News and Opinion

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, […]

An idea for a movie that once upon a time no one would buy – because it was too improbable. The Pitch: imagine that the President of the United States, the most powerful person on earth, relies on a breakfast television show for his news and opinions. He interacts with it, sending out into the […]

When the political season resumes with the party conferences, we had better have got our act together. All of us. Or else this thing is happening Maybe we really do get the politicians and the media we deserve. Trump in the White House; Putin’s Kremlin kleptocracy making him by some accounts the richest man in […]

Former Coopers pupil Tom Toolis has been named in the Great Britain squad for the World Championships in Cairo later this month. Toolis, 24, will be appearing in his fourth successive World Championships and hoping to impress after illness ruined his chances at the European Championships last month. Having finished runner-up at the British Championships […]

A powerful group of universities is demanding urgent action from the Government amid heightened ‘anxiety’ over Brexit. The Russell Group has outlined 10 points it believes ministers must answer, warning the lack of clarity is ‘causing considerable concern’ for the thousands of EU nationals employed or studying at universities while also ‘impacting on our ability’ […]

Another week, another great issue packed with news, Brexit analysis and brilliant features on art, culture, film and food. 1. Alastair Campbell: Don’t let the Brexit liars win 2. How the headless chickens of Brexit are negotiating Britain’s farmers out of business 3. Paul Connew on why Trump’s White House is beyond parody 4. Vince […]

We pick the worst Brexiteers of the week https://twitter.com/pswidlicki/status/892337757196095488 Nigel Farage and Katie Hopkins ‘What’s not to like here?’ was nicotine-stained fanboy Farage’s verdict on potty-mouthed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, posted on Twitter on July 27. On July 28, Hatey Katie weighed in with ‘Love @Scaramucci – sod apologising. If only all communications […]

Steve Coogan discusses buttonholing his illuminati mates at posh parties and quitting the booze Alan Partridge – Credit: citizenside.com In honour of his widely-acclaimed series The Trip Steve Coogan and I are going on a journey. But unlike the show – where Coogan and Rob Brydon playing fictionalised versions of themselves tour restaurants – there […]

New Liberal Democrat leader believes MPs from across the political spectrum will join his fight for Britain’s European future In recent weeks, I have been struck that the parallels between the Brexit campaign and Trump’s campaign seem to have continued long after the elections are over. Much like Republican politicians who have spent years campaigning […]

University funding is back on the agenda and that means change is coming https://twitter.com/TheNewEuropean/status/890589680588214272 One of the most unexpected outcomes of a General Election has been the way that it has returned university tuition fees to our front pages. The Conservatives went into the election having already pre-approved inflationary rises in fees, to £9,250 per […]

Prime Minister Theresa May has been forced to wade into a ministerial spat over Brexit transitional periods after a nominal Cabinet ceasefire was broken. Her official spokesman was forced to confirm the Hard Brexit line that free movement from the European Union will end in March 2019. Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Brexit chief David […]

Budapest side Honved produced one of the greatest sides in the world. But all that was destroyed by the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and they are still struggling under the weight of history. Hungarian Revolution 1956: Russian tanks swinging into the streets of Budapest in the early stages of the uprising. – Credit: �TopFoto.co.uk The […]

Parisians might like to claim a link for their city back to ancient Greece. In fact the stronger connection is a Yorkshire one The capital of France has many names. In the Gaelic of Ireland it is known as Páras; the Finnish name is Pariisi; it is called Parijs in Dutch; and in Lithuanian it […]

Editor-at-Large Alistair Campbell has a suggestion: to anyone yet to book a holiday – try Albania OK, let’s get the jokes and the insults out of the way … Albania. Isn’t that the place where there is a statue to comedian Norman Wisdom because he is the only Westerner the Albanians have ever seen on […]

The epitaph for the Battle of Passchendaele – as with so much of our understanding of the First World War – came from a British war poet. But what of their German counterparts? We explore the poetry that emerged from the other side of no-man’s land ‘I died in hell,/ (They called it Passchendaele),’ wrote […]

Five books of remarkable journeys by remarkable people. Ninety Degrees North by Fergus Fleming (Granta, o/p) This is a thrilling tale of adventure, bravery and astounding deeds by some extraordinary explorers, charlatans and outright crackpots. Brave, foolhardy or a mixture of both, the men who dreamed of being the first to the North Pole are […]

From the outrageously expensive flops to big budget blockbusters, we pick four of the riskiest cinema spends John Carter, 2012 – Credit: Cover Images Apocalypse Now, 1979 This epic war film was an obsession for its writer, director and producer Francis Ford Coppola. And it could have ruined him. Hugely expensive sets were destroyed by […]

Is Europe’s biggest ever movie Europe’s biggest ever flop? Cult director Luc Besson talks about his new sci-fi epic Valerian ‘The film is made, it’s my baby … don’t touch my baby, or I’ll kill you’ Is Europe’s biggest ever movie Europe’s biggest ever flop? JASON SOLOMONS talks to cult director Luc Beeson about his […]

The democratic principle merely holds that the wishes of the majority should, where practicable, be upheld. It says absolutely NOTHING about whether the majority is RIGHT You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I began my column by making the declaration that Julia Hartley-Brewer is a nice person (just one who believes, and […]

Lies, damn lies and Brexit: How fabrication – whatever the consequences – has become a viable political weapon and what the fallout might be Do you trust me? I might look like a pleasant enough person in my byline picture, but can you actually believe what I write? And if you did find something questionable […]

Migrant bashing is trending again. In virtual and real public spaces, anti-migrant hostility is palpable. I am a migrant. Treat me with respect. Et tu Jerry? The Labour leader, a lifetime defender of migrants and asylum seekers, now apparently believes the ‘wholesale importation’ of hard working migrants from Central Europe has destroyed working conditions for […]

Oil-rich Venezuela’s dream of fashioning a better society through a third way between communism and capitalism has turned into a nightmare with riots on the streets. Slum area in San Cristobal, Venezuela. – Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto When the bearded former philosophy professor who was Venezuela’s Ambassador in Moscow handed me his AK-47 and explained President […]

Since Brexit there has been a spike in homophobic hate crime. What are the reasons behind the worrying trend? It is 50 years since the first major gay rights reform in British history. The Sexual Offences Act 1967 decreed that, in England and Wales, it would no longer be illegal for two men over the […]

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has denied the Chancellor’s claim there will be three years of continued free movement after Brexit. Hammond had claimed there was ‘broad acceptance’ in Cabinet of a post-Brexit transitional period lasting up to three years. But speaking to the Sunday Times Fox said that any such move would ‘not keep […]

One hundred years ago, on July 31 1917, saw the start of the slaughter in that hell they called Passchendaele. Here’s why the battle still exerts such a hold on the national psyche… Carrying a wounded soldier to a first aid post, Passchendaele, Belgium, World War I, 1914-1918 – Credit: The Print Collector / HIP […]

What is at stake and what needs to change to ‘save the country’? I write these words in the warm autumn of the antipodes, where incredulous Australians and dismayed, distressed and unhappy British expatriates look at the farce, the lunacy, of Brexit from afar, and shake their heads. I tell them that Brexit will collapse […]

The Liberal Democrats need a spark. And Sir Vince Cable can provide it. Vince Cable, if he plays his cards right, has a chance to take his still shell-shocked party and make it the natural political home for all who believe Brexit is set to be an unmitigated disaster. To do so he’ll have to […]

It is 50 years since a huge breakthrough for gay rights in the UK – the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality It was a summer evening in 1954 and the home secretary, David Maxwell Fyfe, was travelling on the Liverpool to London sleeper train. His accompanying security detail passed him a note from a man called […]