Labour’s conference did not resemble that of a party which recently won an election. The Conservatives’ conference does not resemble that of a party which recently lost one. Keir Starmer’s plummeting approval ratings – a poll shows a 45-point drop since July – have given the Tories hope as they assemble in Birmingham. A shrunken party draws comfort from an ever more volatile electorate. If Labour can recover from a landslide defeat in a single term, they ask, why can’t we? Negative answers to that question surround you at Tory conference. The party knows it suffered an emphatic defeat – the worst in its 190-year history – but it is not yet ready to absorb the full implications.  Its four leadership candidates offer ...

On Wednesday night, the unnervingly successful US edition of one of the UK’s exports, Mail Online, published an exclusive about a poll. “Donald Trump opens up big lead in our election model,” began the headline which, this being the Mail, could rival Moby Dick for concision. The actual text of the story then began: “Kamala Harris may have enjoyed her most successful campaign weeks, according to our JL Partners/DailyMail.com election model which shows Donald Trump opening up a 10-point lead.” Do try to keep breathing. There are a number of things one could query about this. The assertion that things may all be downhill from here for Harris is true, but only in the trivial sense that this is theoretically possible ...

David Lammy looked confused. To his left sat Benedict Cumberbatch; to his right sat Britain’s consulate general. Between them was the theatre director Sophie Hunter. On the 25th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper, as the United Nations gathered for the General Assembly, the Foreign Secretary was hosting a panel to promote the UK’s Soft Power Council. Or so he thought. Hunter was talking about the importance of salt marshes. These are expanses often found near airports which, she said, the common man confuses with wastelands. She read about it in the National Geographic, you see. She called up the article’s author and found herself on a boat somewhere gazing at the “sacred” things. Which was why she created an exhibition inspired ...

When Ozempic and similar drugs first came into public consciousness two years ago as the open secret of the rich and famous, their widespread non-medical use was met with shock and unease. These semaglutide drugs, which were a lifeline for people struggling with obesity and diabetes, were being injected into already-thin celebrity bodies, leading them to only eat a meal or two a day without feeling the urge to eat more. Many experienced enduring and serious effects, such as kidney damage and gallbladder issues. Mentions of the drug were described as “bleak”, “dystopian” and “a total horror show”. “We live in hell” was a common response. It was uncontroversial then to argue that taking a drug that helped you starve yourself ...

The British Medical Association (BMA) has reversed its decision to call for a pause in implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review, the New Statesman can reveal. It follows intense criticism of the doctors’ union after this publication exposed its discussions regarding the rejection of the findings of Dr Hilary Cass’s independent review into gender identity services for children and young people. Informed by seven new systematic evidence reviews, and more than a thousand conversations with trans young people, clinicians and others, Cass concluded in April that gender medicine was built on “shaky foundations” and “an area of remarkably weak evidence”. The reality, she wrote in her report, is that there is “no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of [hormonal] interventions to ...

That Keir Starmer would continue the Conservatives’ full-throated support for Ukraine was never in question. But, at the UN Security Council yesterday, it became clear that his reason for doing so is slightly different from the Tories. He delivered a bullish, impassioned condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Flanked by David Lammy and the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, he called it “illegal” and the “greatest violation of the UN charter in a generation”. It's worth quoting the Prime Minister in full: “I wonder how Russia can show its face in this building – 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded in this war. And for what?  The UN Charter, which they sit here to uphold, speaks of human ...

The advert for Apple’s latest iPhone is one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen in a long time. Superficially it’s a cheery little scene: a family gathers around the grave of a recently deceased goldfish, which the father makes a clumsy attempt to eulogise. He gets its name wrong and struggles to explain what made the fish special. His young daughter looks on sadly, but her older sibling ­– played by Bella Ramsey of Game of Thrones and The Last of Us – opens the Apple Intelligence app and types “Kristy with her fish, sad vibes”. Cutting their father off, they put the phone on top of the animal’s grave and a slideshow of pictures of the young girl ...

With just three weeks left to run in the Tory leadership contest, Michael Gove will slip into the editors' chair at the Spectator to take his pick of the contestants. He has been appointed by the hedge fund tycoon Paul Marshall – who pumped millions into GB News and owns UnHerd – after his purchase of the Spectator for £100m earlier this month. As editor of the Conservatives' parish magazine, Gove will be, as one insider said, "extraordinarily influential" as to which candidate members – who make up a significant proportion of the title's readers – vote for when the parliamentary party whittles the choice down to two. Just weeks ago the leadership contender Kemi Badenoch said she was "not controlled" by Gove at a hustings ...