Have the Tories Had It? Page 4

McKellen’s The massacre Abdelhamid spellbinding in Las Vegas Sharaf and his Lear TALKING enlightenment POINTS P20 DRAMA P24 project BEST ARABIC ARTICLES P 14 MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR 7-13 OCTOBER 2017 | ISSUE 179 | AED 15 THE BEST OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Have the Tories had it? Page 4 RO 2.00 BD 2.00 KD 1.5 SR 20.00 A Motivate Publication ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS 4 NEWS The main story… What happened What the editorials said “What a difference a year makes,” said the Daily Mail. May Tory turmoil addressed the last Tory conference from “a position of Theresa May vowed this week to “renew the seemingly unassailable strength”. Now she British dream” in a speech marred by a series and the Tories are barely clinging to power. of mishaps, including an extended coughing fit, The PM’s priority in Manchester this week the interruption of a prankster and some letters was simply “survival”, said The Guardian – falling off a slogan behind her. Her address and, given her party’s “deep instincts of self- came at the close of the party conference in preservation and discipline”, she may yet get Manchester, during which the Tories unveiled her wish. Whether she deserves to survive, a raft of new policies aimed at younger voters. however, is another matter. As part of an effort to help renters and aspiring homeowners, they announced plans to build The Tories are rightly worried about their more council houses and to plough a further lack of support among the young, said The £10bn into the Help to Buy loan scheme. They Times. Their problem extends far beyond also pledged to freeze university tuition fees, and students: at the last election, the crossover raise the threshold at which students start to pay age at which voters were more likely to vote off their debt from £21,000 to £25,000. Tory than Labour was 47, according to May: unlucky general? YouGov research. The party is now trying to The run-up to the conference was overshadowed tackle this demographic “time bomb”, but it by an ongoing row over the leadership ambitions of the has chosen some “odd” policies. The modest tweaks to tuition Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who used an interview in The fees are unlikely to make much difference. As for expanding Sun to set out his own Brexit agenda. It led some Tory MPs to Help to Buy, this scheme helps a few people, but drives up demand his resignation. In his speech on Tuesday, Johnson prices for everyone by boosting demand. It’s far more said it was time to “let the [British] lion roar” as he called for important to increase the supply of homes, said The Sunday the country to “seize the opportunities” of life outside the EU. Times. “A housebuilding revolution was the making of Harold But he also praised May’s “steadfast” leadership. Macmillan. It should be Mrs May’s domestic priority.” What happened What the editorials said Crisis in Catalonia “Catalan separatists have not covered themselves in glory in the run-up to this poll,” said The Times. The referendum was More than 800 people were injured in Catalonia illegal as a matter of Spanish law, and the motion on Sunday when Spanish police stormed polling approving it was rushed through Catalonia’s stations and seized ballot papers, in an attempt parliament on a wafer-thin majority, during to stop an independence referendum which the a session boycotted by many in the opposition. country’s government and constitutional court Nevertheless, it should have been possible for had declared illegal. Peaceful protesters and Madrid to defuse the situation. Polls suggest that, elderly voters were clubbed with batons; rubber until this week, most people in Catalonia opposed bullets were fired at crowds. According to the independence. Rajoy’s fundamental error “was to Catalan government, 90% of ballots cast were bludgeon his Catalan critics rather than attempt to in favour of independence, on a 43% turnout. win the argument”. Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, “Most Catalans wished both for a referendum and thanked the police for acting with “firmness to remain in a united Spain,” said The Guardian. and serenity”, and accused Catalan separatists Now the country is “in crisis”. Catalan election of trying to “blackmail the whole nation”; King Independence at a price officials have been arrested. People have been Felipe blamed Catalan leaders for trying to break dragged out of polling stations by their hair and “the unity of Spain”. But as thousands took to the thrown down stairs. National police have clashed with streets of Barcelona to protest, Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s regional police force. “The outcome is almost president of Catalonia’s regional government, vowed that certain to be that some of the Catalans indifferent or opposed his government would declare independence from Spain to secession are pushed into the arms of the cause.” Who, after “at the end of this week or the beginning of the next”. all, “wants to be ruled by a state like this”? It wasn’t all bad The fortunes of a village cricket team Measles has been eliminated in Kent have been transformed by in the UK, the World Health Campaigners against plastic the arrival of six new members – from Organisation (WHO) announced pollution celebrated a small Afghanistan. Two years ago, Langton last week. The disease hasn’t victory last week, when JD Green Cricket Club was so short of circulated freely in the country Wetherspoon announced that players that it had to call off matches. for three years, meeting the it would stop automatically But that changed when Noor WHO’s criteria for elimination putting plastic straws in Mohammad (pictured) discovered – although there are still customers’ drinks. From the club, and got his friends to join isolated cases. Often these are January, the pub chain will only too. Originally from a town near the brought in from abroad. The use biodegradable paper straws border with Pakistan, he fled war and organisation also said the UK – a move it claims will cut the poverty in his teens, and spent three is on the verge of eliminating number of plastic straws years trekking across Asia and Europe. rubella. A week earlier, it was discarded each year by some Granted leave to remain in Britain, announced that England has 70 million. JD Wetherspoon is he found work as a cab driver in met its target of getting 95% of the second big chain to cut back Tunbridge Wells. Playing cricket made him feel at home. “They can children to have the first dose on plastic waste: All Bar One do it all – bat, bowl, field,” said club stalwart Martin Russell. “It’s as of the MMR vaccine before their UNDAY TIMES/NEWS UNDAY SYNDICATION COVER CARTOON: NEIL DAVIES CARTOON: COVER unveiled similar plans in June. if they have been playing English village cricket all their lives.” fifth birthday. © S THE WEEK 7 OCTOBER 2017 …and how it was covered NEWS 5 What the commentators said What next? “Did any Tory who watched May’s protester-interrupted, cough-plagued, stuttering, cringe- May announced that the inducing address feel she exuded authority” asked Hugh Muir in The Guardian. To judge from Government will publish the “pained expressions” in the hall, they did not. This was May’s chance to press a reset draft legislation next week button on her premiership. But it wasn’t to be. “Bring me a general who is lucky,” said to impose a price cap on the Napoleon. She isn’t that. There is “panic in the air” in Tory circles, due to the relative success of domestic energy market. The last week’s Labour conference, said Dan Hodges in The Mail on Sunday. These people need to PM proposed a cap earlier get a grip. True, if an election were held next week, the Tories would lose. But there isn’t going this year, before appearing to be one until 2022, unless they want one. There’s plenty of time to turn things around. to backtrack on the plan after losing her parliamentary Parties can rejuvenate themselves while in power, said Isabel Hardman in The Spectator. The majority in the election. Tories managed it under Margaret Thatcher, after her economic ideas triggered an early back- lash, and again under John Major, who won the 1992 election after the “catas trophic rows” Amber Rudd, the Home over the poll tax that ended Thatcher’s premiership. But it’s a hard trick to pull off, and not one Secretary, has hired the that the current government looks likely to achieve on the evidence of this week’s muted pollster Lynton Crosby conference. “The Tories are starting to resemble Labour at the end of its last spell in power” – to help her craft her next bereft of energy and new ideas. It’s not so much the “Nasty Party” as the “Knackered Party”. election campaign, reports The Sunday Times, fuelling Might the ebullient Johnson come to the rescue? Unlikely, said Juliet Samuel in The Daily speculation that she is Telegraph. While his recent Brexit pronouncements have “won him a bounce in popularity preparing a leadership bid. among grass-roots Tory activists” – one recent poll showed him back in front of rivals as the Rudd will need to convince favoured candidate to replace May – they have also bred some “serious ill will” among his Tory MPs that she can hold colleagues. Johnson has alienated too many people to win the leadership now, agreed John on to her seat in the next Rentoul in The Independent.

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