News and Opinion

PETER TRUDGILL on the Nordic roots of a French wine The word burgundy has a number of different meanings. It can refer to a particular dark red colour. It can apply to certain kinds of wine. And it can signify an area of eastern France. These meanings are of course all linked. Burgundy – in […]

Is the House of cards about to fall? PAUL CONNEW examines a blockbuster week in the White House as the Russian Connection begins to really bite What did the president know and when did he know it? It was the question that dominated the Watergate scandal until the final curtain of disgrace came down on […]

Comedian, musician and writer MITCH BENN on wishful thinking and romantic fantasies There was an article in the Daily Telegraph this week (I’ll give you a minute to stop grinding your teeth in grim-faced anticipation as to what huffing buffoonery might be forthcoming… all done? Let’s continue) bewailing the plight of conservative students (and let’s […]

Turkey has just got its 93rd political party. But, says SUNA ERDEM, the Good Party and its leader Meral Aksener could bring the troubled country the rejuvenation it desperately needs The Good Party. It sounds like a Netflix mini-series. But in Turkey, it’s very much a reality – a new political grouping on which desolate […]

Andy Wigmore’s attempt at ‘sarcasm’ on Vote Leave’s use of bots was a characteristic piece of mischief from this sharpshooting Brexiteer, say RACHEL DAVIS and RICHARD PORRITT Sharp-shooter, bad boy of Brexit and master of the dark arts of political communication – Andy Wigmore is either a ‘good laugh’ or a ‘dangerous individual’ depending who […]

President Xi Jinping’s position is strengthened and his vision for China is clear. But, says CHARLES BURTON, it means he will have to take the blame if things go wrong When the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th Congress drew to a close recently, President Xi Jinping emerged, as intended, with a steely new grip on power. […]

La Terrasse in Wissant, France, and Rocksalt in Folkestone, Kent, are just 21 miles apart. But, as our new restaurant critic VICTOR LEWIS SMITH discovers in the first of an occasional series, there is a world of difference between British and French cuisine As an ex-smoker, who used to be on 60 a day (and […]

The rush to Brexit could have been halted, argues AC GRAYLING. But instead of a sober, rational reaction to the Brexit vote politicians were caught in a flap In the early hours of June 24, 2016 the broadcaster David Dimbleby, watching the results coming in from the EU referendum, said when the percentages of votes […]

Our editor-at-large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on trying not to get too shouty ‘Try not to get too shouty,’ advised Peter Mandelson when I mentioned I was doing a television debate with John Redwood. Peter knows me too well. Anyone who saw me up against the Vulcan, either on Good Morning Britain, or a few days later […]

Throughout his career, the designer acted as a curator of his own work. As our culture correspondent VIV GROSKOP reports, we now have two museums fit to showcase that talent A museum dedicated to the work of Yves Saint Laurent has just opened in Marrakech. That is big news: it’s an unusual place for a […]

With Donald Trump doing his best to up the ante in his stand-off with Kim Jong-Un, the optimistic argument goes that China will eventually step in to restrain its North Korean neighbour. But, KATHARINE MOON argues, this is wishful thinking. Pyongyang won’t kowtow to Beijing Those who want to end North Korea’s nuclear threats often […]

Britain has never produced another hero like Dan Dare. In a landmark year for the lantern-jawed pilot, CHARLIE CONNELLY pays tribute to a figure who has shaped our art, literature, science, architecture and even musical theatre 2017 is a big year for Dan Dare. Born in 1967, he turns 50 while also marking 50 years […]

EMMA JONES recalls her time working in the magazine industry with its very warped view of women When I was in my 20s, and a London-based journalist, with a newborn son, I was invited to meet the editor of a lads’ magazine. I was excited, since I needed a job. He asked me if I […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK on a year that heard the death knell sound for the hippie era, and saw rock culture take an ominous, sinister turn It was the most ominous opening to an album ever to be etched on vinyl. When Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut hit the nation’s turntables on Friday February 13, 1970, the patter […]

RICHARD MILLS on the sometimes surreal, sometimes tragic, story of Vladimir Dedijer, a Yugoslav partisan fighter, member of Tito’s inner circle and a big Huddersfield Town fan Huddersfield Town’s return to the English top flight after 45 years, including a dramatic win against Manchester United last week, has thrust the club into the global limelight. […]

Chris Heaton-Harris’ clumsy if sinister attempt to find out about the teaching of Brexit at universities was almost universally condemned. Almost. As LIZ GERARD reports, for some of Fleet Street it was a perfect opportunity to send a message – dissent will not be tolerated Business leaders, bank chiefs, lawyers, luvvies, the BBC, scientists, diplomats, […]

Painting Chaucer as a Little Englander, as many have done, does him a disservice. It is time to reclaim the great man from the Brexit tendency, says CHARLIE CONNELLY​ Every year on October 25, the anniversary of Chaucer’s death, I heave my copy of The Riverside Chaucer from the shelves, haul it to the sofa […]

Alfredo Jaar embarked on his career of art and activism in dangerous times – during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. His latest work, at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, shows how, in some ways, we have not moved on from such dark days. RICHARD HOLLEDGE reports As a boy Alfredo Jaar was so shy his father […]

Steve Anglesey counts down the worst Brexiteers of the week 10 Arron Banks If his lucrative dog-whistle business should ever go wrong, Leave.EU backer Banks really should consider a career as a psychic. Just after 9am on October 30 he was crowing on Twitter that the ‘Russian stuff out of the US against Trump… is […]

MICHAEL WHITE on a Westminster consumed with scandal – and dodging the truth on Brexit A businessman just back from his first visit to Singapore in 10 years marvels at the pace of change and the optimism permeating much of South and East Asia. ‘Mind you, an average growth rate over 6% for the last […]

The Governor may not have wanted Brexit but it has dominated his years at the Bank of England, says ANGELA JAMESON. And a quick fix is beyond his powers March 2019 and the Brexit deadline looms ever nearer. In the City, another 2019 countdown is also underway. For June 2019 is when the current Bank […]

RICHARD PORRITT with this week’s big stories A Brexit stalemate, no money in the coffers and polls which have a hard leftie as favourite to win the next election – the news is not good for poor Theresa May. And now a raft of old fashioned sex scandals is set to rock her government as […]

The true impact of Brexit is starting to dawn on Britain. MARC BETTS reports on the latest survey that highlights the nation’s burgeoning panic Fears over the future of the NHS have spiked since the Brexit vote. Open Britain and the European Movement asked voters a series of questions about their thoughts on key issues […]

The Government has been thrown into chaos after a double whammy of a Brexit bombshell and the first casualty of the sex list scandal. After being named among more than 30 Tory MPs accused of sexual impropriety Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon quit the cabinet sensationally telling the Prime Minister: ‘I accept that in the […]

Labour is making a fresh attempt to force the Government to hand over to MPs its assessments of the likely impact of Brexit on key industrial sectors. Brexit secretary David Davis this week confirmed 58 studies have been carried out in sectors covering 88% of the UK economy, but has so far resisted intense pressure […]

Of all the hundreds of hours of footage shot of Max Linder during his extraordinary career at the dawn of cinema, the most poignant was filmed in the spring of 1917 and lasts for barely a minute. It’s an informal snippet of Linder and Charlie Chaplin together in the US, where Linder has just arrived […]

Fifty years ago, at the height of his fame, Martin Luther King paid a flying visit to Geordieland. BRIAN WARD explains why, and argues that the incident is still relevant today While controversy about the removal of Confederate memorials in the US rumbles on, in the north-east of England, plans to honour one of the […]

Going trick-or-treating tonight? Download and print our Monsters of Brexit masks and dress as something truly terrifying If you’re out knocking doors for Halloween tonight, why not go as the ultimate trick – Brexit? The New European has created four masks you can download and print, each featuring a Brexit villain. Simply cut them out, […]

Few MPs have banged the drum against Brexit more consistently than David Lammy. He tells EMMA JONES why there is still so much to fight for When I meet David Lammy in his office in Westminster he has just delivered a letter to David Davis, signed by more than 120 politicians, demanding he publish his […]

From Baronial-style to Blade Runner, the genius of Charles Rennie Mackintosh is in his timelessness. But, as CHRIS SULLIVAN explains, the great Scot’s fortunes were not always as enduring The creative genius of Charles Rennie Mackintosh can be difficult to pigeonhole. His daring constructions, such as the Glasgow School of Art, the Scotland Street School […]

It did not take long for the optimism which greeted the fall of the Berlin Wall to be replaced by something gloomier. PAUL KNOTT explains why, to many East Germans, what followed felt like a hostile takeover No-one who witnessed it – even from a distance on TV – will forget the sheer joy of […]

Opera has a long history of shaping national identity – much to the annoyance of some. PATRICK SAWER looks at its impact in Italy and, perhaps more surprisingly, in the UK Arriving in Britain from his native Germany in 1710, George Frideric Handel wasted no time making an impression on what would now be called […]