Cancorbyncatchup?

THE MAKING The truth about “I’m shocked that OF A MASS American teeth my kids are more MURDERER BEST AMERICAN square than me” COLUMNISTS P16 TALKING POINTS PEOPLE P10 P22 3TH JUNE 2017 | ISSUE 1127 | £3.30 EWTHE BEST OF THE BRITISHEEK AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Can Corbyn catch up? The poll gap narrows Page 4 ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS www.theweek.co.uk 4 NEWS The main stories… What happened What the editorials said The Conservative campaign is misfiring badly, said the Closing the gap London Evening Standard (now edited by George Osborne). A number of opinion polls showed a marked It has “meandered from an abortive attempt narrowing of the Conservatives’ lead over to launch a personality cult around Mrs Labour, while YouGov’s first constituency- May to the self-inflicted wound of the most by-constituency projection had the Tories disastrous manifesto in recent history and, actually losing 20 seats in next week’s after the atrocity in Manchester, shrill election and Labour gaining 30, leading to a attacks on Mr Corbyn’s appeasement of hung parliament. These surveys followed the terrorism”. The final week will see the Tories troubled launch of the Tory manifesto, which zeroing in on Brexit, said The Independent. saw Theresa May ditch a key pledge on But the election isn’t just about Europe; it’s social care funding within days. Other polls, also about Britain. And the narrowing polls however, suggested that the Conservatives suggest Corbyn “may have a better feel for maintained a comfortable lead (see page 6). the underlying desires of the electorate than the Tories give him credit for”. Jeremy Corbyn continued to exceed Corbyn: calm and assured? expectations: he appeared calm and assured If politicians have learnt anything in the past when he appeared with the Prime Minister on Monday few years, “it is not to place too much faith in opinion polls”, night’s live TV broadcast. However, on Woman’s Hour on said The Times. Yet the general trend is clear. Having Tuesday, Corbyn was unable to remember the cost of envisaged a landslide victory, by perhaps 200 seats, Tory HQ Labour’s promise to provide universal childcare for two- to is now hoping for a majority of 80 at best. In most elections, four-year-olds; he was seen rifling through his manifesto for “there is a moment when the leading party takes a tumble in the figure. May later unleashed a series of personal attacks the ratings”, said The Daily Telegraph. But the Conservatives on the Labour leader, claiming that he was not prepared for shouldn’t panic. “On the contrary, they must exploit this news Brexit talks and would find himself “alone and naked in the to the fullest – to focus the minds of the voters. Do they want negotiating chamber”. Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn to run the country?” What happened What the editorials said A nation on alert One vital lesson of the Manchester bombing is the “urgent need to upgrade and extend” our counter-terrorism powers, As the investigation into last week’s suicide said the Daily Mail. Why not, for example, bombing in Manchester continued, police restore the control orders – “watered down” said that they thought the bomber, Salman under Lib Dem pressure – which stop Abedi, had probably carried out the attack terrorist suspects from using the internet and alone – but refused to rule out the limit their movements? The priority, possibility that he was part of a wider however, must be stemming the “torrent of network. In the days after the atrocity, at terrorist poison” on social media. The briefest least 16 suspects were arrested in raids in online search currently reveals bomb-making Manchester and elsewhere. However, five manuals and calls for the murder of children. have since been released. Last Saturday, the security threat was downgraded from But it’s vital not to overreact, said The “critical” to “severe”, and this week Economist. When UKIP leader Paul Nuttall Operation Temperer – which put troops on and others talk of detaining terror suspects the street – was scaled back. Police remain vigilant without trial, it simply serves as a “recruiting message” for the jihadists. Nor should we Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sparked fierce controversy by jeopardise existing reserves of goodwill, said The Spectator. A suggesting that British foreign policy had increased the risk survey last year found that the overwhelming majority of of terrorist attacks at home by destabilising the Middle East British Muslims say it’s important to “integrate into British and fuelling suspicion of the West. In response, the Prime life” and that they feel they “belong strongly to Britain”. To Minister accused the Labour leader of making an “excuse undermine that spirit would be to “bring on precisely the for terrorism”. clash of civilisations that the Islamists want”. An Indian climber has The world’s first wind farm It wasn’t all bad become the first powered by giant kites is to be A field in Cornwall has become woman to scale Mount built in the UK. Twenty of the the first single vineyard in the Everest twice in five kites, flying in loops more than UK to be awarded Protected days. Anshu 300 metres above the ground, Designation of Origin status. To Jamsenpa, from the will work in pairs to generate secure the designation – which state of Arunachal electricity by rotating a took five years – Bob Lindo of Pradesh, climbed generator on the ground. Kite Camel Valley wines had to show Everest by its Power Systems plans to build that the ancient slate subsoil Southeast Ridge route the farm, which it says would and steep south-facing slopes of on 16 May and produce enough electricity to the Darnibole vineyard produce repeated the feat on 21 power 5,500 homes, by 2020, at consistently good wines with a May – beating the previous record for the fastest double ascent by a location due to be confirmed character unique to the area. a woman by two days. The 37-year-old mother of two had later this year. Less obtrusive “It’s a moment of history,” said previously climbed the mountain twice in ten days, in 2011. She than wind turbines, the kites, Lindo, who began growing now intends to reach the summit of Kangto, a 23,160ft mountain in each measuring up to 70 square grapes on his former livestock Arunachal Pradesh that has never been climbed, as well as other metres, will also be cheaper to farm 30 years ago. “virgin peaks” in the Himalaya. erect and easier to maintain. COVER CARTOON: NEIL DAVIES THE WEEK 3 June 2017 …and how they were covered NEWS 5 What the commentators said What next? I never bought the idea that May would win by a landslide, said Rod Liddle in The Spectator. After the political surprises of Labour’s vote is a lot “stickier” than pollsters think, particularly in the North. Like Greece’s 2015 and 2016, are pollsters Syriza or the SNP, Corbyn is offering an “anti-establishment populist left-wing agenda” to an “heading for another electorate with “a certain appetite for such radicalism”. He’s also a far better campaigner than embarrassing election”, ask May, who has “the personal warmth, wit and oratorical skills of an Indesit fridge-freezer”. Will Jennings and Patrick Sturgis on The Conversation? The Tories have fought a very dispiriting campaign, said Rachel Sylvester in The Times. Their After their predictions for the over-reliance on the PM has exposed her as “brittle and indecisive rather than ‘strong and last election proved so faulty, stable’”. Now that “the high priest of negativity”, Sir Lynton Crosby, is back in charge, they the polling companies held will lead on “vicious personal attacks” against Corbyn: that he is “soft on terrorism”, an IRA an inquiry, and concluded sympathiser, and so on. The Conservatives will probably get their victory on 8 June, but it will that they had used be a bitter one because they have had “so little positive” to say. “There must be more to politics “unrepresentative samples”. than Project Fear.” The Tories seem strangely reluctant to attack Corbyn’s greatest weakness, They came up with some said Philip Johnston in The Daily Telegraph: his “profligacy”. His failure to remember the cost proposed reforms, but of his own pledge to provide free care for 1.3 million children was just the latest expression of although some changes have Labour’s “carelessness with public money”. At the last election, it was generally agreed that been made, many of the spending had to be reined in. This time, the Tories have “partially grasped the nettle” by proposals have not yet been pledging to cut old age benefits and pension inflation. Yet they too are trying to buy the voters implemented. with more cash for “police, health, social care and the rest” (see page 13). Between 1945 and 2015, the On the contrary, said Steve Richards in The Guardian: the last two elections were “framed average polling error on the around an outdated Thatcherite fantasy”. Both main parties declared that there would be no Tory-Labour margin was significant tax rises, and yet the deficit could be wiped out in one Parliament or slightly more. around 4-5%. There’s “no Thankfully, the debate this time round is different. Both Labour and the Tories have made it particular reason” to assume clear that some tax rises will be needed if decent public services are to be preserved. Whatever that the pollsters’ record will the result, this election has moved the centre ground; British politics has shifted “leftwards”.

Load more