News and Opinion

En ce début d’année, j’ai déjà l’impression d’un mauvais film qui recommence. La scène initiale est plutôt gaie, elle se passe avec des amis autour d’un café, d’un thé, d’un verre, à dîner. J’écoute parler des gens au QI plus élevé que le mien, politiquement concernés, plein de bonnes intentions humanistes et plus ou moins […]

Why are you in the UK? 11 EU citizens share their experiences (good and bad) of living in Brexit Britain Begona (Photo: Susana De Dios) – Credit: Archant Ever since the referendum, EU citizens in the UK have been enduring great uncertainty, their future status unknown. One of them, Susana De Dios, a photographer, decided […]

Tweet them, email them and engage with them – do not stop Many of them – a majority in fact – did not want the UK to leave the European Union, and many represent constituencies which also strongly voted against Brexit. And yet, because their parties are insisting on a whipped vote on the issue, […]

Our treatment of those who fall foul of our immigration system shames our country. And more and more people are going to become ensnared in it Earlier this month, a 27-year-old Polish man detained at Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre became a father. According to detainee support group the Unity Centre, he had been denied […]

The opening days of the Trump presidency have been part black comedy, part political thriller and part pure farce US President Donald Trump – Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images Somehow it was inevitable that Donald Trump chose My Way as the tune to waltz first lady Melania around the floor at his Liberty inaugural ball. […]

There’s danger in getting too close to Donald Trump. As Theresa May heads to the White House she needs to keep her distance Lots of nonsense is talked about Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the United States, born out of urgent mutual necessity in the Second World War and the subject of neurotic obsession, at least […]

Migration, elections, robot buses, doomed trade policies and a row over condoms Head of Knights of Malta quits in condoms row The head of the Knights of Malta – an ancient Catholic order – has resigned after a public row with Pope Francis over condoms. The pair clashed after British Grand Master Matthew Festing refused […]

Confused by another week in Brexit? Can’t keep up with all the insanity and inanity coming from 52% Our new weekly chart rates the no-good, the bad and the ugly from the last seven days Roger Helmer – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images 10. Roger Helmer (DOWN 7) The climate change-denying East Midlands MEP’s reputation for […]

The pro-Europe group behind the stunt to get EU flags flown at the Last Night of the Proms has hatched a new plan to take their message across the Atlantic. (EU Flags at the Proms) – Credit: Archant The team aim to drive a digital advertising van around Washington DC emblazoned with pro-European images and […]

The Article 50 legislation paving the way for Theresa May to start the Brexit process is to be rushed through the Commons within a fortnight. The Article 50 legislation paving the way for Theresa May to start the Brexit process is to be rushed through the Commons within a fortnight. The European Union (Notification of […]

Frustrated by the inadequacies and inflexibility of their mother tongue, the French increasingly turn to English to make up for its shortcomings Whether or not George W Bush really did tell Tony Blair that the problem with the French was that they didn’t have a word for entrepreneur (and no-one is totally sure) one thing […]

What will happen after the EU referendum? Key Brussels negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt is determined not to ‘go soft’ on Britain when Brexit talks begin ‘A dubious freedom’ Given the immense financial troubles in Europe — the strangled economy, the squabbling over scraps, the lack of problem solving — it is shocking to realize just how […]

When the triggering of Article 50 comes before the Commons many MPs will have a difficult decision – vote with their constituents or vote with the party whip. So far it appears only one Conservative – the indefatigable Europhile Ken Clarke – and a handful of Labour MPs are willing to ignore the party line. […]

From baffling cameo film roles and WWE wrestling fame to hair styling tips, we pick 48 things you never knew about the Donald via GIPHY Trump was born on June 14 1946, the day before Noddy Holder and Demis Roussos Trump was the tallest boy at the school he attended before being sent off to […]

Supreme Court ruling is shot in arm for democracy. PM must now produce White Paper, hold debate and give MPs proper say on any Brexit deal This article originally appeared on InFacts. The Supreme Court ruling that Theresa May cannot trigger Article 50 without parliament’s approval is a shot in the arm for democracy. But […]

The powerful television show that might just make a difference After three weeks in the Albert Ward recovering from a broken ankle, redoubtable 91-year-old Dolly Jackson is ready to be transferred. The good news is that following a search lasting several days, relieved staff have found her somewhere to go. The bad news is… there’s […]

Our attitude to celebrities has got to change – for their sake, as well as ours, says former tabloid journo and celeb hunter Being a celebrity makes you into a giant man-baby, reducing your capacity to be a fully-formed human. To be an impeccable celeb brand, with a long shelf-life, you must renounce important parts […]

As the first post-Brexit Burns Night looms, Hardeep Singh Kohli finds himself rekindling the Auld Alliance Last Monday I found myself at The Poor School in London’s ever changing King’s Cross. My co-writer and dear friend Maddy Anholt was starting the first of half a dozen evening workshops on the comedy of improvisation. She’d asked […]

The Government has lost its battle over triggering Article 50 and must now seek a vote in Parliament PA Wire/PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images Theresa May remains determined to trigger Article 50 before the end March despite losing a bruising Supreme Court battle over Brexit. By a majority of eight to three, judges […]

Theresa May’s version of Brexit is the opposite of what she and her allies were seeking just a few months ago Optimism in politics is always an attractive quality and Theresa (‘certainty and clarity’) May’s exposition of her goals for Britain’s EU Brexit negotiation displayed a well-crafted example of that quality in the gilded splendour […]

The Prime Minister’s speech has set Britain on course for an ultra-Hard Brexit. Three things, and only these three, were made crystal clear in Theresa May’s plan for Brexit. One is that she and the Brexit claque are determined on an ultra-Hard Brexit. The second is that she is determined to deprive Parliament of an […]

The government’s Brexit strategy is a betrayal of values that has stunned Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron If 2016 felt like a never-ending cycle of shocks and surprises, then 2017 already shows no sign of relenting. As a liberal and a progressive, in a week where the Prime Minister confirmed her intentions for a Hard […]

Few US presidents have entered the White House amid such extraordinary tumult. Former Fleet Street editor Paul Connew describes the start of what will be a unpredictable four years for the world Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Michael Gove during the Dinner to Her Majesty’s Judges hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of […]

The irony of Theresa May choosing Davos to make her first foreign defence of taking Britain out of Europe is that the Swiss are going in exactly the opposite direction. Three years ago in a referendum in Switzerland on immigration, the Swiss narrowly voted to ban Europeans entering to work in the country. A quarter […]

Today is a big day for Mitch Benn; it’s his birthday. But he also has a message for those concerned by the presidency of ‘he who must not be named’: Stop clutching your pearls If you’re reading this article on its day of publication, it’s my birthday. On January 20, I turn 47 years old, […]

The American Dream belongs to every US citizen, but Donald Trump has denied it to many. As he is sworn in to office, Bonnie Greer remembers her earlier protest against another ‘Strong Man’ president I went to my first Washington protest in the Nixon era. The anti-Vietnam War organisation that was sponsoring us had organised […]

Brexit was meant to light a fire under Europe and spark populist revolts across the continent. In fact, it has united it as never before – and reduced the UK to being the butt of jokes After June’s British vote to leave the EU the mood music across Europe seemed inescapable: emboldened by the UK’s […]

For months, Labour has been pressing the Prime Minister to disclose her Brexit negotiating objectives. When we won an Opposition Day motion last December calling for a plan to be published, it became inevitable she would have to do so. Yet on Tuesday we got a speech, not a plan. That is no substitute. The […]

*Spoiler* It’s not great 1. ‘It will take all the ‘stiff upper lip’ symbolized by Queen Victoria to overcome the economic storm unleashed from the British leaving the European Union’ – La Stampa, Italian newspaper 2. ‘The recent resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers as permanent representative to the EU is not merely a diplomatic anecdote. […]

Think the north London, Merseyside or even the notorious Old Firm derbies are the pinnacle of footballing rivalries? Europe’s football hooligan clashes will shock you Players of Greek football club Panathinaikos cower behind riot police for protection from objects and flares thrown by rival Olympiakos Piraeus fans. – Credit: AFP/Getty Images The blood and thunder […]

The ‘special relationship’ between the US and the UK has long been unbalanced. Brexit will tip the scales completely in favour of the Americans and enfeeble Britain The British Ambassador to the US, Kim Darroch, says that he plans to make Prime Minister Theresa May and incoming President Donald Trump’s partnership as close as the […]

We shouldn’t be surprised about the sudden emergence of populism. Illiberalism has deep roots. And we’ve allowed it to grow Over the course of last year, several commentators claimed that we were witnessing a ‘new xenophobia’, the product of an all-too-visible populism. Oxford University Professor and Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, Ngaire Woods […]