agenda appears to have remained perfectly consistent since the last General Election: a committed and unrelenting campaign to render rural life unviable. If one was in a forgiving mood, you might put it down to ignorance. Not a single member of Starmer’s cabinet represents a rural seat. Labour’s voter base is predominantly urban. For a Prime Minister who by own admission prefers the society of Davos’s “anywheres” to fellow countrymen and women in Parliament, England’s green and pleasant land and its inhabitants are unlikely to hold any particular charm. Perhaps the war on neighbourhood planning, or the...

Recent attempts by Labour and the Greens to appeal to Muslim voters reflect a major demographic shift that goes beyond politics Daily Telegraph Sam Ashworth-Hayes 14 March 2026 6:00am GMT The central principle of democracy is that power is vested in the people and expressed by their elected representatives. We expect that governments will seek to align themselves with the views and opinions of the people, while protecting the views and opinions of minorities. Yet Britain is currently demonstrating a different phenomenon: at times, and under the right circumstances, governments are seeking to align themselves with the views and opinions of minorities while failing to protect the views and opinions of the people. Take this Labour Government, which at present appears to be in a blind panic. With local elections approaching, Sir Keir Starmer and his colleagues are desperate to win back the approval of Muslim voters they had long taken for granted. The results of this risk going b...

Two years ago, Farage had fewer donations than the Communists. Now, after a blitz of defections, his war chest has eclipsed his rivals’ As he filmed his 2024 New Year’s Eve message in the opulent surroundings of Blenheim Palace, Nigel Farage had much to feel optimistic about. The Reform leader could look back on 12 months that saw his nascent party come of age, as his return from political retirement culminated in a Commons breakthrough. Under his renewed leadership, it had leapfrogged the Liberal Democrats into third place in votes received in that year’s general election and crucially returned five MPs, himself included. It was the bar that Farage had tried – and conspicuously failed – to clear so many times throughout his years at the head of the UK Independence Party (Ukip). But even as he spoke proudly about that “bridgehead” in Parliament, the veteran campaigner knew that his latest upstart movement had a problem on its hands. For he was acutely aware that in the three month...