


Shabana Mahmood, Britain’s new Lord Chancellor
The new justice secretary is both progressive and religious
“THERE ONCE WAS a little girl in Small Heath, one of the poorest areas of Birmingham, who worked behind the till in her parents’ corner shop.” So said Shabana Mahmood during her swearing-in speech as Britain’s new Lord Chancellor on July 16th. Though she was inspired as a child by “Kavanagh QC”, a TV drama about a brilliant barrister “with working class roots”, she never dreamed she would find herself “among the holders of this ancient role”, she went on. Looking back, as is customary, at her predecessors to identify a Lord Chancellor with whom she could draw personal parallels, she joked it was tough: no “Brummie” had yet done the job. No Muslim had either.

How King Charles III counts his swans
A ritual that pleases conservationists and annoys the birds

Britain’s army chief fears war may come sooner than anyone thinks
Could the army cope without more money and troops?

The builder of the Titanic is struggling to stay afloat
Harland and Wolff is fighting for its life

How King Charles III counts his swans
A ritual that pleases conservationists and annoys the birds

Britain’s army chief fears war may come sooner than anyone thinks
Could the army cope without more money and troops?

The builder of the Titanic is struggling to stay afloat
Harland and Wolff is fighting for its life
Why Britain’s Labour government enjoys hippy-punching
And why that risks being more of a fetish than a strategy
Is Britain’s economy finally moving?
Sticky inflation and a weakening job market could still spoil the mood