Opinion

JAMES BALL deconstructs Corbyn’s economically illiterate talking heads If Brexit is the biggest issue affecting your life then you must be doing alright. I'm happy for you. Most people have to worry about more pressing issues than the UK's post-Brexit institutional arrangements. Stop confusing your only concern with the country's main priority — Matt Zarb-Cousin […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was built on democratic foundations, it’s time for him to give us a say on Brexit, writes Antony Thomas. As a long-time socialist and Jeremy Corbyn supporter (from the days when it was unfashionable to be one), I am mystified not just by Labour’s response to the absolute Tory chaos of Brexit, […]

The co-ordinated Twitter bashing by key Corbynistas shows what the Labour leader really thinks of Brexit, writes Jonathan Hendrick. https://twitter.com/mattzarb/status/1005410512522407936 The co-ordinated Twitter bashing of Remainers by several Corbyn surrogates ahead of this week’s big parliamentary votes leave us in little doubt what Labour’s leadership really thinks of Brexit. We’re told by Matt Zarb-Cousin, Aaron […]

Your editorials advocating a People’s Vote on whatever terms Theresa May may negotiate in Brussels are welcome but do not explain the democratic necessity for such a ballot. So here it is. The UK entered the common market in 1973. Heath pushed the decision through parliament. There was no national debate ahead of accession on […]

As the World Cup kicks off in Russia, MITCH BENN is inspired by David Beckham’s never-give-up attitude to his England career. The World Cup is upon us again; I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t seem to be capturing the public’s imagination quite so inescapably as on previous occasions. Perhaps the genial madness attending […]

In the end it was another fudge, another desperate bid to avoid a spat with either Tory Leavers or Remainers. And now the next five days will be key for Theresa May: the battle over exactly what will be in the Brexit Bill when it goes back to the House of Lords starts here. In […]

At a pedestrian crossing in Bucharest a woman overheard us speaking English and said to us: ‘You are English, why are you in Romania?’ When we looked bemused at her question, she added: ‘The English, they hate the Romanians. I know. My sister lives in England.’ It turned out she had visited her sister here […]

However much hardship a straight white guy may have to deal with, there are whole worlds of hardship he’ll never experience, says MITCH BENN. Something which most outwardly progessive-thinking people can generally be expected to agree upon is the principle of the level playing field. This is, of course, the idea that a person should […]

It was striking to note the portents of doom heralded by various sections of the media around the issue of the so-called constitutional crisis besetting Italy. This was, as they saw it, yet another nail in the EU’s coffin post-Brexit. Much to their disappointment, this issue was quickly resolved, with a new populist government comprising […]

The whole country now has a real need to step back and do a reality check as to where we actually are with regard to Brexit, and the unbelievably ridiculous proposals being put forward by people in charge. The justice secretary David Gauke has stated that prisoners will be able to fill the post-Brexit workforce […]

Following the cancellation of sitcom Roseanne, BONNIE GREER looks at the changing landscape of American television. America is and was built on myth. It is impossible to understand the US, to live and thrive there, without knowing this and somehow, in the end, becoming a part of it, too. Every American carries within herself/himself myth […]

Negotiating a smooth exit from a fragmented EU is even more challenging, writes JAMES BALL. Once again the EU is reportedly in crisis and this time it hasn’t been caused by us. Italy’s new populist government almost collapsed before it had begun after its president rejected the appointment of a finance minister who wished to […]

The Labour leader’s moves on the Lords amendments show he has no interest in halting Brexit Jeremy Corbyn attracted positive reviews for his prime minister’s questions performance yesterday, although it is telling that, against an opponent as unthinking on her feet as Theresa May it is considered a triumph if he takes to his despatch […]

Brexiteers often claim trade will boom after the UK quits the EU. Here RICHARD ANGELL, director of Progress, explains why that is nonsense Some people talk about ‘stopping Brexit’ as though it is a binary: you either stop it or you do not. But part of the danger of this is that it includes an […]

Xenophobia and misogyny is a systematic feature of power relations. In her letter to The New Feminist, Helen De Cruz explains more. Misogyny is often seen as a hatred of women that some men feel. But as philosopher Kate Manne has demonstrated in her powerful book Down Girl, the logic of misogyny (OUP), misogyny isn’t […]

As the Mamoudou Gassama incident adds to Emmanuel Macron’s accumulation of glowing publicity, BARNABY TOWNS challenges some Brexit myths about the UK’s supposed superiority to our southern neighbour Another day, another picture-perfect photo opportunity for President Emmanuel Macron, this time thanking Mamoudou Gassama — the undocumented immigrant who saved a child dangling from a balcony […]

Maria Bates on how her identity has been changed because of Brexit. She no longer feels she is an individual. My identity, or more specifically the way in which I am perceived by others, appears to have changed since Brexit. I used to be seen as a friend, colleague, teacher, neighbour, customer, volunteer – the […]

Referendums are best when the issue being voted upon is a narrow one where the pro and anti arguments can be easily explained on the back of an envelope. Sarah Austin explains more. I hoped for the result in Ireland but didn’t expect it. What I should have expected is the queue of Brexiteers (mostly […]

Bonnie Greer discusses a moment working in New York which epitomizes the battle of black women in politics, and society as a whole. I knew that I was lucky to land the job I had that spring of 1980 in New York. My other jobs had been packing candy in a cold warehouse and waiting […]

This week in James Ball’s Deconstructed feature, we look under the bonnet of zero hours contracts; whether they are just a by-product of a changing economy, or whether they’ve been created this way. We tend to treat insecure work as if it’s an inevitable if dispiriting reality of the modern world. Immutable, inescapable. For many […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s photograph by Mark Harrison is a study in vanity, says BONNIE GREER, and it reflects the way our world is in 2018. ‘Mogg told me a ‘Gentleman never ever puts his hands in his trouser pockets’. I now always put my hands in my trouser pockets.’ So tweeted photographer Mark Harrison, a few […]

From Theresa May to Dominic Cummings to Arron Banks – readers ask who is really subverting the ‘will of the people’? Theresa May flouts the convention of balance in the Lords by appointing a raft of Tories to the upper chamber. Dominic Cummings, of the lying Vote Leave campaign headed by Boris Johnson and Michael […]

Is it really worth throwing the country into chaos just to save a fiver on a pair of shoes? Brexiteers say they want us out of the customs union to strike new trade deals so we can get cheaper footwear. Only problem is, leaving the customs union will be hugely disruptive and costly and the […]

Here’s a question for the next time you are in conversation with a confirmed Brexiteer. Ask them how being in the EU, has in concrete terms, restricted their lifestyle or made them materially poorer. Not how it has adversely affected some unspecified people somewhere else or people in a survey organised by the Daily Express, […]

This reader would like to issue an apology to the United Kingdom. Dear United Kingdom, Please accept my personal apology for the current creature occupying our highest government office. He is a disaster of major proportions. He is an ignorant, egotistical, cowardly, narcissistic, bloviating, sexual predating, misogynistic, uneducated, congenital lying, criminal miscreant. He has no […]

The American obsession with guns fails to stop dangerous obsessions with fantasies, says MITCH BENN. Something has to change to stop those fantasies becoming reality. I’m about to make what may or may not be a startling admission. See what you think. I had, all things considered, a pretty happy time at school. I guess […]

As Theresa May’s cabinet divisions continue to stunt the progress of Brexit, JAMES BALL examines the factors which could trigger another snap election. If you like putting pencil crosses in boxes it’s been a good few years for you. The UK had a general election in 2015, the Brexit referendum in 2016, and another general […]

Corbyn has enjoyed two strong PMQs in a row and both kicked off with zingers – sadly not this week. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn Photo: PA – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images His decision to go with the NHS was not the problem. His questioning was. He started with: ‘In 2010 £4bn of NHS services […]

Reading the runes is tricky, but it appears that Theresa May could be more courageous than many of us thought, as she seemingly tries to avoid the hardest of Brexits. Criticism from Johnson and Gove suggests she might be positioning herself on the side of the angels after all. She should be brave and think […]

I’ve just had ten days in France and North Italy. As I was wearing my EU/UK badge, I got Brexit chat – three types. My summaries may be useful to readers who discuss more vigorously than this octogenarian. (1) Leavers in the group I travelled with were polite but firm: ‘Bureaucratic gravy train’; ‘Under the […]

Last Friday on the Daily Politics I watched a rather smug Peter Bone and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown discussing the mental stresses caused by the Brexit process on Remainers. The debate was good-natured and none the worse for that. Bone clearly feels the war is won and he can afford to be comfortable with his vision of […]

I have just done Kay Burley and Jacob Rees-Mogg a favour: earlier this month, at the multi-millionaire’s imposing country house, the pair had an cosy, giggly 25-minute interview whose obvious intention was to depict Jacob as ‘just like the rest of us, really’. An absurd concept, but a real gift for him. So I have […]