News and Opinion

This has been a dreadful campaign, as shallow and mean-spirited in its way as the Brexit campaign last summer, its proximate cause. In a remote Greek beach village, accessible only by sea, I woke with a start before dawn last Saturday. What if I had been stubbornly wrong in dismissing Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of defeating […]

This is not just after the event wisdom – we spelled out in last week’s newspaper exactly this eventuality and what it means for Theresa May; a figure not jut diminished, but broken, by this calamitous election. She clings on with a grubby alliance with the DUP and she promises its business as usual. She’s […]

June 8, 2017, will be remembered as the day the British people took a step back from the brink of a catastrophic Brexit. On Thursday morning, Theresa May was Mrs Landslide. On Friday morning, she was toast. A day is certainly a long time in politics. Her decline is justified. In calling this election, and […]

Theresa May’s Brexit election gamble has backfired spectacularly leaving her position at the top of the Tory party on a knife edge. None of the parties can now reach the 326-seat requirement that would enable them to form a government. Already questions are being asked about whether May can continue as Tory leader after calling […]

Edouard Louis’ work explores the rage felt among the French working class which shows no sign of dimming Before we all breathe too much of a sigh of relief that Marine Le Pen appears to have been vanquished by Macron for now, it’s worth keeping an eye on the author who claims to be able […]

Overshadowed by the tragedy in Syria, the Arabian Peninsular and Horn of Africa is the second front in the geo-political clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran The Trump Administration recently approved a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia – a deal which congressional lawmakers are actively trying to block. They have good reason to […]

Mind-boggling palindromes and decidedly odd tongue twisters Tongue Twisters From the well-known line ‘around the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran’ to the awkward phrase ‘red leather, yellow leather’ one aspect of mastering a language is being able to master its tongue twisters. And they are always decidedly odd sentences: Combien de sous sont ces […]

Socialist cats, liberal spaniels and awkward chips Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron and his 5-year-old Springer Spaniel Jasper – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images 1. Politicians grappling with their maths This election campaign will be remembered for senior politicians coming unstuck on their figures. Jeremy Corbyn went on Woman’s Hour to launch a childcare policy without […]

General Election news as it happens through the night and into the morning .

LIZ GERARD is angry. With everyone from Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn – and here is why. Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I’m just off to the polling station. My cross won’t make a jot of difference. The defending MP took 58% of the vote last time and won’t be dislodged. The parties I have voted […]

It’s not just the strong and stable sloganeering that has been laughable this election… .

From Conservative U-turns to when Corbyn met the masses – David Schneider shares the moments he’ll remember from the general election 2017 PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images 1. Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable’ slogan It’s like the Tories have gone ‘let’s pick a slogan and see if we can be the exact opposite […]

The thing that has made the Conservative Party the most formidable election-winning machine in political history is also its fatal weakness; its blithe assumption of authority. It may come as a surprise to those of you who only know me from this column to be told that politics is not the abiding obsession in my […]

Greg Wright’s viral campaign video is awkward enough to make even Alan Partridge cringe Sir Greg Knight, the Conservative candidate for East Yorkshire, has made sure his election campaign video is one to remember, for both its awkwardness and its creativity. The original cringe-worthy campaign video – with the lyrics ‘You’ll get accountability with Conservative […]

The downfall of Katie Hopkins reveals a truth. She doesn’t represent a silent majority. She only speaks for herself Altogether now, sing along… there’s only one Katie Hopkins, only one Katie Hopkins. Thankfully perhaps, that’s true enough. But it proved to be one too many for Britain’s leading talk radio station LBC. Amid no outpourings […]

Russia’s dangerous ruler has created a country that is a more unpredictable adversary than the Soviet Union ever was. A column of Russian armoured vehicles moves towards the Roki tunnel. – Credit: AFP/Getty Images At his most fundamental level, Putin is a kleptocrat, committed first and foremost to the preservation of the authoritarian mafia state […]

Tell this new voting tool your constituency and it recommends who to vote for to prevent Theresa May’s Hard Brexit PA Archive/PA Images – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Tactical voting to oppose Brexit could still have a huge impact on the General Election. Labour’s muddled EU policy and a weakened Liberal Democrats mean there is […]

Chimpanzees, croissants… and Brexit: A day with the Liberal Democrat leader as he is out canvassing for votes. PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images It is 7.30 in the morning and we are all standing outside a hipster cafe in south London waiting for Tim. Amongst the small, select crowd gathered underneath the railway […]

All the election news, reaction and analysis on June 7. .

We must acknowledge it before we can address it Over the past four months, there have been five murders committed by white supremacists or those associated with white supremacists groups in the United States. In February, two Indians were shot and one was killed in Kansas by a white man who shouted ‘get out of […]

Can you guess who high profile figures from the world of music, TV and film are backing in the general election 2017? .

From Cruella DeVil to Miss Trunchbull, the prime minister bears comparison to the great baddies of childhood nightmares The Little Mermaid (1989) – Credit: Cover Images This has got to be one of the most dysfunctional campaigns ever. In the seven-way televised debate, one leader was conspicuous by her absence: the tired looking PM, who […]

All the election news, reaction and analysis on June 6. .

Twitter lefties and a missing Brexit election: Our (Brexiteer) diarist Iain Dale records a new election week I’ve come to the conclusion that the ‘Left’ have conquered Twitter. Last weekend, my LBC Radio colleague Maajid Nawaz conducted a Twitter poll, which asked ‘who do you trust more on national security issues – Theresa May or […]

Lessons from the wrong side of history Two elderly women walk through Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 15 November 2006. – Credit: DPA/PA Images That deadly phrase about suffering ‘the enormous condescension of posterity’ was originally devised to rescue working class history from the disdain of educated historians. But it cuts both ways. We all deploy […]

As voters prepare for June 8, here’s a guide to what happens when the polling stations close… Enter your constituency into the tool below to find out what time election results for your area are announced. When do the polling stations close? Polling stations will be open on the day of the election from 7am […]

All the election news, reaction and analysis on June 5. .

The London Bridge terror attack is set to bring heightened pressure on internet firms to end so-called ‘safe spaces’. Speaking after seven people were killed and 48 injured when three terrorists rammed their van into pedestrians on London Bridge before going on a knife rampage through nearby Borough Market, Theresa May accused internet firms of […]

More than a century after they became extinct there, oysters are returning to a Scottish firth. This article originally appeared on The Conversation. Oysters were abundant in the waters around the Dornoch Firth in the north-east of Scotland from 10,000 years ago. But overfishing decimated stocks in the late 19th century and the shellfish became […]

In his work, Jeremy Deller’s has taken inspiration from an array of subjects… right up to the Prime Minister’s latest vapid soundbite. Jeremy Deller – Credit: Archant As Jeremy Deller was being shown round Stonehenge its custodians were unaware his intention was to make a ‘bouncy castle’ replica of the late Neolithic monument. When official […]

Schools have not been much of a Brexit battleground up until now. But the effects are now starting to be felt In classrooms up and down the country, the atmosphere is fraught. The demands of exam season weigh on both students and teachers, while the ever-present funding crisis looms large in the background. As heads […]

Of all the puny political excuses that reduce grown-up arguments to childish spats, ‘I blame the media’ is the most dispiriting. Witnessing Westminster’s warriors clinging to their favourite clapped-out cliché and shooting the messenger can be a life-sapping experience. As the bullets fly from all directions, it’s hard to keep up. Labour’s General Election soldiers […]