Opinion

Mitch Benn on the danger of creeping optimism and the power of Scotland. Something dangerous is creeping into our movement. Optimism. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with optimism. But like anything else that makes you feel good, you have to take it easy with optimism. A little bit will put a spring […]

JAMES BALL says the real reason we’ve made so little progress on Brexit is clear: the hardliners central to the process have made very little effort to understand it. It is perhaps only this week, six months from Brexit, that the reason we’ve made so little progress has become clear. We’d wondered whether the issue […]

Comedian Mitch Benn takes to task the political commentators going to absurd lengths in search of the moral high-ground. If there’s anything more depressing than the sight of someone truly stupid giving full rein to their stupidity (and we’re getting more than enough of that at the moment, not to name any presidents) then it’s […]

For the Conservatives this is all out war – and Boris Johnson is advancing on Downing Street. The former foreign secretary is planning a Blitzkrieg on the Chequers plan as the Tories prepare for conference. Monday after Monday in the pages of the Tory parish newsletter the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson will fling grenades in […]

During his lifetime John McCain challenged colleagues on both sides of the American political divide but his death has led the country to pause for thought. One of the most interesting things surrounding the death of Senator John McCain was the fulminations of various pundits on the left and the right, insisting how awful he […]

Time is running out for a broken parliament The Chequers deal is dead-on-arrival in both Westminster and in Brussels. Boris Johnson is openly scorning the prime minister’s plan, while offering precisely zero details on an alternative. And Nick Boles has suggested the UK should jettison its current proposals for transition – which are themselves far […]

The shorts are safely back in the drawer and the paddling pool has been deflated – Britain’s MPs are back to school. Labour’s front bench listens as Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions Photo: PA – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images But it has hardly been a restful, tranquil summer for the leaders of the […]

MPs are returning to work and the pre-Tory conference Battle of Brexit has begun. Brexit cheerleader and wannabe prime minister Boris Johnson has savaged Theresa May’s Brexit plan saying the proposed Chequers deal would leave the UK with ‘diddly squat’ and hand the European Union ‘victory’. On the Brexiteer wing of the Tory party his […]

I wrote to my MEP Nigel Farage requesting a financial assessment of the benefits of Brexit. I was expecting a mathematical answer but was astonished to receive a reply blaming those bloody Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle: ‘May I suggest some general reading for you: Hobbes, Locke, Von Mises, Hayek, Fukuyama. The EU is based […]

Following the death of John McCain mainstream media has been flooded with tributes to America’s war hero. But further into the blogosphere, Senator McCain’s death is proving just as divisive as he was, writes Mitch Benn US Republican Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain speaks during a rally in Davenport, Iowa. (Photo credit should read JIM […]

Comedian, musician and writer MITCH BENN recalls the speech he gave at a People’s Vote rally What do you think, is 48 too old to discover your true calling? I’m still in Edinburgh, still have a few days left of my Fringe run… About 10 days ago, I got wind of the fact that there […]

What happens next in both the UK and the US could be pivotal. BONNIE GREER reflects on the story of the two countries and asks who will write the next chapter US comedian Rosie O’Donnell addresses a protest against US President Donald Trump in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 6, […]

Isn’t it ironic that our divided government should mark the centenary of the ending of the First World War with facile arguments over Brexit and internal feuding? If only, for the sake of the millions killed on all sides in the conflict, they could show some real magnanimity and unity with our European counterparts. John […]

To many people who voted Remain, it often feels like moving Britain back into the past is a major objective for many Brexiteers. As the plans and assessments of a no-deal Brexit – from the government and from independent bodies alike – begin to appear in earnest, it seems like such Brexiteers may get their […]

MITCH BENN assesses whether Boris’ fixation has moved from Churchill to Bannon. Two thoughts on the topic of freedom of speech: 1. Boris Johnson is perfectly within his rights to say whatever he wants about burqas. 2. The rest of us are perfectly within our rights to call Boris Johnson a reckless, shameless attention-craving, trouble-stirring, […]

Boris’ cheap shots are part of a pantomime – allowing him to discover who his real troops are, says BONNIE GREER. Mark Twain once said: ‘The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.’ I thought of that quote as I watched a crowd standing in awe in […]

The first signs of Labour’s erosion under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership might just be appearing, says JAMES BALL The country, the polls suggest, may finally be starting to seriously change its mind on Brexit. For the first months – and then the first year – after the UK voted to leave, polls stubbornly bounced around within […]

I voted out in the referendum, but rapidly recovered my senses when Brexit fell prey to the far-right agenda. This stairway to heaven has become a dark passage inhabited by the dark art of data manipulation, and questions about the people behind anti-EU backers. To me it is now crystal clear that the whole Brexit […]

I noted with interest Tory trade secretary, Liam Fox, warning that a no-deal Brexit was now more likely than the UK getting an agreement with the EU. Quite bizarrely, this appears to be the same Liam Fox who little more than a year ago said that a post-Brexit free trade with the EU should be […]

In summer 2016 my wife sent to our MP a detailed response about the conduct of the referendum, outlining all our now too-familiar concerns. In summer 2016 my wife sent to our MP a detailed response about the conduct of the referendum, outlining all our now too-familiar concerns. She received an acknowledgement that her letter […]

There’s more than just misguided coverage behind the Today programme’s malaise, says MIC WRIGHT The Today programme — required listening for anyone who works in politics — took a beating in the latest Rajar figures. The body, which monitors UK radio listening, reported last week that the audience for Radio 4’s flagship current affairs show […]

The £39billion we have committed to pay to the EU upon our exit is NOT a gratuity or a divorce payment. It represents a legal liability. It represents historic infrastructure commitments and liabilities entered into by our nation that are to be completed by 2030. It represents the remaining 21 months of the seven-year budget […]

It would seem that one of the scapegoats being prepared for when Brexit fails are Remainers who refuse to ‘get behind Brexit’. How one is supposed to support a vacuum is beyond me. Brexit is by definition a negative, dismantling process; there is nothing there of substance to support, even if one wanted to. It’s […]

With her Chequers agreement Theresa May is not trying to dilute Brexit: she is positively trying to deliver it. It would help her cause mightily if she communicated more bluntly to the country that a Boris Brexit, of having your cake and eating it, was and is undeliverable whoever is running the country. People need […]

It was reported this month that 53% of the UK population do not identify as religious. This is what is known in Whitehall as a landslide. This is a tremendous victory for non-religious people. It’s significant and symbolic. To ignore it invites unrest and division. We must obey the will of the people. On Monday […]

There is no such thing as bad attention in the world of Alex Jones, says MIC WRIGHT It’s a world of globalist conspiracies, Super Bowl half-time shows that re-enact satanic rituals, Kanye West as an emissary for ‘the bigger plan’, a bomb that turns frogs gay, and inter-dimensional demons that smell of sulphur (and just […]

I’m concerned that so far, too few Leavers seem to have changed their minds and holding a second referendum before the time is right may be counterproductive. I suspect that right now the best that could be expected would be a mirror-image of two years ago – 52/48 for Remain. The whole issue of Brexit […]

Besides the turkey, the tree and the pudding, there are two other perennials at Christmas: one is a broadcast of Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. The movie is the supreme exemplar of the genre known as ‘Capra-corn’, the credo that there is goodness in the world and a good person will always find it. […]

It was rich for Boris to say we were dithering about Brexit, writes Anthony West. I wonder if Boris Johnson was using the ‘royal we’ during his resignation speech. Near the beginning he says ‘we have dithered’ about Brexit. This is of course exactly what our unlamented ex-foreign secretary did in 2016 (shall I, shan’t […]

Comedian MITCH BENN looks forward to how we can all spend our first summer after leaving the EU Hi! I hope you’re all enjoying your final pre-Brexit summer! Oh, were you trying not to think about that? Yeah, me too. Sorry. Well, chin up! Brexit isn’t the end of the world! Not LITERALLY, anyway. Economically […]

British holidaymakers will see their favourite trips changed forever, so make the most of it while you can, says James Ball. As MPs and schoolchildren alike finally reach their summer holidays, millions of us will be looking towards the continent for a quick summer getaway – especially given the chances for all sorts of Brexit-related […]

If espousing politics was good enough for Muhammad Ali, it’s good enough for the presenter of Match of the Day “Stay in your lane”. That was the message from Katie Perrior, Theresa May’s former communications adviser, today in response to Gary Lineker coming out in favour of a People’s Vote on a Brexit deal. In […]