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Annabel Denham Senior Political Commentator |
From 1,500 pages of WhatsApp messages and emails relating to Lord Mandelson’s time as US ambassador, one line cuts through.
Pat McFadden’s complaint that “every meeting I have [with Labour MPs] is who we can tax in order to pay benefits to others” landed with devastating force yesterday afternoon. It confirms that beneath the language of “growth” and “stability” lies Labour’s instinctive belief that Britain’s problems can always be resolved through higher public spending.
Kemi Badenoch immediately recognised its potency, thundering on X: “It doesn’t matter who is in charge of these people, the party for Benefits Street will tax us all into poverty to pay for more welfare.” Reform figures are piling in.
McFadden’s frankness puts Andy Burnham in a bind. The Mayor of Greater Manchester has responded to the latest tranche of Mandelson files with gabble about how “change can’t come soon enough”.
However, his post avoids the central problem the Work and Pensions Secretary identified. More than 130 Labour MPs joined attempts to derail Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare reforms last year. Eventually, 49 voted against the watered-down bill, after projected savings were slashed from roughly £5bn to less than £2bn. You can’t change the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Burnham is under pressure today to respond directly to McFadden’s remark. If the Makerfield hopeful does return to Westminster, and navigates the tricky path to No 10, he’ll inevitably collide with the same unforgiving reality Starmer confronted.
It’s easy enough to promise compassion from outside, but far harder to reform a country where markets are watching and your own MPs consider welfare restraint heresy. Will he really even try? Read more of The Telegraph’s coverage of the Mandelson files here:
• Pat McFadden: All Labour does is ask ‘who can we tax?’ ➤
• Trump’s red dispatch box and other things you may have missed from Mandelson files ➤
• Tim Stanley: These files are a hoot – it’s modern government through the eyes of a knave ➤
• Plus, for more exclusive political analysis from Annabel Denham, sign up to our Frontbencher newsletter here. |
Neil Griffiths with his father, who was 28 when his first wife and son died |
It took the death of my parents and six more years to write a memoir about my origin story.
I was born into a home of unresolved grief and guilt: the shadow of a dead son and abandoned daughter.
From day one, both parents required something from me I could never provide.
We lived in a home of almost complete silence, with the constant threat of anger. To disrupt that silence was to hear my father saying, “What’s the noise?”, and to know that the rest of the day was ruined.
I did my best to escape from it all.
Griffiths with his twins, Wilder and Macleod, on holiday in 2006 |
However, four decades later, my life unravelled and I found myself becoming my father and creating the home I thought I’d left behind.
I exhibited every category of anger with my family: I lost my temper, I smashed things, I went into silent furies that lasted for days.
It turned out that I would need to reckon with myself and my past for that cycle to be broken.
For subscribers only ➤ |
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Suzanne Moore By playing the ‘wronged wife’ on the BBC, we are once again expected to feel sorry for her as the victim of a huge sexist conspiracy Continue reading ➤
James Kirkup Falling birth rates are an existential threat – yet the political class is silent Continue reading ➤
Celia Walden Barbarian phone addicts must be permanently banned from the theatre Continue reading ➤ |
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Newly released footage shows the teenager handcuffed and telling officers he can’t breathe | Credit: Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary |
Until a phone call from Donald Trump scuppered his plans, Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to launch new strikes on Lebanon and blow up the peace negotiations between Tehran and Washington. For the Israeli prime minister, a US-Iran deal that left the Islamic Republic free to rebuild would present an existential threat. In Israel, the failure to deliver a “new reality” is generating widespread fear and angst, meaning Netanyahu’s only option may be to fight for as long as he can.
This analysis is for subscribers only.
Continue reading ➤
Israel halts Lebanon strikes after Trump tells Netanyahu ‘everyone hates you’ ➤ |
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AI isn’t only replacing jobs. It’s also preventing you from landing a new one. As companies increasingly use new technology to screen applications, jobseekers are finding themselves rejected for roles they are more than qualified for. We’ve asked the experts how to get past the bots, and land your CV in the hands of a human. Continue reading ➤ |
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After several dates, Isabella thought Breeze was a ‘disruptor in the dating app landscape’ |
Isabella Silvers has been single for much of her adult life, with no luck using today’s plethora of dating apps. So, she turned to Breeze, a free app that promises to “skip the small talk” and forces users to meet in person. Although she ended her three-month experiment without a new relationship, she says since she started using it, every other dating app has slipped out of her rotation. Continue reading ➤ |
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A bad smell from Hespin Wood landfill site in Rockcliffe, Cumbria, is affecting nearby residents |
For many heading to the idyllic landscape of Cumbria, the first thing to hit them is no longer the pastoral rolling mountains, but rather the pungent smell of rotting eggs, writes Lily Shanagher. The stench is from a nearby landfill site that residents say has been mismanaged and overfilled since it was taken over by its new owners. For politicians, this is an ominous symbol of a new era of waste mismanagement sweeping across the country. Continue reading ➤ |
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Head gardener Tom Brown advises readers to ‘have fun while you do it and revel in the joys of being outside’ |
As we flip-flop from hot, dry spells to downpours, gardening in June can be extremely challenging, creating the sense that we’ve lost control, writes Tom Brown. My advice would be to keep plugging away, tidy those borders, fill containers with summer colour, and keep on top of that short grass. It’ll all come good in the end, and there’ll be more time to enjoy and take it all in. For now, here are some key jobs I’d suggest ticking off this month.
Continue reading ➤
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Coulsdon
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Mick Brown Features Writer |
I grew up on the London to Brighton line – Victoria, East Croydon, South Croydon, Coulsdon South. It was what you might call a dormitory community, suburbia; we’d talk of “the village”, although it was a long time since it had been that, with medium-sized family houses from the 20s and 30s, set in a valley.
The main London to Brighton road – the A23 – passed through the village. It was the road we lived on, and on the first Sunday of each November we’d stand outside the house to cheer on the vintage cars passing by on the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
A 1902 Albion Dog-Cart pictured on the 1954 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run |
We lived opposite the Methodist church, with the hall where I’d go for cubs and scouts meetings. The family doctor lived next door; he was an alcoholic, and on some nights you could hear him raving and shouting. When I was ill, he’d pop in, to take my temperature, smile genially and tell my mother to keep me at home.
A short walk away was the newsagent, where for a while I’d go each morning to collect the newspapers for my round, shivering in the dark winter mornings, The Telegraph and The Times for the posh houses, The Mirror for the small council estate – you can read more about this here.
On a hill overlooking the village, at the end of a long drive, and behind a screen of trees, stood a Victorian asylum, Cane Hill. A forbidding place, seldom to be mentioned. My father was a member of Toc H, a Christian charity, and would occasionally visit patients there. He took me with him one day, leaving me to wait in the gardens feeling vaguely fearful.
The forbidding Cane Hill mental asylum, which overlooked Mick Brown’s village |
David Bowie’s half-brother, Terry, was a patient there in the 1970s. Bowie wrote a song about Terry and Cane Hill, All The Madmen.
“He’s perfectly happy there – perfectly happy”, he told an interviewer. “Doesn’t have to work, just lies there on the lawn all day, looking at the sky.”
In 1985, Terry walked out of Cane Hill, and down to Coulsdon South station, where he stepped in front of a train and was killed instantly.
Cane Hill was demolished in the 2000s, to be replaced by an estate of “executive” houses, but I was gone long before that.
Have you ever been to Coulsdon? If so, let us know your memories of the town here. |
En français, s’il vous plaîtEvery 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...
Yesterday’s newsletter discussed a cultural quirk that vexes many Telegraph readers but has only ever served as a source of profound relief to me. I refer to French people’s habit of responding to any attempt to speak their language with a volley of immaculate English. This has always struck me as understandable, unlike my conversational French, but I can see how it might be annoying for more competent linguists. Perhaps there is a bigger principle at stake, along the lines of: it’s my holiday and I’ll speak French if I want to!
In any case, the theme has resonated: we’ve had lots of replies. Amelie Oliver-Browne writes: “I’ve nearly reached the end of my A-level French course and I’ve loved it. I feel that being able to speak another language is one of life’s great pleasures. When I’ve been to France, I’ve tried to use French as much as I can, but I do find that I end up speaking English because they can detect I’m not a local.”
There are certainly occasions, though, when it’s possible to see where the French are coming from on this. Patrick Hodgson recalls: “We took a family holiday in a gite in Brittany many years ago. I tried to explain that I worked at the Foreign Office, but what I actually said was that I was the Foreign Minister.”
Jane Griffiths had a different experience, in France at least: “I am a determined French speaker, and in 11 years of living in France I never found this to be a problem. Yes, I had a strong English accent, but I could always communicate. Latterly I’ve been learning Spanish, mainly of the Latin American ilk, but more recently I spent a week in Madrid. OK, we were in touristy places, but I found myself getting quite cross because people just spoke to us in English. I was with an American, who didn’t mind this at all and just spoke English everywhere, as Americans seem to do around the world.” Thanks to everybody who replied. 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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1953 | The coronation of Elizabeth II (below you can find the historical front page from the following day)
1975 | First recorded snowfall in London in June
2015 | Sepp Blatter resigns as president of Fifa over corruption scandal
Birthdays: Steve Smith (37), Steve Waugh (61), Tony Hadley (66)
Plus, singer Dua Lipa got married at Old Marylebone Town Hall on Sunday. Who is her husband, an actor tipped to be the next James Bond?
1. Paul Mescal
2. Callum Turner
3. Harry Styles
4. Aaron Taylor-Johnson |
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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 AMBULANCE. 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 here. |
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