Opinion

After poking fun at the Conservative Party, MITCH BENN reports on the long road ahead for the Labour Party. Eagle-eyed (and elephant-brained) readers may recall that I spent all of last week’s column poking fun at the Conservative Party; specifically the way that occasional attempts by Tory politicians to look and act normal merely serve […]

To get to grips with the issue, all sides must engage more constructively, says JAMES BALL Even before the explosion of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate devastated its capital city at the start of this month, Lebanon was a country in crisis: its government was mired in scandal and corruption, unemployment was soaring, power cuts […]

Young black Americans are becoming the real ‘swing voters’ in elections – will Joe Biden’s pick of running mate help bring them on side? With his choice of Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, Joe Biden may have helped bring young Black Americans to his side on Election Day. Only 47% of those Black […]

Scandals are mounting up for the government and could come to define it, says JAMES BALL. Once the mood music of a government has been established, it stays in place for a long time. Tony Blair’s premiership will forever be defined by the Iraq War, which will overshadow its many domestic accomplishments. Gordon Brown’s – […]

BONNIE GREER says Princess Anne epitomises a very British balancing act. One of the more interesting developments during my lockdown and Covid-caution has been that I have been asked to do several documentaries on the Royal Family. On the surface this may seem odd. After all, there are no royals from my birthplace, the Southside […]

TIM WALKER talks about the time the Amityville Horror star opened up about his depression In a kinder, gentler time in journalism – and in showbusiness – I used to phone up the press office of the Savoy and ask if they had anyone staying who’d make a good interview. No PR people involved, no […]

MITCH BENN says he is disturbed by Conservative politicians attempting to act normal. You may have run into the term ‘Uncanny Valley’; it’s an expression primarily used in the fields of robotics and computer animation. It refers to that uniquely uncomfortable phenomenon whereby the more human something looks, the more disturbing the fact that it’s […]

Boris Johnson’s latest peerage nominations included a number of his Brexiteer supporters, and even his own brother. But one reader thinks he should have gone further. Despite its obvious nepotism, the awarding of a life peerage to Jo Johnson seems one of the least obnoxious aspects of the appointments by ‘the people’s government’ addressing ‘the […]

Now is not yet time for pro-Europeans to make a move, but that time is coming. I will not go over Ben Bradshaw’s excellent summary of what happened after the referendum, but on the following Monday I bumped into one of my fellow councillors, on a council that must remain anonymous to protect the innocent. […]

If Boris Johnson wants to avoid becoming the prime minister who broke the union here is what he must do. I deeply love Scotland, the country of my birth, and having already been robbed of European citizenship, value my shared British identity. This is now at risk (Ian Dunt, ‘The battle for the Union is […]

MARTYN SLOMAN on why Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey are unlikely to feature on the new leader’s list of concerns. When I worked as a training director one of my tasks was to help people in the organisation settle into the demands of a new job – a form of one-off mentoring. The best advice […]

SIMON KOLSTOE explains two simple tests you can carry out to check to see how effective your mask is. If a surgeon arrived at the operating theatre wearing a mask they had made that morning from a tea towel, they would probably be sacked. This is because the equipment used for important tasks, such as […]

Russia has attempted to tear apart the European Union, but instead it has brought it closer together. Russian interference in the Brexit referendum (‘The Russia Report and what it doesn’t tell us’, TNE #204) was driven, apparently, by its desire to weaken the European Union. I think recent events actually suggest the meddling has strengthened […]

The reality of what the end of the transition period means is only now starting to hit home. Yet another piece of underhand behaviour by the ‘Brexit at any cost’ government has just slipped out; we will no longer have reciprocal medical cover in EU countries. Many millions of us who have European Health Insurance […]

The appeal of the left-wing media sites appear to have been squeezed since Jeremy Coryn stepped down as Labour leader as it ramps up attacks on Keir Starmer. Left-wing alternative media sites such as The Canary, Skwawkbox, and Novara Media have spent several years providing intense support for the Labour leadership under Jeremy Corbyn. But […]

Far-right political parties used to capitalise on crises, but across Europe their agenda looks more irrelevant than ever. In recent years, far-right political parties in Europe have capitalised on crises to build their support bases. Many have made it to positions of power as a result of these efforts. The financial crisis of 2008, the […]

TIM WALKER looks back on the life of Stewart Granger and his real thoughts about acting. In Matthew Kneale’s brilliant novel English Passengers, your opinion of the leading characters is continually evolving as you see them from the perspectives of different people. It’s a bit like that after you’ve spent a few years interviewing actors. […]

MITCH BENN on how Boris Johnson’s decisions to tackle obesity are not helping. As is generally the case with what we will, for the lack of a more accurate term, call our present ‘government’, I find myself wondering if I’d be eyeing their newfound enthusiasm for tackling obesity with less suspicion if it were coming […]

The electoral tectonic plates are shifting in New Zealand, reports RICHARD SHAW. Jacinda Ardern has helped shift politics to the centre-left. Strong team. More jobs. Better economy. So say the National Party’s campaign hoardings. Only thing is, last Sunday’s Newshub-Reid Research poll – which had support for the Labour Party at 60.9% and for National […]

As a 14-day quarentine has been imposed on Brits who have travelled to Spain, JAMES BALL criticises the government for its ‘confusing’ policies abroad. When what should be a good and obvious policy becomes a fiasco, you know something fundamental has gone awry. This is what should be – but almost certainly isn’t – eating […]

The Russia report’s criticism of the government was unambiguous and unhesitating. JAMES BALL wonders what comes next. Reading a report from parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) often feels like trying to deduce a cryptic message from an oracle in Classical literature. A stinging criticism from an ISC report might typically read ‘we now have […]

TIM WALKER recalls his conversation with the famed King Kong actress. The producer told Fay Wray that she was going to have ‘the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood’ and she optimistically thought it might be Cary Grant. It turned out to be a giant ape – or at least an 18-inch model of one […]

MITCH BENN says loyalty is great, but it’s rarely an indicator of intelligence – and that’s the government’s problem. It’s good to know that as the country sinks into ever more viscous mires of torpor and despair, there’s still someone out there who can be guaranteed to raise a smile. I refer of course to […]

When Boris Johnson became prime minister on July 24 2019, his party was languishing in the polls and had not long suffered one of its worst ever performances at the ballot box, securing just 9% of the vote in elections to the European Parliament. But almost immediately the Tories’ poll share began to rise, from […]

Prince George provided a welcome distraction from the findings of the Russia report for many newspapers, while the red-tops relegated the findings towards the back of their publications. And so, the Russia report has finally been published. It didn’t say the Russians had interfered with the Brexit referendum. It came up with a far more […]

The chancellor’s plan for jobs will fail without greater collaboration with trade unions and businesses, says Josh Abey The chancellor’s so-called ‘plan for jobs’ this month involved a job retention bonus for employers bringing back furloughed staff, the ‘kickstart’ scheme to provide work placements for young people facing long-term unemployment and demand-boosting policies to protect […]

TIM WALKER recalls working with the creative polymath Sir Peter Ustinov. If ever there was a model European, it was Sir Peter Ustinov. It was working for the first European newspaper – the one launched by Robert Maxwell in the 1990s – that I got to know him. Maxwell may have thought of Ustinov as […]

Readers have their say on the Leave.EU campaign’s move to New Zealand to support populist Kiwi politician Winston Peters. I notice from Steve Anglesey’s column that arch-Brexiteers Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore have been in New Zealand campaigning against the incumbent prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and her ruling party (‘Laughing all the way to Banks’ […]

Readers have their say on the latest developments over Brexit and the government’s response to coronavirus. Ministers say they trust people to do the sensible thing when it comes to face masks. That presumably includes all those people who have ignored all the advice and instructions so far, refuse to wear a face mask under […]

MITCH BENN on the tell-all memoir by Mary Trump which delves deep into the president’s pschye. I’m sure you’ve all heard the expression ‘I think, therefore I am’; it was first coined by the philosopher René Descartes in 1637 and it describes, succinctly, the limits placed upon human cognition and on the whole idea of […]

BONNIE GREER says the 2020 election in America could make it the year of the ‘third party candidates’. Section One of Article Two of the United States Constitution sets forth the eligibility requirements for serving as president of the United States: ‘No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, […]

Both sides in the cancel culture debate are misrepresenting each other and taking pot shots at straw men, says JAMES BALL. If you’re unfortunate enough to spend much time on the internet – and in the era of coronavirus that’s almost all of us – furious rows about ‘cancel culture’ have been all but unavoidable […]