That the UK looks set to have its third female prime minister might seem encouraging news for women. Yet, in the case of Liz Truss, I feel precisely the opposite. We all know that the stereotype of women as Instagram-obsessed intellectual lightweights lacking gravitas or charisma is outdated and unfair. So it’s immensely frustrating to watch Truss play into so many of these sexist tropes, making people suspect they might carry some weight. For years women have been told to forget their impostor syndrome – the tendency to not be confident in a job because they feel unqualified or as if they don’t belong. Unfortunately, Truss is someone who could actually do with more impostor syndrome; she proves why bravado should always ...

In recent days, there has been a concerted effort by supporters of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to have the Privileges Committee inquiry into his conduct brought to an end. It is argued that, as he has announced that he will step down, continuing the investigation would be vengeful and vindictive. Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has described the inquiry as a “witch hunt” and said that to continue it would be an “abuse of power", while Zac Goldsmith, the minister of state for the Pacific and the international environment, described it as "rigged" and an "obscene abuse of power". At first glance discontinuing the inquiry might sound reasonable. The Prime Minister was subject to ...

Rishi Sunak really cares about education. You can tell from the way his floundering campaign, which has been desperately flinging policies at Conservative Party members in the hope that some of them might stick (“Ban all building on the green belt!” “Put a quota on refugees!” “Funnel money from deprived urban areas to Tunbridge Wells!”), has decided to focus on it this week. In between lamenting his wife’s exorbitant shoe collection and rapping along to Vanilla Ice in his interview with the Sunday Times, the beleaguered former chancellor set out his plan to reform the education sector. He plans to scrap the “overly narrow specialisation” of the post-16 curriculum in favour of something broader that will prepare young people for the ...

When he first became chancellor, George Osborne had a favourite phrase: “Fix the roof while the sun is shining.” Prepare the public finances for crises ahead, he argued, while the Sensible Tories nodded. Cutting the state, as he did during his time at the Treasury, hardly achieved this goal, but it is telling of how the Conservatives style themselves in government. Prudent, risk-alert, taking the long view. The repetitive promise of a “long-term economic plan” was, after all, a slogan that did a lot to secure David Cameron a surprise majority in 2015.  So why, now, are Tory ministers whiling away the summer holidays doing nothing to prepare for the sudden jump in energy bills we know is coming in October? Why ...

“Britain slides into crisis”, proclaimed the front page of the Times on 5 August. “Recession to cause record drop in income”, the Daily Telegraph warned. Almost every newspaper led with grim reports of rising interest rates, soaring inflation, imminent recession and household budgets being squeezed as seldom before. And where was the government’s response to the Bank of England’s bleak prognosis? Where were the words of reassurance from the political leaders of our anxious nation? There were none. Boris Johnson is apparently on holiday in Slovenia and couldn’t be bothered to issue so much as a tweet. Nadhim Zahawi, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is also on holiday abroad, but we were asked to believe that he is working remotely and ...

The cost of living crisis can be described very simply. Prices are too high and incomes are too low. Therefore, any proposal that doesn’t tackle either of these problems should be dismissed. The Bank of England jamming up interest rates addresses neither, and nor does its warning of mass unemployment and prolonged recession. The Bank is offering fantasy economics, in which wage rises are responsible either now or later for prices rising. But with inflation already at 9.1 per cent, and forecast to hit 13 per cent this year, while average wages are predicted to rise by only 4.5 per cent, it obviously cannot be the case that wage rises are driving general inflation. Nor will they, on the Bank’s own ...

Can you really say that the mask has slipped when someone never realised they were meant to wear one in the first place? Rishi Sunak’s honesty about the fact that he believes his job is to shovel government money to people who don’t need it would be almost admirable, if it weren’t a complete and utter disgrace. The latest example of this honesty comes via a scoop from the New Statesman’s deputy political editor, Rachel Wearmouth: a video clip, filmed in a sun-drenched garden somewhere in Tunbridge Wells, showing the man who would be king bragging about his achievements as chancellor. “I managed to start changing the funding formulas, to make sure that areas like this are getting the funding that ...

Birmingham, Britain’s industrial capital, is now home to the Commonwealth Games, that dazzling, unifying celebration of… what exactly? A hundred years ago, the Empire; now, apparently, taking a stand against injustice. First held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930 as the British Empire Games, the sporting competition today features athletes from 72 member countries, including Australia, Barbados, Canada, India, Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania. It is held against a backdrop of growing anti-British feeling in former colonies. Barbados chose to become a republic in 2021, removing the Queen as its ceremonial head of state, and some Canadian and Australian politicians are also campaigning to cut their country's ties to the monarchy. The changing political climate perhaps explains the Games’ decision to allow competitors to ...