The Spectator

Does yesterday's Budget suggest Andy Burnham is planning on calling an early general election? Watch in full youtube.com/live/M5RWj6BqMlk| @ShippersUnbound

A Labour chancellor called Healey grappling with the public finances amid fears of an economic collapse. Pressure from the right to slash spending, from the left to put the people before the bankers. Sounds familiar? Well, actually I'm talking about 1976 not 2026 and Denis Healey, not John. I suppose I couldn't have picked a better day to be transported back 50 years to watch The Gang of Three, a wonderful play in which Healey, Roy Jenkins and Tony Crosland 'clash over the soul of British socialism and their own relentless ambitions'. ✍️ Neil Clark Article | spectator.com/article/our-po…

Is the Left’s focus on Israel driven by genuine humanitarian concern? Douglas Murray questions why events in the West Bank dominate headlines when there is arguably greater suffering in places such as Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Watch in full | youtu.be/-SjngLTd1Ec @DouglasKMurray @michaelgove

Her father, Henry Boima Fahnbulleh, is generally styled as a ‘former diplomat’. He was indeed foreign minister in Liberia in the 1980s, and latterly a national security adviser to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. But he is also a Marxist radical who dedicated himself over a long career to the violent overthrow of those who got in his way. George Boley, who Henry has described as a ‘good friend of mine’, led the Liberia Peace Council, another militia faction, which was accused by the TRC of slitting the throats of villagers with cutlasses, burning alive those they accused of witchcraft, and the mass rape of women. Boley was deported from the US in 2012 after a judge found that he used child soldiers. ✍️ John Power Article | spectator.com/article/the-re…

Q. My flatmate has slight OCD about hygiene and covers everything in our fridge with clingfilm. I don’t want to fall out with her but all that plastic is upsetting me. What can I do? – H.S. London W11 Article | spectator.com/article/dear-m…

Which years have had the highest numbers of named storms since the Met Office started naming them in 2015? ✍️ The Spectator Barometer | spectator.com/article/which-…

As seen in the New Statesman. 'Right, how about…' The Prime Minister's face is a mask of sweat. 'How about… 1p off the price of every Freddo… if you… ehhh… if you do… do at least ten hours of community work a month?' Preparations for the Budget are down to the wire. The PM's people had called me for a comms debrief with Andy and the Chancellor ahead of the statement to the House. But when I arrive at No. 11, it quickly becomes apparent that I would be getting much more than I'd bargained for. Sitting on a bottle-green Chesterfield sofa covered in briefing papers, Andy rummages through a Co-op plastic bag he has cradled under his arm and produces a pack of chocolate Hobnobs. 'These used to be a quid, now you'd be lucky to get two for a fiver.' ✍️ Connor McCabe Article | spectator.com/article/the-se…

The consequences for those who can't or won't go private are grim: according to the government's Adult Oral Health Survey, 41 per cent of adults have tooth decay, up from 28 per cent in 2009. Emergency tooth extractions for children which have to be performed in hospitals are now so frequent that one happens every 15 minutes. This can hardly be unexpected when nearly 40 per cent of children have not seen an NHS dentist in 12 months. Dentistry is not the only area of healthcare where users increasingly feel they have no choice but to pay for private top-ups. For much of the NHS's history, most people would not have even considered the use of a private general practitioner. Not so today. ✍️ Michael Simmons Article | spectator.com/article/sod-th… | @Simmons__

In the second part of Michael Gove's conversation with Douglas Murray, they discuss the rise of antisemitism, the Left's obsession with Palestine and the unlikely alliance between Islamists and the radical Left. What does the future hold for Israel – and would replacing Netanyahu really change anything? They also turn to the things that make Western civilisation worth defending, from Britain's great cathedrals to classical music and literature. Despite the challenges facing the West, can it be saved even at the 13th hour? Listen | spectator.com/podcast/dougla… | @michaelgove @DouglasKMurray

Of all the rotten clichés in American political discourse, 'lame duck presidency' is arguably the worst. It ought to be dragged out back – perhaps by the former homeland security secretary and infamous animal-slayer Kristi Noem – and strangled to death. Yet commentators have to say something about the midterms. And since it is likely that President Trump's party will lose on Tuesday night, expect all sorts of explanations as to just what a damaged duck Donald now is. ✍️ Freddy Gray Article | spectator.com/article/donald… | @Freddygray31