Camilla Cavendish

If economic growth could be conjured by words, Britain would be as rich as Norway by now. Although inflation is falling and real wages are on the up, there is a sense that the country is in long-term decline, and ministers don’t know how to fix it. With yet more NHS and London underground strikes on their way, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves struck a chord this week when she drew an analogy with the plight of the country in the 1970s. Reeves’ acknowledgment of the failure of Labour corporatism…

Imagine that a James Bond villain decided to achieve world domination not with armies or drones but through our brains. They might manipulate our minds to get us addicted to fantasy worlds, turn us against one another and reduce our ability to concentrate. Inventing the smartphone would do it. Then persuading us to give it to our children. Until now, parents who fear that these omnipresent devices have made children sedentary, distracted and depressed have been cowed by powerful companies, nai…

What do you do if grandma goes on strike? Or when the crèche calls to say your child is sick? Working parents with young children grit their teeth, promise their employer they will make up the hours, and brace themselves for even less sleep. With childcare costs now surpassing mortgage payments for some families — especially those with two kids under the age of five — it’s no surprise the government has seen a political opportunity in the mess. The Conservative party is making childcare the fas…

When I was a child, my Scottish mother used to give me nightmares by reading me a terrifying book about 16th-century witchcraft trials. Given that her favourite play was Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, this wasn’t entirely surprising. The Scottish puritans who burnt almost 2,500 women at the stake were probably of the same stock as the fanatics who settled in Salem Massachusetts, Miller’s setting for his brilliant attack on McCarthyism. I was reminded of all this when Scotland’s Hate Crimes Act c…

Has it become too hard to fire people? That’s an uncomfortable question to ask, in a world where we regularly hear of unscrupulous employers bullying, failing to pay overtime, or throwing qualified staff overboard, as P&O Ferries did so disgracefully in 2022. The bad guys undercut good businesses, which want the UK to better enforce the laws against exploitation. But good employers who play by the rules are also increasingly worn down by the laborious process of trying to remove underperformers.…

Do you fancy becoming immortal? Me neither. Silicon Valley titans who lust after “escape velocity from death” leave me cold. But most of us would love to stay younger for longer — preferably without Botox. A stream of breakthroughs suggests that the science of ageing is now at an inflection point. Already, our perceptions of old age are changing. People who packed out concert halls in their youth to hear the Beatles sing “will you still need me . . . when I’m 64?” now think that old age starts…

This month, some of the best and brightest 18-year-olds are attempting what I think of as the quadruple high jump — taking chemistry, biology, maths and a fourth A-level in the hope of getting into medical school. These students are the goody-goodies, the strivers with a vocation. But only a few years ahead of them, young trained medics are feeling unloved, angry and radicalised. With public satisfaction with the NHS at a record low of 24 per cent, and the tax burden at a postwar high, the juni…

The writer was head of the Downing Street policy unit under David Cameron When it finally came, Britain’s election announcement was a damp squib. Forget the sewage in our rivers, hospital queues and overcrowded prisons: this government couldn’t even rustle up an umbrella for the prime minister as he braved torrential rain on the steps of Downing Street. For many of us, the overwhelming sense is relief at ending the uncertainty. It is 14 years to the month that David Cameron came to power, pres…

Where are you going this summer? Maybe you’re off to see the Maldives or Venice before they sink under the waves. Or perhaps you’re on a private jet, like Taylor Swift whose carbon-heavy mileage is starting to worry both protesters and fans. This is the climate change paradox. The more obvious it becomes that the weather is changing, the more we seem determined to enjoy the last hurrah. This week I met someone who has bought a second home in Spain — a decision they admitted is irrational, since…

Does it matter if a few parliamentary candidates broke the law by betting on the election? “Gamble gate” may seem trivial in comparison to substantive policy issues but it plays into the narrative that all politicians are in it for themselves — which corrodes our politics. When Westminster looks fifth-rate and you suspect you could do a better job yourself, it’s not surprising that trust in politics has hit a record low. The people “having a flutter” were unprofessional and colossally stupid. T…