From the archive: ‘A nursery of the Commons': how the Oxford Union created today's ruling political class
This week, from 2022: at the Oxford university debating society in the 80s, a generation of aspiring politicians honed the art of winning using jokes, rather than facts
By Simon Kuper. Read by Andrew McGregor
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Trans ruling set to be big issue for SNP at next election
John Swinney's 'fear of activists' within the SNP has prevented him from implementing the Supreme Court ruling which asserts sex is defined by biology, a feminist campaign group has said. For Women Scotland (FWS) won the backing of the UK's highest court in April for its case that the legal definition of sex in the Equality Act is based on sex at birth, not by which gender people may want to be identified by. However, the SNP government has faced criticism for not implementing the ruling to enforce single-sex spaces for biological men and women in public sector services such as schools and prisons. Susan Smith, a director of FWS, which is taking the Scottish government to court for the second time over the issue, told LBC News that 'fear of activists' in the SNP was preventing ministers from implementing the ruling. She argued that its policies, including delaying implementing the ruling and making gender self-ID easier, were likely to backfire on the party in Scottish parliament elections next year. Sections within the SNP base still strongly support the policies pursued by Nicola Sturgeon, despite these now being viewed as costing the party wider public support. Swinney was 'risking making this an election issue', Smith said. John Swinney risks a lawsuit damaging him shortly before the Holyrood election next year JANE BARLOW/PA 'If we do end up going to court that will be close to the 2026 election and I cannot understand why John Swinney would want to preside over another humiliating legal defeat,' she said. Swinney had agreed to meet FWS to discuss the issue but later pulled out, saying he 'had a lot on his plate', Smith claimed. 'I think he'll be wishing had met with us,' she added. 'I don't know if the Scottish government thinks we'll get bored and go away but we won't.' The new legal action wants a court ruling on the legality of Scottish government's policies in prisons and schools. Under official guidance, men and boys who claim to have switched gender to female can enter single-sex women's spaces. The guidance also allows for biological males to compete against girls in school sports if they say they identify as female. • Hadley Freeman: Scotland is sullied by the cult of gender ideology Police Scotland became one of the first public services to exclude trans men and women from spaces such as toilets and changing rooms in offices and police stations designated for biological men and women last month. But the Scottish government is yet to update its advice to the wider public sector, including the civil service, schools and prisons, totalling hundreds of thousands of employees, saying it is waiting for official guidance from the UK-wide Equalities and Human Rights Commission. FWS said it had been left with 'little choice' but to take the Scottish government to court again after nationalist politicians refused to abandon gender self-ID policies, which the group says are now clearly in breach of the law. Formal proceedings began on Friday with the lodging of court papers. The Scottish government has 21 days to respond. The Scottish government said it would not comment on a live legal action.
BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Donald Trump is ‘not a force for good' London Mayor says
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he would be 'more than happy' to meet Donald Trump – despite warning that the US President could be 'inadvertently radicalising people' and is 'not a force for good'. Mr Khan dismissed jibes that President Trump made against him on a recent visit to Scotland, where he claimed the London Mayor was 'a nasty person' who has 'done a terrible job'. Advertisement The Labour politician said remarks such as those were 'water off a duck's back'. However, he told an event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe it sometimes felt like he was 'nine years old again' and 'in the school playground'. Mr Khan, speaking at the Political Party show with comedian Matt Forde, hit back at the US President, saying: 'Somebody who has views like he does about black people, about women, about gays, about Muslims, about Mexicans, thinks I'm nasty. 'Really. He is the leader of the free world, arguably the most powerful man in the world, and really.' Advertisement He spoke out as he said that records showed since the middle of January this year – when Mr Trump began his second term in the White House – and July 'there have never been more Americans applying to British citizenship and living in London'. The Mayor said: 'So I think Americans have got good taste by and large.' He added that he hoped the President would come to London during his state visit to the UK next month, with Sir Sadiq stressing the 'diversity' of the capital was a 'strength, not a weakness'. Despite his comments about the US President, Sir Sadiq Khan said he would be 'happy' to meet Donald Trump (Jordan Pettitt/PA) Speaking about this diversity, he insisted: 'I think it makes us stronger not weaker, richer not poorer. Advertisement 'And when President Trump says some of the things he does, it brings from the periphery to the mainstream, views that are potentially dangerous. 'He inadvertently – I'm not going to suggest he does it deliberately – he inadvertently could be radicalising people with views that could lead to them doing things that are dangerous.' He spoke out about fears that minorities 'could be treated less favourably because of the views of the President of the USA' as he accused Mr Trump of 'using London and our diversity as a political football, as a proxy for a culture war'. The London Mayor continued: 'On a personal level, it is water off a duck's back, but we can't run away from the fact that there are some really serious challenges we face as a western society and President Trump, in my view, I speak generally, isn't a force for good.' Advertisement However he insisted that he would be 'more than happy to meet President Trump' saying he would seek to show him that it is 'possible to be proud to be a westerner and a proud to be Muslim, that it is possible to be British, and proud to be British, and be of Pakistani origin and be a law abiding citizen and we aren't three headed monsters'. The Labour politician said: 'I suspect President Trump may have formed a view of Muslims because of the actions of a small minority of really bad people who are terrorists and use Islam in a perverted way. 'What I would want President Trump to know is that is a very small fraction of Muslims across the globe. 'So if there was an opportunity to meet President Trump, I would be more than happy to do so.' Advertisement
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Don't cave to Putin, Europe urges Trump
Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders will urge Donald Trump not to submit to Vladimir Putin's demands for more Ukrainian concessions. In a show of unity in the wake of Russia's success at last week's Alaska summit, the group will fly to Washington on Monday and attempt to stiffen US resolve in the peace talks. Alongside Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, Sir Keir will seek to minimise the risk of Volodymyr Zelensky being humiliated in the Oval Office again – as happened when he last visited in February. The European delegation – which includes Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister; Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president; and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general – will also push back on Putin's demand for Mr Zelensky to surrender the whole of the Donbas region, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in eastern Ukraine. But the Trump administration said a discussion about the future of the mineral-rich region was needed and insisted 'both sides' will need to make concessions. On Sunday, Mr Macron said the delegation's will was to ' present a united front between Europeans and Ukrainians ', warning Mr Trump: 'There is only one state that proposes a peace that would be a capitulation: Russia.' He added: 'If we are weak with Moscow, we are preparing for tomorrow's conflicts.' European leaders have not explicitly called for all of Donetsk to remain Ukrainian, instead saying it was up for Mr Zelensky to decide what to agree to on territory. Mr Zelensky pushed back on suggestions that he should be made to give up the entirety of the Donbas region, including land that Ukraine still holds. However, he opened the door to negotiations with Putin directly, saying any territorial changes should be discussed in a three-way meeting with the US. 'We need real negotiations which means they can start where the frontline is now,' Mr Zelensky said. 'The contact line is the best line for talking and the Europeans support this.' The Ukrainian president noted that the Russians were 'still unsuccessful' in Donetsk, where Ukraine holds 30 per cent of the land, and had failed to take the area in the 12 years that Putin had tried to seize control. The request for face-to-face talks with Putin, which Moscow has consistently rejected , appears to be part of a wider European strategy to show Russia as the obstacle to peace. In a joint press conference in Brussels on Sunday, Mr Zelensky and Ms Von der Leyen said Russia must stop attacking Ukraine before proper negotiations can progress, whether that is called a ceasefire or not. The message represented an attempt to counter Mr Trump's public declaration that all sides should end the focus on a temporary ceasefire and move straight to establishing a permanent peace deal. European leaders are wary of this position because it would allow Putin's forces to seize more Ukrainian land while talks were ongoing. However, senior figures in the Trump administration reinforced the president's desire for talks over territory on Sunday. Steve Witkoff, the US peace envoy who joined Mr Trump and Putin for talks in Alaska, told CNN: 'There is an important discussion to be had with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there.' Marco Rubio, who was also in Anchorage, told CBS News: 'To reach the end of this conflict, both sides are going to have to make concessions. That's just a fact.' The US secretary of state also backed away from previous US threats to sanction Putin if he failed to agree to a ceasefire, suggesting such a move would not keep him at the negotiating table. European leaders praised the Trump administration after the president promised security guarantees to a Western-backed peacekeeping force in Ukraine once the fighting has ended. Sir Keir and Mr Macron are leading a group of 30 nations dubbed the ' Coalition of the Willing ' offering to help protect Ukrainian freedom if a peace deal is struck. Under the plans, British military trainers and engineers would be sent into Ukraine alongside contributions from other nations after a ceasefire to rebuild the Ukrainian armed forces. European planes, including Royal Air Force fighter jets, would also police the skies to deter any invasion. Leaders have argued for months that the US would have to provide some form of security 'backstop' to make sure that in reality Russia would be deterred from attacking again. Some went public over the weekend thanking Mr Trump for supposedly offering 'Nato Article 5-like' guarantees in a call briefing them on the Putin summit. Article 5 is a clause that agrees an attack on one Nato member is considered an attack on all. Downing Street wants the White House to clarify what security guarantees it is offering, while Mr Macron said he would ask the US 'to what extent' it is ready to contribute. However, Sir Keir did not issue personal comments on Sunday, reflecting Downing Street's strategy of trying to influence Mr Trump behind closed doors rather than via megaphone diplomacy. Senior figures in Downing Street have expressed regret over what they consider to have been their failure to help Mr Zelensky prepare for February's ill-fated meeting with Mr Trump in Washington. Mr Zelensky arrived at the White House hoping to announce Ukraine had reached a minerals deal with the US. But his Oval Office meeting with Mr Trump descended into a shouting match after JD Vance, the vice-president, demanded that he show more gratitude after years of American support.
