Opinion

In his brilliant new book Who Enters Politics and Why?, academic James Weinberg provides possibly the most sophisticated analysis of why some people decide to stand for office and others don’t. His research discovers that when it comes to their basic human values, politicians really are “different”. Having spent the summer reading just about every […]

A light wind blew in off the water and combed the open grassland covering the hills rolling along above the lake. We’d visited the ruined monastery at Hayravank, wandering around the main body of the building – an octagonal drum surmounted by a conical dome – then exploring the overgrown outbuildings, poking into the shrubbery […]

The UK Government is pressing ahead with draft legislation to override its commitments to the EU on Northern Ireland, which it admits will break international law. Yet it has – paradoxically – signalled it will only apply that legislation consistently with international law. This mixed messaging may be designed to encourage some its hard-line supporters […]

As the 2020 US presidential election draws near, close to 209,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 7.3 million have tested positive to the virus, including president Donald Trump. The announcement of Trump’s positive diagnosis has led to arguably the most extensive case of collective schadenfreude in human history. Taking pleasure in another person […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the fascinating origins of Fahrenheit and Celsius – and how different things might have been. Many Americans endure a reputation for an apparent lack of regard for the rest of the world. Regardless of whether it is deserved or not, it remains the fact that the USA is the only nation on […]

From his childhood during the Chinese Civil War to his experiences in the Second World War, Mervyn Peake’s influences are hauntingly evident in his work, much of which has just been acquired by the British Library. RICHARD HOLLEDGE reports. Step into the shadows of “time-eaten buttresses, of broke and lofty turrets”. Meet Lord Sepulchrave, trapped […]

Europeans have idealised their continent as a place of accomplishment and civilisation, of excellence and enlightenment. But, in a challenging essay, Surinamese-Dutch writer GLORIA WEKKER argues that there is another side to Europe, of exclusion and denial. One evening in the dead of winter 2015, close to zero degrees and with a cold wind searching […]

France’s is bailing out its wine industry, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. But, says JASON WALSH, long-standing social trends in the country could be even more troubling for the sector. The scene outside Le Ballon Vert in the trendy 11th arrondissement of Paris: forced outdoors by post-coronavirus regulations and unseasonal autumn weather, […]

Analysis of the impact of a no-deal, or weak deal, has focused on the impact on trade. But, says DR MARK AVERY, it will also bring consequences for the environment. Four years after the Brexit vote, and almost nine months through the one-year transition period, we are still unclear as to the impacts of Brexit […]

Northern Ireland will mark 100 years of its existence on May 3, 2021. In the meantime the government of the Republic has launched a radical new policy calling for “A Shared Island”. This new emphasis on sharing points to a United Ireland as an aspiration rather than a policy. In parallel, the United Kingdom has […]

At the height of the last pandemic to hit the UK – the 1987 AIDS crisis – the government released a terrifying ad. At its conclusion it showed a huge tombstone, upon which was engraved the message: “DON’T DIE OF IGNORANCE.” The campaign was deliberately engineered to be terrifying (one TV spot featured a volcano), […]

For her new book, DEBORAH MATTINSON has been talking to voters in Red Wall constituencies. Her research underlines how Brexit remains a totemic issue there. Voters in the Red Wall, in common with voters pretty much everywhere, tend not to follow politics very closely. I once ran a focus group live on TV where one […]

Cultural commentator and broadcaster PETER YORK on those with the knives out for the Corporation. There is a war against the BBC. Does that sound over the top? When Paddy Barwise and I were searching for a title for our new book, back in 2018, we feared it might be. A war against the British […]

Did you notice Boris Johnson raising those careworn eyes towards the wider world horizon in the past few days? Not once but twice. First, to promise a generous £340 million UK contribution to the embattled World Health Organisation despite it being Public Enemy No 208 to his comrade-in-expediency, Tax Dodger Trump. Second, to pledge Britain […]

As the UK prepares for a possible second wave of the coronavirus pandemic it appears once again divided. The unity seen during the first lockdown has been lost, explains TIMOTHY OLIVER. The arrival of the coronavirus pandemic transformed the UK political scene in the blink of an eye. At the start of 2020, the national […]

Music photographer KEVIN CUMMINS took many of Britpop’s era-defining images and knew all its key players. So, as his new book about the period is published, why does he feel conflicted about the musical movement that sparked Blur v Oasis and Cool Britannia? In the mid-1990s anything and everything British was cool. Celebrity mockney chefs: […]

The Labour leader’s first conference speech was light on detail, but in an earlier presentation clear contours of his vision could be made out, says FLORENCE SUTCLIFFE-BRAITHWAITE. Earlier this month, Keir Starmer addressed the Trades Union Congress annual conference for the first time as Labour Party leader. Just over a year earlier, as shadow Brexit […]

Labour activist MARTYN SLOMAN on Keir Starmer’s first party conference speech as leader. As a seasoned and highly professional politician, Keir Starmer will have recognised that not being able to hold the traditional Labour Party Conference had many advantages.  True, it denied him the images of cheering supporters transmitted as the first item on the evening […]

More nominees for the worst Brexiteers of the week… ANN WIDDECOMBETV viewers have become used to the messages that run at the end of particularly harrowing shows, advising them to call a helpline “if you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme”. But one doubts there is a helpline for the issue […]

In a field outside the Suffolk village of Barton Mills, a ‘Boris 4 PM’ billboard left over from last December’s general election has finally been replaced. The new advert reads ‘Primevil: Screaming Won’t Help’. There can be no better illustration of how dreams have turned to dread for the prime minister and his inner circle. […]

The roots of the government’s latest attacks on the BBC can be traced back to blogs written by Dominic Cummings’ think tank 16 years ago. If you are planning a coup, taking control of the national broadcaster is a job for day one. Boris Johnson did not need a coup to secure power – he […]

A year ago, monitoring the G7 protests in Biarritz, I was kettled for more than two hours by police under a baking sun. The following day, I was almost choked by tear gas in Bayonne. What I experienced in the southwest of France was part of a heavy-handed police and judicial response to peaceful protest […]

It was more a source of sadness than surprise in the USA last week when the indomitable but very frail and elderly Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, giving the Republican president and senate a chance to rush-confirm another right-wing judge onto the bench before the (extremely) imminent election. It was a source of some […]

When all this Covid business began we were coming up to the March equinox, the point at which, in this hemisphere, there are more hours of daylight than there are of darkness. It was a dark time, but the light made it easier to deal with. Covid struck in the time of life and growth […]

Nothing focuses our attention on our national identity more that an existential threat to our homeland’s existence, such as warfare, radical constitutional change, or the effects of a lethal pandemic on national health and economic self-esteem; nothing, that is, except for baking competition held in a plastic marquee in the grounds of an English country […]

I have tended to avoid Dominic Cummings in my columns here. Mainly, because often the best way to deal with attention-seekers is to ignore them. Also, even at the subconscious level, perhaps I turn away from situations in which a right-hand man to a prime minister is getting too much media coverage for his own […]

DR ROB DAVIDSON, director of Trade Deal Watch, says the UK’s government new trade deal with Japan is far from a cause for celebration. It is the first sign of our poorer future following Brexit. In the suburbs of Tokyo, it is unlikely that many people will be celebrating the hard fought terms for Stilton cheese […]

Older women are being “groomed” on Facebook and are quickly adopting more radical views, claims academic SUE GREENWOOD. A headteacher in Stoke-on-Trent told me that, alongside ensuring a COVID-safe return to school for her pupils this September, she’s having to reassure parents that their children will not be forcibly taken away and isolated in a […]

I wonder what clever slogan the ‘genius superforecaster’ in Downing Street is going to come up with as the UK hits a tipping point over the pandemic?“Get Covid Done” sounds like the best. It’s short and snappy and it’s something we can all believe in. What is brilliant about this slogan is it taps into the […]

There was a lot to applaud in Keir Starmer’s virtual conference speech and I understand why he says Labour will no longer “bang on about Europe”. Yet on Brexit, as with other aspects of policy, the party must do far more than keep schtum and hope that the Tories continue to make unforced errors all […]

In his book on Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson wrote that “one man can make all the difference”. This biographer still had faith in the “great man” theory of history. In his admiration for a charismatic and controversial figure, Johnson seemed to be hinting, or perhaps thinking, that another latter-day controversialist might also make a pretty […]

It was at the Chichester Festival Theatre just over a year ago that I last saw Dame Diana Rigg. Not on stage, but sitting directly in front of me as her daughter Rachael Stirling starred in a revival of Sir David Hare’s play Plenty. She glowed with maternal pride. The fine actress’s death earlier this […]