The Week - UK (2021-02-13)

4 NEWS Politics

THEWEEK 13 February 2021

Controversy of the week

Starmer’s struggle

“Prime minister is only the secondmost difficul tjob in British

politics,” said AndrewRawnsley inTheObserver.“The

toughest gigisleaderofthe opposition.” Howevermuch

troubleaPMgets into, at leasthe orshe can “always do

things”: launchpolicies,unveil legislation,meetworld leaders.

The leaderofthe opposition, though,“can only talk”.Trying

to keep th epubli c’sattentionis agrinding, “often unrewarding

challenge”. Theonly sure-fire waytodoiti swithapratfall:

“strugglingwith abacon sarnie”,like Ed Miliband, or falling

over in public,like Neil Kinnock. Keir Starmer hassof ar

avoided that,andhas introduced himself to the publicina

“favourableway”, asareassuring presence andasensible critic

of theGovernmentduring the pandemic. His approvalratings

are asgood as anyoppositionleader’s since Tony Blair. Butwe

stilldon’tknow“whether SirKeirisa ny good at retail politics”.

Nearlyayearinto his tenure as Labour leader,thedoubts are mounting up,said EleniCoureain The

Times.Starmerblundered in the Commons last week, wrongly accusing Boris Johnson oflyingwhen

the PM claimedStarmerhad want ed theUKtostay in theEU’smedicalregulation regime. Anda

leakedinternalreport arguing that thepartyshould makemoreuse of the Unionflag towin back “Red

Wall”votersputLabour’s spindoctors on thedefensive.More generally,there arefears that “there’s

something missing” fromhis leadership:that hedoesn’t stand for anythingmuch. I’mworried that

he’s alittletoo boring to winaBritish election,said MarinaHydeinThe Guardian. Ifrecent decades

have taught us anything, it’s that we mostly want to elect “politicians with something ofthenutter to

them”. Our“long estelectoralaffections” have beenreservedfor“obviousnutters”,like Thatcher

andBlair. Lookat Johnson:“nutte r”. JeremyCorbynwas the “wrong kind of nutter”, but voters

were still“strangely drawn”tohim.The GreatBritish Publicmay tell pollstersthat it wantscalm,

competent types likeStarmerinc harge; butwe alsotelldoctors thatwe only drink 14 unitsaweek.

“Britishpolitics is contestedin tw odifferent worlds,” said Stephen Bushinthe NewStatesman. In

the first world,of commentators andpoliticalparties and Twitter, everypolicy andspeechisclosely

examined forits significance. Thenthere’s the second world,in which normalpeople vaguelylisten

to the newswhile getting on with their lives.In the firstworld, aconsensusis forming that Starmer

“issimply not upto it”.But thesecondworldiswhere generalelections are actually“wonandlost”

–and histeam claim that heis doingnicely in thatone.We’ll seesoonenough, said John Rentoul in

The Independent.Ithas been confirmedthat local electionswillgoahead inMay; Welsh andScottish

electionsare likely totake placeaswell. Fig htingfor actual votes willlessen thepressureonhim to

articulate some grand “vision”, and“clarif ywhatvotersfeelabout theStarmer-led LabourParty”.

Does he havea“vision”?

Spirit of the age

Good weekfor:

Bruce Springsteen,whocaused aviral sensationwhen he

brokehisdecades-long self-imposedrule –noads, no endorse-

ments.The71-year-old rocker appearedin an advert fo rJeep,in

which he madearousingcall fo runityinadivided America. The

ad was unveiled duringthe Super Bowl, thebiggestTV event of

the yearin theUS. “Our light hasalwaysfoundits wa ythrou gh

the darkness,” he says. “And there’s hopeonthe road up ahead.”

SamiraAhmed,who was tipped to become thefirst female

presenter ofMastermind.JohnHumphrys, whohashosted the

BBC quiz showsince 2003, is standing down inMarch.

The Unit ed Arab Emirates,after itsHopeprobe entered the

orbit of Mars.The momenthad been eagerlyanticipated:in

Dubai,acountdownwasflashedacross BurjKhalifa,the world’s

tallest building.Aday later,aChineseprobeenter ed Mars’s orbit;

aUSone is scheduledtodosonextweek.All are taking

advantageofaperiod whenMars and Earthareattheir closest.

Bad week for:

British fishermen,after they wereinformedthat they canno

longerexportliveshellfishto the EU.Asa“thir dcountry”,the

UKfalls foul of EU restrictions on importsof un purifie dmussel s,

clams, scallops, cockles and oysters–or“live bivalvemolluscs”.

Home workers,with studie sshowingthatemployees working

at home duringthe pandemicareputt ing infarlonger hoursthan

they didinthe office.Workers intheUKhaveincreased their

workingweek byalmost25%, according to an analysisby the

business support groupNordVPN Teams.

NHS shake-up

The Government is planning

another major shake-up of

the NHS in England, outlined

in awhite paper leaked last

week. At its heart is a

proposal to restore control

and decision-making to the

Secretary of State–undoing

akey component of the

Lansley reforms, which were

introduced by the Coalition in

2012, shifting power to NHS

England. In the reformed

system, the Health Secretary

would have the power to

block hospital closures, and

decide the direction ofNHS

services. The reformswill

also reduce the role of the

private sector in the NHS, by

scrapping the system that

sees contracts being put out

to tender, and health groups

competing against each

other. According to the white

paper, the proposals “either

directly implement or build

upon” NHS England’s own

recommendations.

Election sgoing ahead

Local and mayoral elections

in England will go ahead as

planned on6May,but there

may be some restrictions

on campaigning, the

Government has announced.

Polling stations will be fitted

with screens, and voters will

be asked to bring their own

pens, as part of efforts to

make the process safer.

Those who are self-isolating

or shielding will be able to

nominateaproxy voteras

late as 5pm on polling day.

Claddingpayments

TheGovernment has

promised an extra £3.5bn

to pay for unsafe cladding

to be removed from high-

rise flats, and cheap loans to

help owners fix problems in

low-rise ones.A£1.6bn fund

for works deemed necessary

after the Grenfell Tower fire

was announced in 2020.

But with the total cost of

fixing problems estimated

at £15bn, ministers had been

under pressure to do more.

With holidays in far-flung

locations likely to be off the

cards this summer, travel

agents are dreaming up

luxury trips closer to home

for their super-rich clientele.

Abercrombie&Kent, for

instance, is offeringatwo-

week tour of Scotland,

starting on the Belmond

Royal Scotsman–which has

an on-board spa–and

ending at the Glamis Castle

estate. Also included are

tickets to various events and

agame of tennis with Andy

Murray. It costs £600,000.

An upmarket Indian restaur-

ant in Birmingham is getting

around lockdown rules by

offering customersafine

dining experience–int heir

cars. Varanasi will offer a

takeaway three-course feast

inspired by the in-flight

meals served in business

class, with floral garnishes

and alemon fresh wipe.