43 h. ago ALEX BRUMMER: All that Lady Thatcher achieved will now go up in flames like an oil drum brazier on a picket line...

The potential damage to an already stuttering economy, weighed down by the Chancellor's growth-sapping £40 billion of tax rises, doesn't bear thinking about.

Politics

3 d. ago The Bank of England never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity, says ALEX BRUMMER

The latest minutes from the Bank of England show that after an unexpectedly firm start to the year, the British economy has descended into gloom.

Politics

4 d. ago Now it's Labour's turn to face the music when global events turn sour: ALEX BRUMMER

Yesterday's claim by Chancellor Rachel Reeves that Labour's number one mission is to 'put more money in the pockets of working people' does not stand up to scrutiny.

Politics

4 d. ago Fed chief Powell's stubborn defiance on interest rates risks an avoidable downturn, says ALEX BRUMMER

The Federal Reserve's rate hold should come as no surprise. Chairman Jay Powell is determined to preserve the US central bank's independence.

Events

1 week ago The six claims from Rachel Reeves that would never pass the test on a lie detector: ALEX BRUMMER

Rachel Reeves 's spending review was one of the most disingenuous statements I can remember in my long career as a financial journalist.

Politics

1 week ago ALEX BRUMMER: If this is a fixed economy, I'd hate to see a broken one

Nearly half a century has passed since Margaret Thatcher skewered the incumbent PM James Callaghan at the 1979 election with her famous ' Labour Isn't Working' poster, which showed...

Politics

2 w. ago Labour's facing a crunch that will make the Truss market meltdown look like a tea party: ALEX BRUMMER

Britain's urgent need to bolster its defences in the face of Russian aggression poses the biggest threat to public finances since the 1976 sterling crisis.

Politics

3 w. ago ALEX BRUMMER: Fred Goodwin's ghost still stalks financial corridors

Politics explains why the Government held on to the NatWest stake for so long. No politicians, Labour or Tory, wanted blame for losing taxpayer cash.

Politics

3 w. ago Walk on the wild side: Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs on their epic hiking movie The Salt Path

Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir about her and her husband’s 630-mile trek around England’s south coast has become a film. Its stars, makers and Winn talk floods, fog and forgiveness‘I have played a lot of powerful, well-dressed women in my career,” says Gillian Anderson. They flash before your eyes: Margaret Thatcher (The Crown), Eleanor Roosevelt (The First Lady), Emily Maitlis (the Prince Andrew/Newsnight drama Scoop) – as well as the formidable sex therapist in the Netflix hit Sex Education, a role that led to her being inundated with dildos from over-enthusiastic fans. “These are all women in control of themselves and their environment. Any time I have an opportunity to steer against that, particularly lately, it’s of interest to me.”There is steering in another direction, and then there is the screeching handbrake turn represented by her role in The Salt Path, adapted from Raynor Winn’s 2018 memoir of homelessness and hope along the coastline of England’s south-west. Playing W...

Politics