News and Opinion

‘The Will Of The People … Once upon a time, I would have thought the phrase absurdly un-British’ In a brilliant essay entitled The Reichstag Fire Next Time, the Russian American writer, Masha Gessen, argues that totalitarianism has already arrived in the United States. It merely takes an event – one real or created – […]

Does Sean Spicer have the biggest tale to tell? Could Sean Spicer, the human sponge White House press spokesman who resigned after the appointment of new Communications Director Anthony ‘The Mooch’ Scaramucci, have the biggest ‘Whistleblower’s Tale’ of all to tell? So far, Spicer has maintained his loyalty to the president, but there is no […]

Britain’s funniest politico Steve Coogan talks Corbyn, Grenfell and how Alan Partridge is a rabid Hard Brexiteer. Steve Coogan is enjoying a revolutionary moment inspired by ‘the metaphor of Jeremy Corbyn’s jacket’. Corbyn’s clothing choices – which ‘show authenticity’ – occurred to Coogan during the election, when he joined the Labour leader on the campaign […]

I find I’m just as uncomfortable with sneering schadenfreude when it’s our ‘side’ doing it as when it comes from the opposition. Young Christian Americans sometimes wear a bracelet around one wrist inscribed with the letters ‘WWJD?’ This of course stands for ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ and is intended to help them clarify their thoughts […]

The New European has finally decided to publish one of persistent Brexiteer Robert Miller’s letters. But was it worth the wait? Brexiteer and prolific letter writer, Robert Miller – Credit: Archant Had The New European ever seen fit to publish any of my letters, or, indeed, had any of my letters to the newspaper been […]

Robert Miller, the Brexiteer who keeps writing to us without being published finally gets his say in The New European A selection of the many emails received by The New European from Robert Miller – Credit: Archant THE NEW EUROPEAN: Who is Robert Miller? ROBERT MILLER: Well, I’m 49 and am currently in Liverpool. And […]

The tragic drowning of French philosopher Anne Dufourmantelle while trying to rescue two stricken children has prompted tributes from across the globe. Michel de Montaigne once wrote an essay arguing ‘that to philosophise is to learn to die’. By reflecting on our finitude and the human predicament, he said philosophy teaches us both to accept […]

There are encouraging signs for bears across Europe. But for one subspecies – numbering only around 50 – the situation is particularly perilous. Efforts are being made to find out more about this isolated population right in the heart of Italy. It’s hard to believe that just a few hours drive from Rome, a small […]

Let’s get talking In the 1970s, for my final year of high school, I was an exchange student in the United States. The mother of the family I lived with was a registered Republican; she’d once run for mayor of the upstate New York town in which she lived. Her sister lived in Washington DC, […]

The story of the Bosnian War is also the story of its football clubs which were ethnically cleansed along with the population For tens of thousands of refugees displaced by the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina 25 years ago, the first painful hours after being ejected from their homes were often spent in football stadiums. […]

Infuse cream with cinnamon, cardamon and star anise for an Indian inspired twist on the classic French dessert I’ve never been made about the third course. Two Starters Hardeep was what they might have called me. The late noughties was the defining decade for me when it came to puddings. Having assembled a cultured coterie […]

That the entire Brexit Project may now lie in the domain of Elmer Fudd would be what Bugs would make us question. The Trump administration is being compared to a Bugs Bunny movie; a Cheech and Chong film, or a ‘dumb-ass comedy’ (Robert de Niro). As with Star Wars, I got the point of Cheech […]

The haunting image of a ruined city is nothing new. Here we examine the horrors of urban warfare from Stalingrad to Mosul 1941: Red Army troops storming an apartment block amidst the ruins of war-torn Stalingrad during World War II. (Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images Heinrich Böll, one of the few German novelists to […]

Trade secretary Liam Fox has played down claims importing foods under a new UK-US trade deal could mean a loosening of food standards post-Brexit. Fears were sparked after Donald Trump hailed a ‘new chapter for stronger trade’ between Britain and the United States after Fox held talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. But Fox […]

A gin and prosecco cocktail recipe with a spiced, sugary sensuousness I love cocktails. Perhaps it’s because I never really liked the taste of alcohol when I was learning to drink; who does at that tender age? Cocktails from the sweeter side of the spectrum lull one into that false sense of alcoholic security. I […]

A burgeoning gay rights movement in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century was crushed by rising authoritarianism. Cover of The Lesbians of Berlin (1928) – Credit: Archant Very recently, Germany’s Cabinet approved a bill that will expunge the convictions of tens of thousands of German men for ‘homosexual acts’ under that country’s […]

The mid-90s saw the triumph of two very different double acts – Robson and Jerome and the Gallagher brothers. Jerome Flynn and Robson Green – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Robson and Jerome – the stars of ITV’s military drama Soldier Soldier – double A-side Unchained Melody/(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover was […]

We used to be a mild-mannered people. Now random spite is the cornerstone of our crumbling culture In belligerent Britain, something is going badly wrong. Moderation has been replaced by mindless fury, vile racism, sexism, homophobia and extreme conflict peppered with deliberately provocative obscenities. Every day in every way we slip deeper into the abyss. […]

The new film Dunkirk is one of the greatest depictions of war on screen. But despite its anti-war message it also comes with some pretty heavy baggage Fionn Whitehead in Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan, 2017 – Credit: Cover Images Shell-shocked. That’s how they describe Cillian Murphy’s shivering soldier, rescued from a sinking hull by Mark Rylance’s […]

The British media has always failed in its coverage of European affairs. It was midnight and we were knee-deep in envelopes sent in by Guardian readers. As we sorted wearily through thousands of responses to a survey requesting suggestions for a name for the single currency, my Greek colleague and I decided that this was […]

When idiocy and immaturity take over, all a writer can do is blow a literary raspberry A young man, dishevelled and downcast, trudges into a corner shop. He gazes up at the shelves. They are mostly bare. A sad bunch of darkening bananas greets him at eye level. The top shelf holds more interest – […]

When it comes to Brexit and the environment our ties to the EU are complex. At a panel debate on Brexit at which I spoke last week, a Remain-supporting member of the audience revealed that his Leave-voting friend had likened the UK’s withdrawal from Europe to undoing a complicated knot – difficult at first, but […]

The zealots who allow the Brexit fiasco to happen are diminishing the UK inch by inch, day by day. More than twenty years ago, when I became a citizen, there was no citizenship test. That means that there was no official notion of what being ‘British’ was. Not in the sense of what being American […]

Labour’s Brexit divisions have become apparent once again with trade spokesman Barry Gardiner saying staying in the customs union would be a ‘disaster’. Shadow international trade secretary Gardiner said remaining part of the customs arrangement would leave the UK bound by European Union free-trade deals without achieving the benefits. His comments came after Jeremy Corbyn […]

Emmanuel Macron has been lucky. But also courageous. Here’s how the combination has led to a remarkable turnaround in previously gloomy nation (Photo: ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images) – Credit: AFP/Getty Images All our presidents of the Republic dream of burying a well-known figure in the Pantheon. It’s a mania. A sort of canine way for them […]

Among the most extraordinary works of art are the Black Pictures of Francisco Goya Here is their story… Guerra – Credit: Archant In February 1819 the 72 year old Spanish artist Goya moved into a two-story farmhouse in the countryside west of Madrid. This was Goya’s final retreat from public life – a public life […]

Not quite ready to laugh about Brexit? This 1960s comic classic brilliantly captures a sense of the undeniable farce the referendum vote has triggered A post shared by Vinylcollection (@vinylhoard) on Mar 5, 2017 at 4:17am PST The comic novel is one of the hardest things in literature to get right. Indeed, when you consider […]

What is Unicum and why should I drink it? https://www.instagram.com/p/BWPZ9I9gO4-/?taken-by=unicumofficial The intriguingly-named Unicum is the ‘national shot’ of Hungary, and its story is that of the nation, from its use as a popular aperitif at Habsburg balls, to its struggle for survival under communism, and its emergence as a symbol of modern Hungary. The drink […]

Plot gossip: Leaky lips in the Tory party and a look at the world beyond Brexit sniping Whose leaky lips are these? – Credit: Archant The world goes busily about its business. But British politics has been trivially distracted by Philip Hammond’s suggestion that modern trains no longer require train drivers to possess unusual physical […]

We Dutch used to make fun of the Germans and admire the Brits, says Vanessa Lamsvelt. Now, we find ourselves laughing at, not with, the UK Growing up as a northern European citizen in the 1980s and early 90s the world was so much simpler. The European Union consisted of only 12 countries, you were […]

The Cabinet is ‘united’ in backing a transitional Brexit deal which would mean continued access to migrant labour, Michael Gove has said. The prominent Brexiteer, said the Government would take a ‘pragmatic’ approach in response to suggestions Britain could maintain free movement for EU citizens during a transition period following the official separation from Brussels. […]

The Euratom row lays bare the innate flaws of Brexit. But it also gives pro-Europeans their biggest chance yet to regain the initiative Our politicians have belatedly woken up to the fact that amongst the many complex implications of Brexit are some very serious issues to do with nuclear safety, nuclear waste and nuclear medicine. […]