Neil Obrien | The Spectator Columnists & Writers

Boris’s secret weapon in the fight against Corbyn

Boris’s secret weapon in the fight against Corbyn

Boris’s secret weapon in the fight against Corbyn

After nine years cleaning up Labour's mess, things are looking up. Government debt as a share of the economy is starting to fall. For Theresa May's successor, this means there is an opportunity to spend some desperately-needed money on public services: the police, prisons, schools and local government. But it's also vital – and a key Tory weapon in the fight against Corbyn – to cut taxes, putting more money in people’s pockets. Boris Johnson has already made such a pledge, floating the idea of increasing the point at which people pay the higher rate of tax. In the long-term, that would be good to do. Yet given the limited room for manoeuvre, right now we must focus on tax cuts that benefit large numbers of people.

Boris’s secret weapon in the fight against Corbyn

Could a northern ‘supercity’ rebalance Britain’s economy?

Could a northern ‘supercity’ rebalance Britain’s economy?

Could a northern ‘supercity’ rebalance Britain’s economy?

George Osborne is drawing up plans for a northern 'supercity', in the hope that it might rival London and rebalance Britain's economy. Neil O'Brien discussed the idea of a supercity in The Spectator in December 2012, before going off to advise Osborne. My career in politics nearly ended the day it began, when I was almost run over by a gang of Nazis in a Mini-Metro. Not a very butch car to be hit by, I know, and a rather pathetic substitute for a Panzer tank. But it was the early 1990s, and supporters of fascist government in Britain had seen their resources dwindle a bit over the decades. I was 14, and attending my first political demonstration, an Anti-Nazi League protest against the BNP in Halifax. I became separated from the crowd.

Could a northern ‘supercity’ rebalance Britain’s economy?

The great divide | 29 November 2012

The great divide | 29 November 2012

The great divide | 29 November 2012

My career in politics nearly ended the day it began, when I was almost run over by a gang of Nazis in a Mini-Metro. Not a very butch car to be hit by, I know, and a rather pathetic substitute for a Panzer tank. But it was the early 1990s, and supporters of fascist government in Britain had seen their resources dwindle a bit over the decades. I was 14, and attending my first political demonstration, an Anti-Nazi League protest against the BNP in Halifax. I became separated from the crowd. There were some hooligans from the other side screeching around in a car yelling abuse and doing handbrake turns and, as I ran down a street away from them, they drove the car up onto the pavement behind me. I thought I was about to be mown down, but at the last minute they swerved back on to the road and roared past.

The great divide | 29 November 2012

Another country | 14 April 2012

Another country | 14 April 2012

Another country | 14 April 2012

London’s separateness from the rest of Britain becomes more pronounced every yearLondon has always been different from the rest of the country. But in recent decades the differences have widened to the point that, economically and socially, the capital now has little in common with the rest of Britain. The city may be hosting the Olympics in July, but none of those attending should kid themselves that they have visited Britain. London has effectively left the UK; it belongs instead to a loose international federation of global cities united by their economic dynamism and cosmopolitanism and the people who flit between them. This leads to a big problem: Londonitis. The politicians, civil servants and journalists who make up Britain’s governing class have had their world view shaped by living in the capital and its wealthy satellites.

Another country | 14 April 2012

Little platoons online

Little platoons online

Little platoons online

Cameron’s ‘big idea’ is for a ‘Post-Bureaucratic Age’ enabled by the internet. Will it work? Peter Hoskin and Neil O’Brien aren’t sureThe future: it’s all about computers. Anyone could tell you that. But not everyone gets quite as evangelical about it as David Cameron. Put the Conservative leader in a room full of tech-heads, web freaks and assorted blue-sky thinkers, and he soon starts to preach his gospel. Computers will catalyse our political evolution, he says. Armed with only an internet connection, the public will start seizing back control from an overreaching state. Everything will be cheaper, faster, better — and we’ll all be happier to boot. Burke’s Little Platoons have just gone digital.Yet beyond this the narrative fizzles out — and rapidly.

Little platoons online

A whole batch of Brownies

A whole batch of Brownies

A whole batch of Brownies

There are some pretty cheeky claims in today’s Pre-Budget Report. One is that “Cyclically-adjusted borrowing is lower than at Budget across the medium-term forecast.” (page 171). That makes it sound like it’s all under got a bit better since the Budget. But in fact the “cyclically adjusted” improvement is entirely because of a redefinition of the cycle - not because of any actual reduction in the deficit. For example, the PBR forecasts the deficit for 2013/4 as 5.5 percent of GDP - exactly the same as that in the 2009 Budget. Another claim is that “The annual pace of consolidation set out in this Pre-Budget report is faster than the pace of deficit reduction forecast by the IMF for all other G7 economies” (page 33).

A whole batch of Brownies

Getting Byrned

Getting Byrned

Getting Byrned

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more dishonest, it does. I wrote a piece in the Telegraph this morning saying that the Tories should dramatise the scale of the Government’s debt crisis by symbolically dropping their IHT promise. I said: “Dropping such a high profile policy would have shock value. It would send the vital message that the country is going bust. That would allow the Conservatives more room to level with the public about the truly horrific situation they will inherit." Predictably, up pops Liam Byrne MP to say: "Even David Cameron's favourite right wing think tank now believes he is wrong to give £200,000 to just 3,000 of the wealthiest estates.‪ ‪It's time the Tories gave up on their plans to cut public services to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy few.

Getting Byrned

Ireland votes no, now what’s next?

Ireland votes no, now what’s next?

1) This was a vote against the Treaty, and against deeper EU integration This was indeed a vote against deeper integration. The political class are already spinning that it was stuff about abortion, an unpopular government – all the same old claims. But look at the polls and the top reasons for voting no – they are all perfectly reasonable. Here is the list of the top reasons from the last Irish Times poll “Can you tell me why you have decided to vote no on the Lisbon Treaty?” 30% I don’t know what I’m voting for/ don’t understand it 24% To keep Ireland’s power and identity 22% To safeguard Ireland’s neutrality 17% Don’t like being told what to do/ forced into voting yes 12% Bigger countries will have too much power Nor did the no campaign benefit from a small turnout.

Why won’t The Independent print this letter?

Why won’t The Independent print this letter?

On Thursday, when I saw that The Independent had reprinted almost word for word Foreign Office talking points without attribution or any indication to its readers that this is what it was up to, I sent in a letter to the editor. Oddly enough, it hasn’t yet been published. If the Indy is “completely unapologetic” about what it did, why is it so scared of its readers finding out about it? ------Original Message------ To: letters@independent.co.uk Sent: 18 Oct 2007 11:19 AM Subject: For publication. How amazing that the Independent should simply reproduce a foreign office briefing note on the EU on page three without any attribution of its source. Thinking back to the ideals that launched the paper per

How independent is The Independent?

How independent is The Independent?

How independent is The Independent?

With wearying predictability The Independent splashes today on “10 Myths about the EU Treaty” - and prints a rebuttal of those eurosceptic “myths” on page three. They looked curiously familiar to me. And then I figured out why. The piece is an almost word-for-word reprint of a Foreign Office briefing note – but without any attribution that that is the source. Have a look at this thing, circulated by the FCO which Open Europe obtained a copy of. And then read the Indie piece. They are almost exactly the same. (Rather like the relationship between the “new” treaty and the re rejected constitution, you might say…) When we called for comment on this, the editor was not available for comment. Perhaps you thought the idea of newspapers printing word-for-word what the Government tells them to belonged to a banana republic? Think again.

How independent is The Independent?

The Independent—surely shome mistake?

The Independent—surely shome mistake?

The Independent—surely shome mistake?

The Independent—surely shome mistake?