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Nick Gutteridge Chief Political Correspondent |
Andy Burnham returned from his summer holiday yesterday hoping to talk up a flurry of consumer-friendly announcements on the cost of living.
Instead, his best-laid communications plan was derailed by the latest development in the small-boats crisis that has bedevilled so many of his predecessors.
Overnight on Sunday, a mega-dinghy launched from the beaches of Normandy with some 230 migrants on board. It was a record number of asylum seekers to reach Britain on a single boat, and quickly came to dominate the headlines.
France’s lifeboat service has warned there is now “no limit” to the number of migrants people smugglers will put on a boat.
The French national sea rescue service, equivalent to the RNLI, warned it was seeing “more and more” large boats ferrying hundreds of migrants across the Channel.
Jean-Marc Lamblin, the director of the service’s Berck-sur-Mer branch, said that when the figure of 150 migrants per boat was recently surpassed, “we didn’t think there could be any more, but there really is no limit now”.
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Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, said the mega-dinghy’s arrival provided “yet more proof that this illegal invasion is a national security emergency”.
Government sources argued that the phenomenon was in fact a symptom of Shabana Mahmood’s success in stymying the people-smuggling gangs.
Traffickers are using such large boats, they argued, because it has become so difficult to launch smaller vessels. This means the only financially viable way to operate is to cram more and more people onto dangerous mega-dinghies.
It is a message we can expect the Home Secretary to hammer home in the coming days, as well as pointing out that arrivals are down 43 per cent on last year.
However, pictures like those published yesterday evoke an emotive response in the public that cannot be countered with statistics alone.
To win back the airwaves, the Prime Minister will have to demonstrate to the public he has a plan to stop the big boats as well as the small ones.
This report is available only to subscribers.
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Charles Moore An external inquiry would expose Cambridge’s errant decision-makers. Progressives would want more ruthless commissars in their place Continue reading ➤
Suzanne Moore Burnham’s vanity tour will not fix Broken Britain Continue reading ➤
Hannah Betts Harvey Nicks was once absolutely fabulous. Now it’s lost in no woman’s land Continue reading ➤ |
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One would assume that Britain would want to move heaven and earth to recover a shipwreck with a suspected treasure-laden cargo worth £5.5bn, writes Tim Sigsworth. However, The Telegraph can reveal that the Government’s efforts to recover the 17th-century HMS Sussex wreck from waters off Gibraltar foundered over concerns that the project was upsetting Spain. The Royal Navy flagship was thought to have been carrying up to 10 tonnes of gold on board when it sank in a storm in 1694, plummeting to the bottom of the Mediterranean. It has remained there ever since – and is likely to be there for years to come because of Madrid’s intransigence.
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Israel is facing a mental health crisis on a scale that few countries could easily absorb, writes Paul Nuki, our Global Health Security Editor. Suicide among soldiers has surged, while diagnoses of PTSD have risen by 70 per cent since the October 7 attacks. Doctors warn that the psychological damage extends far beyond those directly caught up in the violence, with children especially vulnerable. After almost three years of war, the country is preparing for a trauma that may outlast the fighting. Continue reading ➤ |
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Due to my family history, I knew I could have cancer coming at me from both sides, writes Anna Tobin. However, being diagnosed with breast cancer at 51 was still a shock – as was the revelation that I have the CHEK2 gene alteration. I’d never heard of it. Here’s what I learnt after genetic testing and why experts say arming yourself with knowledge can inform prognosis, flag your risk of further cancers and provide a heads-up for close relatives. Continue reading ➤ |
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Bel Powley is one of the most in-demand actresses of her generation, specialising in roles that are intense, often funny and always heartfelt. Now appearing in Sky’s supernatural/historical mash-up Possession, she talks about ghosts, sex scenes – and the new Harry Potter TV series in which she will star. Continue reading ➤ |
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Could a common pension strategy cost you £160,000 in retirement? Many workers do not realise their pension will gradually shift out of stocks and into lower-risk assets as they approach retirement. However, new analysis reveals this automatic process called “lifestyling” can cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds in later life.
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What they’re talking about in... Rome |
This piece of bespoke reporting first appeared in yesterday’s Cables, our international affairs newsletter. For daily analysis like this from our correspondents around the world, sign up here.
Surveys consistently show that Italians are deeply weary of the war in Ukraine | Credit: Alberto Pizzoli via Getty Images |
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Nick Squires Rome Correspondent |
The war in Ukraine is emerging as a key electoral battleground as Italy’s opposition looks to unseat Giorgia Meloni at the next general election.
The centre-Left opposition has yet to decide who will lead it into the election, which must be held by next year, against the prime minister’s conservative coalition.
It’s going to come down to a fight between Ellie Schlein, the head of the Democratic Party, and Giuseppe Conte, the leader of the populist Five Star Movement. While the Democratic Party espouses continuing financial and military support for Kyiv, Five Star is highly sceptical.
Conte, a former prime minister, is opposed to giving the Ukrainians more help and has called for negotiations with Vladimir Putin – despite the Russian president’s dismal record of keeping his word on ceasefires and peace talks. Conte is talking vaguely of pursuing “a negotiated solution that will protect the interests of Kyiv”.
It’s not just the Left that is split over Ukraine – there are sharp differences within the governing coalition. While Meloni has won plaudits internationally for her pro-Ukraine, Atlanticist stance, one of her key partners is staunchly opposed to supporting Ukraine’s military efforts.
Matteo Salvini, the head of the hard-Right League, is an admirer of Russia and once posed in Red Square wearing a T-shirt adorned with an image of Putin. He also opposes an increase in defence spending.
Regardless of where they are on the political spectrum, there are few votes to be gained from supporting Ukraine for any Italian party. Surveys consistently show that Italians are deeply weary of the war.
A YouGov poll in February found that just 32 per cent of Italians cared whether Ukraine won against Moscow, compared with 70 per cent of Britons. Among major Western European nations, Italy has shown the most feeble support for Kyiv in its existential struggle against Russia.
Italian voters may feel that the war is a long way away – but it will cast a long shadow over the next election.
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A threat to one of life’s great pleasuresEvery weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes:
Vertical drinking – a phrase so powerfully redolent of local government officialdom that it might have been designed in a lab. It was recently deployed in a draft licensing document by Westminster City Council, which has been accused of trying to restrict what normal people refer to as “standing with a pint” in central London.
The council, having been roundly condemned as an almighty killjoy, says it wasn’t attempting to do anything of the sort. You can be the judge of that. In any case, the story has prompted many to write in praise of what (in my view too) is one of life’s great pleasures.
Tony Tudor told how “my heart sinks when, on entering a pub, someone immediately makes for a vacant table in the corner – all the more so if no food is to be consumed. As with the huddle before a team game, I want to experience the camaraderie that standing-up drinking promotes, not be isolated away from the action”.
Alan Hanna added: “Some of us have spent the best hours of our lives standing outside pubs moving between groups of friends, sharing rounds, smoking and having a wonderful few hours to let off steam before going home. I am so pleased that my adult children and their wives enjoy the same. This is one of the highlights of London.”
Not everyone was a fan, though. One reader countered: “Pavement boozing directly outside a pub is one thing but, human nature being what it is, people push the boundaries, literally and metaphorically. The anti-social aspect affects nearby residents, and why should their quality of life be considered less important?”
“I drink beer and I love pubs,” wrote Duncan Turner. “However, I find drinkers on the street annoying, just like anyone else causing a blockage on the pavement.” Are you partial to a vertical drink? Send your responses here and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1934 | Alcatraz officially opens as a federal penitentiary
1960 | Chad declares independence from France
1995 | Amid a period of drought, much like we face this summer, Britons were urged by the environment secretary to wash in a bowl rather than leave the taps running (as we reported in the following day’s paper)
2024 | Paris summer Olympic Games officially close at the Stade de France
Birthdays: Viola Davis (61), Ashley Jensen (57), Chris Hemsworth (43)
Elsewhere, at the weekend we published our critic’s definitive list of the greatest books of all time – from Homer to Milton, Aubrey to Mantel. Following on from that, test your literary knowledge with our quiz.
Here is the first question:
How old was Mary Shelley when she started writing Frankenstein?
1. 16
2. 18
3. 22
4. 25
Play the rest of the quiz here ➤ |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was CHIPBOARD. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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