Why Nigel Farage failed on 'I’m a Celebrity…'
Gareth Roberts in The Spectator
"I'm a Celebrity" is intended to be a "bubble of fun that takes place as far away as it is possible to get", says Gareth Roberts in The Spectator, so Nigel Farage was "never" going to win the jungle crown. The presence of a politician on the show is an "intrusion" comparable to "putting Marmite in a trifle". And as for winning over "doubters"? Farage was "affable, certainly, but also rather dull".
Is Britain Ready to Be Honest About Its Decline?
Matthew Brooker in Bloomberg
To reverse its "relative economic decline", Britain must tackle both "golden thinking" and "inertia", argues Matthew Brooker in Bloomberg. The UK "isn't going to reinvent itself as a manufacturing powerhouse", nor was Brexit a "golden pathway to the promised land of Global Britain". And soaring use of food banks and "15 years of zero wage growth should have been enough of a hint already that something might need to change". But "is Britain ready for the conversation?"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Royal Mail is putting the Grinch to shame
Iain Dale in The Telegraph
The "unreliable" and "too expensive" Royal Mail has "transformed itself into the Christmas Grinch", writes Iain Dale for The Telegraph. The postal service is "seeking to penalise festive cheer" by slapping a "peak surcharge" on mail sent over the Christmas period, which will only "discourage more letter sending". With its reputation "shot to pieces", Royal Mail is "losing friends fast", but "it really needn't be this way".
Don't dodge Wham! this Christmas … just lean in
Sathnam Sanghera in The Times
"Last Christmas" by Wham! is the "perfect festive tune", says Sathnam Sanghera in The Times. So he "cannot condone" the "increasingly popular" annual social media game #Whamageddon, in which players compete to "go as long as possible through the festive period without hearing the song". No cover version has "got close" to the "perfection" of George Michael's vocal performance. The then 21-year-old also wrote, produced and played every instrument on the track, and that he died on Christmas Day 2016 "gives it added poignancy".
-
Did Alex Pretti’s killing open a GOP rift on guns?Talking Points Second Amendment groups push back on the White House narrative
-
The 8 best hospital dramas of all timethe week recommends From wartime period pieces to of-the-moment procedurals, audiences never tire of watching doctors and nurses do their lifesaving thing
-
‘Implementing strengthened provisions help advance aviation safety’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Implementing strengthened provisions help advance aviation safety’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘No one is exempt from responsibility, and especially not elite sport circuits’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Being a “hot” country does not make you a good country’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘It’s good for the animals, their humans — and the veterinarians themselves’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘We know how to make our educational system world-class again’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘One day fentanyl will come back — and there will be little anyone can do’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘The science is clear’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
