News and Opinion

A new theatre production telling the story of the arrest and imprisonment of feminist collective Pussy Riot shows why they are more relevant now than ever. Yekaterina Samutsevich (L), Maria Alyokhina (C) and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (R) sit in a glass-walled cage during a court hearing in Moscow on August 17, 2012. – Credit: AFP/Getty Images […]

I don’t blame the Scots if Brexit leads them to want another shot at independence I have a bit of a confession to make; I very nearly didn’t get this article in on time. I’d like to pretend that this was because I was engaged on urgent business; swept away on some vital errand of […]

The rise of capitalism and individualism in the West, and even the current reforms in China, can all be explained by the rise of the potato What we eat matters to us – but we’re not sure whether it ought to matter to anyone else. We generally insist that our diets are our business and […]

Vlad the Lad is the supreme master of the macho man holiday snap… Vlad the Lad is the supreme master of the macho man holiday snap. Witness the still frames and video footage of Russia’s 64-year-old leader flexing his muscles, bare-chested, wearing only combat pants and wraparound sunglasses in the southern Siberian wilderness. Not to […]

Long considered a lodestar of go-it-alone globalisation, Singapore now needs its neighbours more than ever Singapore is cited by many Brexiteers as a model for Britain to follow – a low tax global trading hub with conservative social policies. The small South-East Asian city state has indeed been a success story since it became fully […]

The dispute was an ominous warning of problems for our time over where ultimate power lies in the US The US Marine transport helicopter is bringing a load of battle-weary U.S. Marines into a rear area in Korea while on the ground relief troops await the signal to take off to replace the men in […]

The working class were the key to Brexit. They must be the key to its defeat. PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images 62% of EU referendum voters in South Yorkshire opted to Leave. It would have been higher, if not for the moderating effect of the pro-Remain Sheffield Hallam constituency (home to the largest […]

The loss of EU funding used to help poorer parts of the UK has had far less attention than other ill effects of Brexit. But it will soon be hard to ignore the problem. It was buried deep in the last Conservative manifesto: a pledge after Brexit to retain the equivalent of a long-standing, multi-billion […]

Old bigotries dissolve, but they are quickly replaced by new ones if the vacuum is only filled by economic failure and inequality, by uncertainty compounded by weak leadership. Ireland has been generating some summer headlines in insular Fleet St, on what some Celts like to think of as the Anglo-Saxon fringe of our shared archipelago. […]

Manufactured nostalgia always has a political end. Its aim is to create new foot soldiers for The New Vision. Nostalgia. If you stand as close to the summit of the Acropolis as you can, you may be able to understand the deep meaning of this word. Its etymology is murky and ancient, but the root […]

Safe choices and repetition have put lampooning comedy on its knees No, satire isn’t dead. It’s on life support on a hospital trolley, doctors hurrying to and fro. Some are suggesting the experimental, dangerous treatment option of taking it to America to live with Alec Baldwin. Others say this will only prolong its suffering, and […]

As the realities of Brexit and its economic impact become clearer, alarming generational splits are emerging Over time, I’ve grown increasingly sceptical of claims and what is politically possible. Not because I outright reject the existence of social and economic constraints – but because the specific lines people draw often seem to say more about […]

Another week, another great issue packed with news, Brexit analysis and brilliant features on art, culture, film and food. 1. Paul Connew on the best hope to stop Trump’s Korea suicide 2. The French don’t mock us any more they pity us, says Nathaniel Tapley 3. Jacques Cousteau: The man who took the world beneath […]

We pick the worst Brexiteers of the week Diane James The MEP who led UKIP for 18 days – a grizzled veteran in Scaramucci terms – claimed the Bank of England are trying to subvert our departure from the EU. James tweeted that the Bank ‘keep rates on hold to deflate sterling, puts out gloomy […]

Paul Wang, Dane Baptiste, Imaginary Radio, Geoffrey Brown and Gareth Morinan all took to the stage at the largest arts festival in the world Phil Wang – Kinabalu – Pleasance Courtyard – Beneath *** Phil has started referring to himself ‘ The Wang’ in the third person during his latest show, always a vaguely troubling […]

Poor Brigitte Macron – the force behind the great hope of the centre Emmanuel since… well, since he was quite young. (Photo by Alain Apaydin/ABACAPRESS. COM) – Credit: ABACA/PA Images She is, by all accounts, the woman who makes the man who has grabbed French politics by the scruff of the neck. And yet her […]

As tensions in the Korean peninsula have risen, various apocalyptic scenarios for how a potential conflict might unfold have emerged. As tensions in the Korean peninsula have risen, various apocalyptic scenarios for how a potential conflict might unfold have emerged. Since the Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty, the […]

Trump, with his appetite for diversionary tactics, could see a pre-emptive strike against North Korea as the ultimate diversion from his domestic problems N. Korea fires another ICBM – Credit: Yonhap News Agency/PA Images ‘The Fake News Media will not talk about the importance of the United Nations Security Council’s 15-0 vote in favour of […]

Where the British were once favoured targets of French satirists, now we are ignored or pitied, says Have I Got News For You writer Nathaniel Tapley Come with me into the toilets. Specifically, into the gents’ toilets in Eurotunnel’s Folkestone terminal. The décor is designed to get you in the mood for going to France: […]

The news industry has a trust problem. In the UK only 43% of people believe the news media can be trusted, according to the latest Reuters Digital News Report, down from 50% in 2016. That has prompted a lot of soul-searching by the publishers, who are justifiably worried that a lack of trust lessens their […]

Our culture correspondent on the ‘earworm’ that has become the soundtrack to the summer If you haven’t yet heard Despacito, this summer’s hit of the moment, then don’t worry. Now that I’ve mentioned it, you will hear it everywhere. Originally released in Spanish as a collaboration between a singer and a rapper from Puerto Rico, […]

Trump groupie, Nigel Farage, routinely speaks of ‘Betrayal’ by anyone who pushes back against his simplistic saloon bars slogans for Brexit. But nobody wants to play with Nigel. As I type this sentence Boris Johnson has not resigned as Theresa May’s Foreign Secretary. May has not cut short her walking holiday in Italy and Switzerland […]

New Irish premier Leo Varadkar will play a defining role Ireland’s new prime minister, or taoiseach, Leo Varadkar was thrust into the headlines across Europe last week. A series of reports on the future of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland suggested Northern Ireland, which remains part of the UK, could […]

A seamy, subversive, self confident city, Hamburg is also a symbol of an outward-looking Germany Ever since Hamburg dissolved into a blur of water cannon and grandstanding at the G20 summit, the port city on the Elbe has been portrayed as a seething hotbed of left-wing radicalism. Angela Merkel, we are told, should never have […]

I’m banging the drum for the people being allowed to make an informed choice One can scarcely even begin to wonder at the thoughts which passed through the mind of young Lieutenant Commander John McCain during his long years of imprisonment and torture in Vietnam, but I’m going to go out on a limb here […]

Politicians should remember what lack of sleep can do to us. One of the best things about stopping work for a summer holiday is that you can get to sleep as long as you like. You may be heading to bed later, but chances are there won’t be a clanging alarm call to rouse you […]

Even without the complications of Brexit, Britain’s economy is in serious peril. But with attention elsewhere, is anyone in power actually listening? In the year or so since their victory, Brexit cheerleaders have seized on various apparently positive statistics during the past 12 months to claim that the economy is resilient enough to see through […]

The architect of the Labour’s introduction of student fees says the money charged is now nothing more than vice-chancellors profiteering By Andrew Adonis Britain’s vice-chancellors are complaining loudly about Brexit. But the storm about to engulf them has nothing to do with Europe. It is entirely self-inflicted, the result of hubris and greed. Tuition fees […]

Comedians Jan Ravens and Andrew Maxwell both took to the stage at the largest arts festival in the world. Andrew Maxwell – Credit: Archant Jan Ravens – Difficult Woman – Gilded Balloon – Dining Room 19.00 ***** Best known from her work on Dead Ringers, this is Jan’s first Edinburgh show and it is an […]

Jess Robinson, Tez Ilyas and Rachel Jackson all took to the stage for Fringe week – the largest arts festival in the world. Tez Ilyas – Credit: Archant Jess Robinson – Unravelled – Underbelly Purple Cow 19.00 ***** This is her first show after her success on Britain’s Got Talent and it is a real […]

How Britain’s farms are being sold out as real consequences of Brexit come home to roost (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images – Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images Here, finally, is the reality of Brexit, in the flesh. Ostensibly a debate about the safety of washing food in chlorine (not, intrinsically a health issue according […]

Comedians Sara Schaefer, Tiff Stevenson and Pippa Evans all took to the stage at the largest arts festival in the world. Tiff Stevenson – Credit: Archant Pippa Evans – Joy Provision – Pleasance Cabaret Bar 14.40 **** Times are tough, what the hell is going on? Pippa would like to know and let’s face it, […]