News and Opinion

MPs will finish their line-by-line assessment of key Brexit legislation by Christmas, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said today. The Commons leader and arch-Brexiteer said the eighth and final day of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill’s committee stage will be December 20 – the penultimate sitting day before the Christmas recess. The Bill, which seeks to […]

Here is a flavour of some of the recent letters we’ve received in The New European’s mailbag. Send your letters for publication to letters@theneweuropean.co.uk Boris Johnson blunders over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, with potentially horrific consequences. Boris then appears before the House of Commons but declines to apologise. Michael Gove appears on TV to defend Boris but […]

Philip Hammond attempted to challenge his image as a grey spreadsheet obsessive in his Budget speech with a string of jokes. So how did he do? The Chancellor peppered his annual speech on the nation’s finances with a number of one-liners. We put them all in one place so you can avoid the dull bits… […]

A Brexit war chest of at least £3bn has been set aside to prepare the UK for the prospect of failing to secure a deal with Brussels. Hard Brexiteers have put pressure on Chancellor Philip Hammond to commit money to preparations for a “no deal” scenario to show the European Union that the UK is […]

Tory former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has warned Chancellor Philip Hammond to guard against a march to “economic nationalism” under the banner of Brexit. Speaking after Mr Hammond delivered his Budget, the Treasury Select Committee Chair warned that post-Brexit, the UK needed to retain its commitment to “openness, trade, investment and migration”. She said the […]

News is too big a responsibility for billionaire owners to bear. Last week, following the revelation that Disney had been in discussions to buy much of 21st Century Fox, there was speculation that the wider Murdoch media empire might not stick around too much longer. Lost among the noise was a deeper discussion about ownership […]

Recent events in the Middle East risk tipping the region into fresh violence. BRAD BLITZ joins the dots between alarming developments in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel and Iran to explain In recent weeks, Western media reporting on the Middle East has concentrated on the dramatic assertion of power by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, […]

The UK government is failing to offer credible answers to the “hard questions” about the fate of the border post-Brexit, the Irish foreign minister has said. Simon Coveney rejected suggestions by Brexiteers that politicians in Dublin and Brussels were seeking to exploit the uncertainty over Northern Ireland’s position to strengthen the EU’s hand in the […]

Brexit Secretary David Davis today warned there was a possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal – before falling off the stage himself. The arch-Brexiteer said a trade deal was the most likely outcome of the divorce talks, but added that the government was prepared to leave without a deal. […]

France might be rugby league minnows – as their World Cup campaign has demonstrated – but, as MICK O’HARE explains, the sport in the country has had to fight for its very survival You don’t need to know much about rugby to know that the two codes of the game – rugby league and rugby […]

With our special Black Friday offer you can enjoy a month’s digital access to The New European for just £1, saving 87%. You will receive a new issue emailed to your inbox each week and also get unlimited access to the full digital archive of all previous issues of the paper. Read on all your […]

A quarter of a century on from its devastating war, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains as divided as ever. PETER GEOGHEGAN asks whether a failure to overcome the tensions of the past could drag it back to partition and violence once more Tarik Calkic’s old secondary school in western Bosnian has not changed much since he […]

Up to 1,000 jobs are being relocated as a direct result of Brexit. The European Banking Authority (EBA) is to be moved from London to Paris after Brexit, it has been announced. The French capital beat off stiff competition to win the key agency in a victory Paris will view as a boost to its […]

Democracy watchdog the Electoral Commission has opened an investigation into EU referendum spending by the Vote Leave campaign. As well as looking into whether the main pro-Brexit campaign exceeded spending limits and entered an incorrect return, the Commission will also investigate donations made by Vote Leave to student Darren Grimes and Veterans for Britain. The […]

Remember when Brexit bozo Boris Johnson said we could have our cake and eat it? Or when hardline Leaver Daniel Hannan declared ‘nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market’? Well, not surprisingly, it appears they were wrong. Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier has made it clear: You walk away from the […]

Danish philosopher, May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855 In the spring of 1846 Søren Kierkegaard would find himself pausing briefly at the door before setting out for the long daily walks that had made him such a familiar figure on the streets of Copenhagen. It would only be a fleeting moment’s uncertainty as he […]

Brexit has left Britain exposed to the sort of mockery and pity we once reserved for other countries, argues former Minister for Europe DENIS MACSHANE Brexit is fast turning Britain into the laughing stock of the democratic world. In the past, our politicians and journalists liked to mock Latin American or Mediterranean nations for their […]

Matriarchal, sunkissed, homespun, carefree… the Missoni brand (and the family with a backstory to match) seem the uplifting antithesis of the clinical, corporatised world of fashion, says SUNA ERDEM. But is that enough? Fashion brands have been, let’s say, equivocal about Melania Trump. Shunning the exposure normally assured when chosen by the First Lady of […]

The true cost of Brexit is becoming clear with some households already more than £800 a year worse off partly as a result of the referendum. A new economic study has revealed the average household is paying £404 a year extra due to price inflation. At the same time the average worker has lost £448, […]

My fellow parliamentarians should remember that voters will not forgive those who stand by and allow the country to be downgraded, says Labour MP NEIL COYLE Boris playing the rear of the ass and David Davis widow Twanky may appear funny to some but our Parliament becoming a pantomime is far from amusing for our […]

The world of style is among many industries coming to terms with allegations of sexual misconduct. But, as SUNA ERDEM and DUNJA KNEZEVIC report, it is not just female models who have fallen victim to abuse ‘He’s a very naughty man! Very handsy,’ says Adam, a former male model who has worked for brands including […]

It might like there is little new to see in Picasso’s work, says VIV GROSKOP. But a current exhibition focuses on an unusual angle… his daughter as muse It’s easy to imagine that you’ve seen everything Picasso ever created. The Picasso industry is so huge and there are so many international exhibitions dedicated to his […]

When the Beatles turned up in Hamburg, rock ‘n’ roll was on its knees, says IAN WALKER. By the time they had ended their stay in the city, its future was guaranteed One night in late October 1960 Hamburg art student Klaus Voormann got into an argument with his girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr. To calm down […]

The NHS – and false claims about that £350m – helped tip the referendum. But as the threat from Brexit to the health service becomes clearer, it must now be the battleground on which the argument is finally won, argues senior doctor CHARLES HOUSE Even those who made the promise now appear to accept the […]

Our editor-at-large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on the ‘holy trinity’ required for any winning organisation – leadership, strategy and teamship I’ve written here before about some of the public opinion tests I do on any UK audience I speak to … ‘show of hands please… optimistic/pessimistic re Trump Presidency; optimistic/pessimistic re Brexit; will Theresa May fight the […]

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve has launched a blistering attack on Brexit-backing MPs and media. Grieve said he believes some of his colleagues have become ‘unhinged’ amid the ‘hysteria’ over leaving the European Union. He also said there was a danger of MPs being ‘bullied into silence’ by newspapers and social media as Brexit legislation […]

Somaliland is introducing the world’s most advanced voting system. It is, says CALESTOUS JUMA, just one example of the way African countries are surprisingly skipping ahead in technological innovation Africa has become a testing ground for technological leapfrogging. This is a process that involves skipping stages and moving rapidly to the frontiers of innovation. Technological […]

Hidden away in a sleepy village in southern France lies the Palais Ideal, one of Europe’s most remarkable structures. With a new film about it in production, JULIAN SHEA tells the story behind this amazing construction and the man who built it From small acorns grow might oaks; and from a single stone grew one […]

Britain’s bungled Brexit negotiations have sparked a messy divorce from the European Union – and it is about to get even nastier. Sources in Brussels claim the EU will hold back Britain’s final £5 billion rebate payment as part of negotiations over the so-called Brexit ‘divorce’ bill. It is the latest blow to embattled Prime […]

PAUL CONNEW on the ongoing investigations into the Trump administration’s Kremlin links Donald Trump flew home from his controversial, colourful 12-day, five-nation Asian ego trip straight into the darkening shadow of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian Connection criminal probe. The latest twists of that inquiry are heading, predict well-placed sources, towards the possible arrest of […]

Georgia spawned Stalin, the monster who forever poisoned the legacy of the Russian Revolution. But it also produced a tantalising alternative vision of what that revolution could have led to. JUSTIN REYNOLDS explores the forgotten history of the fleeting Democratic Republic of Georgia, which offered a flicker of hope before it was extinguished Post-Revolutionary Russia […]

Many in Grimsby voted Leave to revive its fishing heritage. So why are locals now seeking an exemption from Brexit for its seafood industry? ANTHONY CLAVANE reports There are some fantastic bargains on offer at Fred’s Fisheries. Cod, sea bass and small haddocks to name but three. Lovely fresh fish sold by a traditional fishmonger […]