Proud to be British Read more from journalists who champion our culture, history and values Enjoy four months’ free access to The Telegraph. Cancel at any time. |  | Ben Riley-Smith Political Editor | One of the most significant yet curiously unexplored aspects of British politics right now is Sir Keir Starmer’s intriguingly friendly relationship with Donald Trump.
Last summer they did not know each other at all. They had never met and never talked. Now, though, the US president speaks of friendship and they chat on average once every fortnight.
How, exactly, has the Prime Minister done it? And what, if anything, has he had to give up when bending the knee in pursuit of Trump’s ear?
I’ve spent the summer trying to find out, talking to more than 20 people on both sides of the pond, including those who have listened in on their calls and sat in on meetings.
David Lammy, until recently the foreign secretary, Lord Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US, and Simon Case, the former cabinet secretary, all share their thoughts.
The story that emerges is one of cunning strategies in Downing Street about how to butter up the president, including dolloping on the deference and sycophancy in public.
No 10 insiders reveal how the Prime Minister carefully prepares for his meetings with Trump and the nuances in the way the Royals are deployed to get into his good books.
But, ahead of this week’s state visit, the balance remains precarious. There is plenty of time yet for the early warmth to turn frosty. Read the full story here ➤ |  | In households across the country, the choice of which secondary school to choose for next year is a hot topic now that the application window is open. Labour’s tax raid on private schools means more pupils than ever are expected to take 11+ examinations this month, and parents face real dilemmas about which state, grammar and independent schools will best suit their child - and their pocket.
However, The Telegraph Toolbox is here to support parents through every step of the process. With Ofsted no longer providing one-word judgments, our new secondary school league table draws on publicly available data – from exam results to class size – to help parents make informed decisions to find the best state schools.
The Telegraph’s data journalism team has put together a similar tool to find the best value-for-money private school, poring over the websites of 1,200 independent schools to collect the latest data on fees, exam results and facilities.
Labour’s VAT raid on private schools means value for money has never been of more importance to parents. We’ve calculated how much school fees have risen as a result of the education tax and compiled a guide on 10 ways you can reduce these fees.
And while secondary school parents face an imminent Halloween deadline to apply for their chosen schools, the primary school application process isn’t far behind.
Parents have until mid-January to choose, but it’s never a bad idea to get ahead of the process. The Telegraph’s new primary school league table has considered how schools perform for maths, grammar, punctuation and spelling tests: the cornerstones of your child’s first steps into education.
Find the best primary schools near you ➤
Find the best secondary schools near you ➤
Find the best colleges and sixth forms near you ➤
Find the best value private schools in your area ➤
How to reduce private school fees in the UK: 10 ways to save ➤ | | Sam Ashworth-Hayes One vote every four or five years is a remarkably poor way to convey nuanced feedback on government Continue reading ➤ Janet Daley The American dream is ending in a psychotic breakdown Continue reading ➤ Michael Mosbacher The Left’s obsession with inequality will clobber the middle classes Continue reading ➤ | Time spent wisely See another side to today’s biggest stories with Britain’s leading comment writers Enjoy four months’ free access to The Telegraph. Cancel at any time. | | Danny Rensch was raised in a religious group known as the Church of Immortal Consciousness, whose leaders thought they could communicate with the dead. But their most surprising abuse of power? They forced many of the children into becoming chess prodigies. Rensch, who now leads the million-dollar empire Chess.com, speaks to Sanjiv Bhattacharya about his conflicting feelings from his time in the cult. Continue reading ➤ | | | Among the sea of turquoise polyester at Reform’s party conference, a distinct group emerged: a small army of men in their late teens and early 20s dressed in smart suits. Nigel Farage’s party is winning over young, working-class men who feel society has left them behind. “Young people want a future,” says 26-year-old Cain Parkinson. “They want to earn good money in life, young men in particular. Farage is the only one who conveys that message effectively.” It could help Reform launch the biggest political shake-up in generations. Continue reading ➤ | | | In the 1960s, Joe Orton revolutionised theatre with his scabrous, darkly hilarious plays. But he was also out of control and had paedophilic tendencies. Now, as Entertaining Mr Sloane is revived in London, we talk to his friend, the actress Sheila Hancock, and others about his scandalous life and work. Continue reading ➤ | | | The last Downton Abbey film is now in cinemas and with that, Britain’s most cherished period drama is at an end. We speak to former cast members including Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael and Joanne Froggatt to hear untold stories from filming over the years – from playing Bananagrams with Dame Maggie Smith in between takes, to encounters with famous superfans such as Mick Jagger and Michelle Obama. Continue reading ➤ | | | This has been Larry Ellison’s week. Not only has he become the world’s richest man, overtaking his “dear friend” Elon Musk, but he is pressing ahead with his plans to put Oxford on the map. It will now compete with Silicon Valley as a centre of tech innovation and excellence – with a billionaire-backed Grade-II listed pub. Mick Brown reports on a very expensive revolution taking place in the city of dreaming spires. Continue reading ➤ | | | Every Sunday, Sarah Knapton, our Science Editor, and Joe Pinkstone, our Science Correspondent, demystify your supernatural experiences. From ghoulish encounters to bizarre coincidences, there’s always a scientific explanation and nothing is as strange as it seems...
A baffled reader writes...
“This happened when I was at boarding school taking my A-levels. One evening before chapel a dark, fuzzy menacing sphere less than a foot across appeared above my head.
“A few moments later the student from the room on the opposite side of the corridor burst into the room and said ‘did you see that?’ He was quite terrified.
“I had seen something like that a few days before when I woke up with a start when it appeared above me in the dormitory. I have not experienced anything like this since. I am now 68 and of a superstitious nature.”
Sarah and Joe answer...
As Newcastle United and Derby County fans, we are also haunted by a “menacing overhead sphere”, particularly during conceded corners on match day.
However, the dark, fuzzy ball which lingered above your head seems even more threatening than a Declan Rice free-kick.
A little bit of digging suggests this phenomenon is not as rare as it seems. Message boards all over the internet mention a “weird black ball” or orb floating in the air, which is often fuzzy at the edges, smoky or sometimes described as covered in hair.
Some say it appears like black static, consisting of fast squiggly lines moving from within.
Often it is accompanied by a sinister or dark feeling of foreboding, with some even labelling it an “astral parasite” that feeds off positive human energy, akin to the Dementors in Harry Potter. So what is going on?
Read more about Sarah and Joe’s conclusion here, and please do send in your questions for them ➤ | | We’ve come a long way since package holidays first took off in the Sixties. While sun and sangria were once enough, the tastes of holidaymakers have evolved so much over the years that simply sitting on a beach won’t cut it these days. The world’s savviest travellers are swapping old favourites for more fashionable destinations that reflect the zeitgeist. These are the places they’ll be heading to this winter – and the ones that they’ll avoid.
Below are two more articles that I hope will brighten your weekend: | | Shaw: ‘If I were to try to make an issue of the Eye non-libellous, it would just be blank pages. My job is to help them get away with as much as they can’ | For a journalist quivering in the face of powerful lawyers whose rich clients might be chancing their arm with a ferocious libel letter, having the calm, good-humoured Robin Shaw close to hand would be a massive reassurance, writes Andrew M Brown, obituaries editor.
Shaw, a media litigator, was greatly loved by those who worked with him at various publications. At The Telegraph, for example, he saw off the injunction brought by Sir Philip Green to prevent the publication of allegations of sexual and racial harassment.
He was “astonished by the sleaziness and corruption of some of the people [Private Eye] expose”, and was a master of the robust early rebuttal, particularly the legal device known as the “F Off Letter”.
He had many successes in opposing injunctions, among them the one brought by the BBC to prevent publication of the autobiography of the mystery driver known as the Stig in Top Gear. This, said Shaw, was “another example of the privacy/confidence laws being used inappropriately to try to control what the public can be told”.
Shaw was passionate in his conviction that the media should stand up to attempts by big corporations and rich individuals to silence journalists with legal threats. He could also be very funny – you can read his obituary here. | | Test your trivia skills and put the answers below in order. Play all three rounds of today’s trivia game, Sorted, plus our full range of brainteasers on Telegraph Puzzles.
Get a head start on today’s Cross Atlantic by cracking this clue: Yesterday’s Panagram was DEFICIENT. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Allister Heath, Sunday Telegraph Editor
P.S. Please share your thoughts on the newsletter here. | |
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