Andrew McKie

Latest articles from Andrew McKie

Andrew McKie: Starmer's resignation ploy is bold but he didn't have much option

I CAN’T remember when I first got fed up with the suffix “-gate” being applied to every scandal, real or fabricated, that came along, but it must have been much closer to the original Watergate affair than to the present day. Perhaps it was “Gategate”, the row in 1993 over the hideous memorial gates unveiled for the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday, but whatever it was, there’s been a lot of water under the gates, and far too many gates, since.

Andrew McKie: There is one simple way for the UK government to tackle the cost of living crisis

AN unfortunate and, if you’re of a charitable disposition, you might even say unfair, aspect of being in government is that you get the blame when things go wrong. It would be nice (for the politicians) to be able to say that the reverse was also true, and that you got the credit when things go well, but alas, we live in a fallen and imperfect world, into which some rain must fall, slings and arrows, vale of tears, crooked timber of humanity and all that.

Andrew McKie: For all its flaws, Priti Patel's Rwanda scheme could curb illegal immigration

THERE are plenty of reasons to disapprove of the Home Secretary’s plans to process the applications of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel “offshore” in Rwanda. But the dozens that I could supply – which are, naturally, the sensible and considered ones – are not those that immediately occurred to the opposition parties, liberal commentators, the whole of Twitter and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Andrew McKie: From the Greens to the Tories, why have we given up on the future?

NOBODY now reads the great 19th-century Scottish liberal and Chartist Samuel Smiles (he was fond of citing “Nobody” as a villain in his attacks on laissez-faire policies). That is a shame, but you can guess why from the titles of his books: Thrift; Duty; Character; and Self-Help. Nowadays, there’s little appetite for any of these things, so popular with the Victorians, and so crucial to the advancements in prosperity and well-being during their era.