24 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Mrs Badenoch was perkier than usual. Does she finally glimpse hope?

Mrs Badenoch can be a dull performer. This time she was perkier. Maybe it was because she could say wonkish things and know that the audience would follow.

Politics

50 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: One Labour MP sat with pen poised to write down all the Chancellor's thrilling announcements. It was soon lowered

Save perhaps in those first days after the general election, Rachel Reeves's Chancellorship has yet to have its time of pomp. QUENTIN LETTS asks: Will it ever?

Politics

3 d. ago Dream Big Day returns for 2025 to continue inspiring young minds

CareerMap Media Group is thrilled to announce the return of Dream Big Day 2025, a nationwide celebration dedicated to inspiring primary school children to explore limitless career possibilities and focus on their bright futures ahead.

Politics

3 d. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Criticising Red China is a moreish activity. You try some and before long hanker for another plateful

China's vice-premier He Lifeng, a big yam, is in London and spent his morning with Rachel Reeves.

Politics

8 d. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Pop! Mount Kemi blew her top like Etna ... vulcanologists in Geneva may have picked up a blip on their seismographs

Mount Etna erupted this week. Kemi Badenoch did something similar at PMQs. Blew her top. Pop!

Politics

9 d. ago When Yvette Cooper speaks it all feels so formulaic, it conveys nothing: QUENTIN LETTS

Yesterday Yvette Cooper arrived at the home affairs select committee for what was expected to be a showdown.

Politics

1 week ago Taylor Wimpey named Large Home Builder of the Year at Homes for Scotland Awards

Taylor Wimpey is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded the prestigious Home Builder of the Year in the Large Builder category at the annual Homes for Scotland Awards Ceremony.

Events

1 week ago QUENTIN LETTS: My friends in France say their country's ban on smoking in public will be ignored with a Gallic shrug. Will we be as defiant when it happens here?

Can this really be la belle France, which gave us such classic images as the young Brigitte Bardot smoking a cigar and Audrey Hepburn holding a cigarette holder as long as a magician's wand?

Politics

3 w. ago BBC star makes career announcement as they 'cannot wait' for return

Former Strictly Come Dancing star Helen Skelton has revealed that she is 'thrilled' to be back in the Lake District as she announced that her BBC show Lost and Found in the Lakes has been recommissioned.

Politics

3 w. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Castration! The Secretary of State was desperate to depict herself as a toughie, so she aimed below the belt

QUENTIN LETTS: Shabana Mahmood was eager to discuss castration. The Justice Secretary had just announced an unprecedented dilution of criminal sentences.

Politics

3 w. ago QUENTIN LETTS: What a day for the Chancellor to be away... she's in a scrap with Rayner, then PM does the dirty!

Where was the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves ? Her customary position next to Sir Keir was occupied by Yvette Cooper, radiating all her customary gaiety.

Politics

3 w. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Sir Keir was priggishly cocky. He's stuck us back on the gluey flypaper of the EU...

In this Commons there was no time for such impertinence, says QUENTIN LETTS. Only one attitude was permitted: fealty to the Prime Minister.

Politics

3 w. ago 'I found perfect name for my daughter – but now Peppa Pig's sister has it'

The name of Peppa Pig's new baby sister has been announced and while some fans are thrilled, others are horrified to learn their child will have the same name as the little piglet

Politics

3 w. ago Ursula found it hard to disguise her disbelief and glee at Deer Keer's cave

Standing between two Brussels grand-fromages, Sir Keir Starmer could have been an escapee returned to the gaolers.

Politics

3 w. ago Reeves faces anger from her local party over plans to cut disability benefits

Labour members from Leeds West and Pudsey to write letter to chancellor over plans to reduce Pip paymentsRachel Reeves’ local Labour party will call for the chancellor to abandon her plans to cut disability benefits as rebellion among MPs over the policy grows.The Leeds West and Pudsey constituency Labour party (CLP), which campaigned to return Reeves to parliament last year as its MP, has agreed to write to her “as soon as possible” to make clear it does not support the cuts. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago 'I went backstage at Eurovision final and one thing surprised me'

I've not always been a Eurovision fan but in recent years have grown fond of the Song Contest and when it was announced it would take place in Liverpool in 2023, I was thrilled to have the chance to go behind-the-scenes.

Politics

4 w. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Volcanic Sir Lindsay's eruptions left hapless minister buried in ash

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the Commons, erupted three times. Volcanologists will note that the same can be said of Iceland's Mt Thrihnukagigur, but that has been dormant for 4,000 years.

Politics

4 w. ago QUENTIN LETTS: For once Starmer united the House, but there was a peevishness in our stodgy helmsman's breast

Nasal knight nips! Maybe it was tiredness, or crossness at recent setbacks, or simply that he cannot abide the sound of the woman. 

Politics

last month QUENTIN LETTS: Multiculturalism has done far more to fan racial tensions than Enoch Powell ever did

Who was Enoch Powell? With his evocative name again electrifying headlines, this basic question needs examining.

Events