News and Opinion

There might seem a certain logic behind talk of a new party, but Zoe Williams argues being in the centre is too soft for UK politics. What is a centrist? If you don’t know, it’s possible that you are one. You should check with your doctor. If you very devoutly are one, it’s most likely […]

The broadcaster’s problem is a bad case of liberal guilt, argues Chris Grey. John Humphrys “inserts his own implicit views about Brexit rather obviously” when conducting interviews, says Chris Grey. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I’m a great admirer and supporter of the BBC, and think it one of Britain’s […]

Why being a vocal Remainer, immigrant and woman of colour makes you the definitive enemy of the Brexit cause. Bonnie Greer during a Women in the World conference. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Archive/PA Images – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images After two weeks away in Goa, chilling on quiet beaches, shutting out social media, the country feels […]

Test yourself on your knowledge of European sport with our great quiz Test yourself on the cream of European sport with our fiendish quiz. Caution – it’s harder to solve than Brexit…

This week’s podcast is available now. In the latest episode of The New European podcast Richard Porritt, Steve Anglesey and Geri Scott ask whether Boris Johnson is up to the job and ponder if a new party would be successful. The team also analyse another gaffe-filled week for Labour and crown a Brexiteer of the […]

In this week’s diary column, Hitler’s ghost comes back to haunt the Daily Mail and Mandrake wonders how rehearsals are going for Brexit opponents. Oh dear, it’s turned out Nazi again Just as the Daily Mail was pointing an accusing finger at Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism, Adolf Hitler’s ghost came back to haunt the newspaper […]

Why Brexit is just one of the challenges that the EU will face over the coming years. This autumn will see not only the end of the Brexit negotiations but also the beginning of the process to select the leadership team which will shape the European Union for the next five years. We will get […]

The Daily Mail’s theatre critic has been accused of racism in his review of a play, says BONNIE GREER. He certainly doesn’t understand theatre Twitter has just experienced a first: a theatre critic set it ablaze. That milestone belongs to the Daily Mail’s parliamentary sketch-writer by day and theatre reviewer by night, Quentin Letts. He […]

The Labour politician’s charge against the BBC has been so intense it has drawn criticism from his own side – but he says this is no time to let up. Andrew Adonis discusses Jacob Rees-Mogg and the House of Lords on Brexit. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire/PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I am a […]

With the world suddenly seeming a far more perilous place than it has for many years, the former diplomat assesses the dangerous fissures opening up around the planet. The world is experiencing more dangerous geopolitical tensions, across more regions than at any time since the Cold War ended three decades ago. The informed view in […]

The playwright behind the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? play Quiz has written a Brexit film – due to shoot in the summer. James Graham’s latest play, which is on stage in the West End, tells the story of the TV show’s coughing scandal of 2001. He has written a film about the behind-the-scenes […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme returns tonight from the Black-E cultural hub in Liverpool. But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s who you can expect… Jo Johnson Who? Minister of state […]

Steve Anglesey names the worst Brexiteers of the week 10. BREXIT MUSEUM CURATORS In a new twist on the stuffy old view of museums as places of enlightenment and learning filled with fascinating artefacts, organisers are planning a permanent display of ‘old speeches, mugs, ties and posters’ to tell the story of our exit from […]

Dismissing anti-Semitic mutterings is going to bite Labour in the ass, writes MITCH BENN I’ve been writing this column now for almost exactly 18 months (I know, doesn’t time fly when you’re mired in existential turmoil). Occasionally I revisit the older pieces to see how times have changed (or not) in the last year and […]

It might be #MeToo, and not the Middle East, which ends Trump’s presidency, writes PAUL CONNEW Will sending scores of Tomahawk cruise missiles thundering into ‘animal’ Assad’s Syrian air bases – risking direct confrontation with Putin’s Russia – be enough to divert attention from a ticking domestic sex scandal timebomb in the shape of porn […]

Thousands of EU nationals could inadvertently become illegal residents in the UK after Brexit, a new report warns. Domestic abuse victims, children and the elderly are among those at risk of losing their right to remain in Britain despite meeting the required criteria to stay, according to experts. This could be because they struggle to […]

Brexit threatens the very fabric of the Good Friday Agreement, argues Lib Dem MEP CATHERINE BEARDER. But the Brexiteers don’t seem to understand I spent my teenage years watching reports of murders, bombings, fear and terror in my own country, feeling guilty that I was not able to do anything to stop this carnage. So […]

Post-Brexit trade plans will not properly protect the environment, finds a new report from Friends of the Earth – as campaigner KIERRA BOX explains If you like birds, breathing, swimming in the sea, angling, watching nature, a liveable climate, and all the other benefits of strong environmental protections, then you may be shocked to find […]

A council’s website still claims the next elections are for the European Parliament in 2019 – after the date Britain is due to leave the EU. The ‘elections’ page for Conservative-led Vale of Glamorgan Council in South Wales states that “the next scheduled Election is: European Parliamentary Election in June 2019”. The UK is due […]

Barry Gardiner’s comments were arguably worse than Owen Smith’s, but he kept his job. Why? Two shadow cabinet ministers. One, Owen Smith, called for a referendum on the final Brexit deal – admittedly in a break with Labour policy – and was swiftly sacked by leader Jeremy Corbyn. This in spite of the fact that […]

Tony Blair has ruled out leading any new political party but warned both Labour and the Tories there is a ‘vast uncultivated centre ground’ in British politics. But the former prime minister did say the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change was working on a raft of policies which could be used by a new […]

A shadow cabinet minister who described the Good Friday Agreement as a shibboleth has said he is deeply sorry that remarks he made about the deal had led to a “misunderstanding”. Barry Gardiner insisted he “absolutely” did not believe the agreement was outdated and said it was a vital part of the relationship between the […]

With a lust for dominance, not debate now in the ascendancy, the US has moved a long way from the country created by Alexander Hamilton and the other Founding Fathers, says Pulitzer Prize-winner ALBERT SCARDINO English visitors to America often remark on the intensity of civic engagement: the car bumper stickers and yard signs advocating […]

DJ Tony Prince has described his new radio station, United DJs, as “the Brexit channel”. So how bad is it? Former Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg DJ Tony Prince has described the new radio station he has founded, United DJs, as “the Brexit channel”. He means it positively. It is “just going to throw out […]

Tony Blair has warned Brexit is ‘bound’ to cause problems in Ireland. Reflecting on 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement was made the former prime minister said: ‘As a consequence you have changed the status of the Republic of Ireland to Europe and the UK to Europe. You’ve changed it from one of the […]

Rather than worry about AI becoming more human, we should be more concerned about the technology making us more artificial, argues Brendan Canavan Alexa’s creepy laugh is far from the most worrying thing about her. This is despite the fact that Amazon’s digital assistant – which allows users to access the internet and control personal […]

Forty years ago this week saw one of the most audacious and tragic acts of political terror of the 20th century. And, as PATRICK SAWER ​reports, its riddles still cast a long shadow over Italy The image is seared onto the memory of most Italians of a certain age – in much the same the […]

After Brexit the UK will have to go back to the drawing board over devolution, constitutional experts have warned. Wrangles over sharing out cash for farmers will be one of the biggest challenges ministers face, according to the Institute for Government (IfG). New agreements on how the environment, agriculture and fisheries are dealt with when […]

Plans for a new political party have been met with ridicule by Labour front benchers. The Observer revealed the plans for a new centrist movement which is said to have secured £50m of backing spearheaded by entrepreneur Simon Franks. The party – as yet unnamed and without any political backers –would draw policies from both […]

The notorious MS-13 is one of the most brutal criminal gangs in the world. But, says STEVEN S DUDLEY, who has spent three years studying it, the group is being used to push a specific agenda by the Trump administration – and that won’t help address the real problem Last October, attorney general Jeff Sessions […]

He may have been painfully lacking in self-awareness, and even discernible painting skills, but, as yet another major exhibition of his work opens, it is fair to say the French naive painter left a legacy nonetheless. IAN WALKER reports ‘You know, I could finish all these paintings.’ Henri Rousseau, after looking at works by Cézanne. […]

With chilling talk of a new Cold War, CHARLIE CONNELLY remembers one upside from the last one – gripping fiction Salisbury was, on the face of it, an unlikely setting for a chill blast of stale air from the Cold War to blow through the streets but the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter […]