News and Opinion

With Brexit negotiations due to come to a close this year, Michael White suggests that its time for the characters to step aside and the real politicians to step up Surely not when the tawdry name of Silvio Berlusconi is back on Italian front pages as a deal-maker – or breaker – for the eurozone’s […]

At a time when Labour is putting so much emphasis on becoming a movement-led party it is conspicuous that Brexit is left out, says JASMIN BECKETT Labour’s direction on Brexit is fraught. As former foreign secretary David Miliband described it this week, the policy runs the risk of our party becoming a ‘midwife to Brexit’. […]

Steve Bannon is back and has the ear of Trump – but in a more back-room role than ever before. You won’t see him back inside a West Wing office. You probably won’t see him fist-pumping the air alongside president at a rally of the faithful. But make no mistake – Steve Bannon is back, […]

Join the team as they delve into another bonkers week in Brexit Britain. Richard Porritt, Steve Anglesey and Geri Scott are joined by guest co-host Neil Perry as they chat about the promised White Paper, the continuing row over the customs union and David Miliband’s return to British politics. Also Geri takes an in-depth look […]

The royal wedding is supposed to be a moment of modernity and progress for the Uk. But that is not the current mood of the nation, says Jane Merrick. Whatever you think about the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this weekend, there is no denying what the royal family want it to be: […]

Comedian, musician and writer Mitch Benn discusses the similarities between Avenger’s character Thanos, and a certain MP. I don’t know what your favourite thing is about this newspaper. Perhaps it’s the publication’s mere existence, a printed voice of sanity in the maelstrom of blimpish Brexit lunacy which otherwise dominates the newsstands. Perhaps it’s the cast […]

Let’s cast our minds forward. Parliament has ruled out the ‘no-deal Brexit’ and we’ve had a People’s Vote on Mrs May’s final Brexit deal. She lost: the people support the status quo. Then what happens? Well, the next morning, Mrs May is still PM and she says: ‘I delivered on my promise to get the […]

Test yourself on the continent’s films with our great quiz Test yourself on Europe’s films with our fiendish quiz. Caution – it’s harder to solve than Brexit…

Meghan Markle will be joining the last of the silent movie stars; the Royals. But for the American actress, this is her greatest role yet. The Royal Family are the last, great silent movie stars. Because if there is anything that is ‘the will of the people’, it is the Royal Family. We, the people, […]

It will be an encounter between two of the world’s most unpredictable leaders. But former diplomat Paul Knott has some idea of what we might expect​ when Donald Trump meets Kim Jong-un It is possible Donald Trump’s repeated threats to launch a military attack against North Korea are what jolted Kim Jong-un into the talks […]

Racist, sexist, ageist or just funny? Zoe Williams on the insult du jour The controversy over the insult ‘gammon’ has nothing to do with what it means: everyone knows what it means. Men the colour of ham, who hold a variety of nostalgic, socially conservative views, often a bit brutishly expressed. Their natural habitat is […]

Rachel Johnson reprises her fortnightly column to pay tribute to Tessa Jowell and venerated French publisher Bernard de Fallois. I checked into the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras, very hungover, and made for Pret before boarding the train to Paris. I ‘grabbed’ a flat white and then found a table. Someone had left a plastic […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from St Peter’s church in Notting Hill, home of artists, derivative romcoms and purged Cameroons (remember them?). But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s […]

Tory hardliner Peter Bone has called on the government to make June 23 a bank holiday called “Independence Day”. Commons leader and brief Conservative leadership hopeful Andrea Leadsom said she was “personally very sympathetic” to the idea. It comes despite the government last year rubbishing Labour plans to introduce more bank holidays – which are […]

Theresa May has insisted the UK will leave the EU customs union amid speculation the departure could be delayed for years until a replacement system is agreed. The Cabinet remains divided over a solution to the issue and neither of the two proposed models being considered by ministers is acceptable to Brussels. The Brexit “war […]

With Trump backing out of the Iran nuclear deal this month, James Ball questions whether the EU alone has the power to keep the policy together. Foreign policy has always been a difficult and contentious policy area for the European Union – and always a point of friction with the UK, where even before the […]

The debate continues around this political cartoon. The Sajid Javid cartoon we printed in The New European last week. Image: The New European. – Credit: Archant Why I laughed at Neil Kerber’s cartoon had nothing to do with racism. It was because, although the Windrush issue, thanks to the Guardian, had been public knowledge for […]

Last year was a record one for the UK’s tech firms. But there may be trouble ahead. By ANGELA JAMESON ​ Two years ago there was no sector more vocal in its opposition to Brexit than the UK’s tech community. In the run-up to the referendum the industry’s leading lights argued that leaving the EU […]

Alastair Campbell discusses how the government is dismantling Tess Jowell’s finest political achievement. I loved Tessa Jowell to bits. So did my partner Fiona and our three children. For them, memories of Tessa are as much about Halloween and holidays, birthdays and barbecues, as about the hard grind of politics that she did so well. […]

Officials in the UK and US administrations directly involved with trade negotiations are “sceptical” that a deal of any significance between the two countries can be forged after Brexit, according to a report. The report by Harvard University academics, including former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, warns that the kind of free trade agreement (FTA) likely […]

Benedict Cumberbatch will star as Vote Leave’s leading strategist in a Channel 4 drama about the data-driven political campaign for Brexit. The political thriller will be set during the EU referendum. The one-off drama will explore the “myriad tactics employed to swing one of the most surprising referendum results in living memory”. Doctor Strange star […]

Jeremy Corbyn used all six of his questions at PMQs on Brexit for the second week running – but what is his real motivation? Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The Labour leader started with a real-deal zinger: ‘When the prime […]

TIM WALKER gives five stars to Red at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre Red Wyndham’s Theatre, London, until July 28 ***** (FIVE STARS) A great play talks to you because it talks to you about your own life. Red is such a play. It tells the story of how the brilliant, unconventional artist Mark Rothko took a […]

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has voted for a referendum on the final Brexit deal. The resolution at the group’s annual meeting in Belfast was passed by 364 votes to 163. It had been proposed by the body’s Greater Glasgow group and mandated the organisation to lobby the government on the issue. The RCN […]

Labour is launching a new parliamentary bid to force the government to release details of its proposals for post-Brexit customs arrangements on the Irish border. The party has tabled a motion in the Commons for debate tomorrow designed to break the “deadlock” over the so-called “customs partnership” and “maximum facilitation” models. The move came as […]

MSPs at Holyrood have formally refused to grant consent to key Brexit legislation from Theresa May’s government. A Scottish Government motion, making clear that Edinburgh Parliament “does not consent” to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill was approved by 93 votes to 30. Despite the vote, Scottish Brexit Minister Mike Russell has vowed this will “not […]

A new musical imagining the alt-right personality’s fictional murder has plenty to say about hate speech and polarised opinions, says MARTIN McQUILLAN. But is she worth the attention? The Assassination of Katie Hopkins. Photo: Contributed. – Credit: Archant Last year, I came across Katie Hopkins standing in front of me in the queue at the […]

Boris Johnson has insisted he still believes in, and abides by, Cabinet collective responsibility after being mocked for his “crazy” Brexit plans. The foreign secretary answered “of course” when challenged in the Commons about the convention following his public criticism of a customs proposal supported by the prime minister. He also sidestepped Labour questions over […]

Nowhere better captures Italy’s complex relationship with fascism than Predappio, the birthplace of Mussolini. CLARE SPEAK paid a visit Inside a Predappio souvenir shop. PHOTO: Clare Speak. – Credit: Archant The sunlit Piazza Sant Antonio in Predappio sits in front of the church of the same name. On most days it is a peaceful square […]

A constitutional crisis is looming as the Scottish Parliament appears poised to formally refuse to give consent to Theresa May’s Brexit legislation. After months of wrangling with Westminster over where powers returning from Brussels should go after Brexit, the Scottish Government has submitted a motion making clear it does “not consent to the European Union […]

The recent local election results show that the capital’s Remain vote poses a challenge for both the Conservatives and Labour, writes BARNABY TOWNS Post-election spin about the meaning of May’s local elections is almost as fierce as the contest itself. London’s 2018 all-out local elections — the 14th since the 32 London boroughs were created […]

Forget the future, dystopia has already descended – and it isn’t half dull. ADRIAN BURNHAM reports on a web group chronicling modern life’s mind-crushing mundanity Images posted on the Boring Dystopia Reddit group. – Credit: Archant When it came to life-goals advice the only wise counsel my dad proffered was: ‘Aim for the stars son […]