Europe

A 13-year-old skateboarder, a German policewoman, an Afghani woman cyclist attacked for daring to ride her bicycle... some of the most absorbing European stories at this Olympic Games.

Hand-wringing about the plight of migrants crossing the Channel and Mediterranean by boat - and angry words about their treatment - will only go so far. What would liberal progressives actually like to see done?

Great European Lives with Charlie Connelly is now available as a podcast, brought to you by Charlie Connelly and The New European.

Keith Floyd’s charm turned him into a caricature. SOPHIA DEBOICK thinks that, instead, he should be remembered as the nation’s culinary pioneer “Pick young, small, un-flowering dandelion leaves. Wash and dry them carefully. Serve with olive oil, salt and sherry vinegar and cubes of hot fried bread.” This was the delicious simplicity of Floyd’s Food, […]

Nowhere are the tensions between tolerance and intolerance felt more acutely than in Poland, where some areas have tried to introduce 'LGBT-free' zones

This was meant to be its moment but across the continent, populism has peaked. So what is replacing it?

England's footballers have brought joy to the nation. Nonetheless, ROB HUGHES explains how our opponents still have much to teach us

An apartment that costs 180,000 euros (£155,000) per month to rent is available in Monte Carlo One, a luxury block overlooking Monaco’s famous Place du Casino.

The Faroe Islanders are in the process of connecting up their archipelago with a series of breathtaking tunnels. Could they be setting an example for the UK to follow?

The unending migrant crisis and mounting death toll in European waters presents the continent with its greatest test... one it is failing badly.

A seemingly unbridgeable chasm is splitting the continent between countries that see LGBT rights as the core of European identity of freedom and tolerance, and those that see them as a threat to that same identity

Some surprise choices - and some usual suspects missing - as JASON SOLOMONS selects the 50 greatest European movies

Turkey has followed through on a pledge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in March in withdrawing itself from an international treaty to prevent violence against women. May 11 marked the tenth anniversary of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention.  It created robust and legally […]

EU leaders have failed to agree on the proposal of holding a summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the near future.  It is not yet clear whether this proposed summit would include all 27 leaders or only Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s chief executive, and Charles Michel, its chairman.  Leaders’ decision to reject […]

María Paz Fuentes Fernández's family got a shock after her death - she had booked a local newspaper notice banning them from her funeral

For the 5th anniversary of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, campaign group Best for Britain has projected the names of thousands of British people in the centre of Brussels.  Their aim was to express feelings of continued goodwill, familiarity and solidarity with the country’s closest neighbours.  The message was projected onto the Station […]

Turkey has been gripped by a scandal involving a mafia boss on the run making extraordinary allegations about the country's political elite

Birger Ruud helped to change his sport for good, before serving his country against its Nazi occupiers It’s hard to imagine a sport more exhilarating for the competitor than ski jumping. The jumper hauls themself onto the in-run, skis perfectly parallel, crouching as low as possible as they hurtle down a slope as steep as 38 […]

Since the start of the Syrian civil war 10 years ago, Europe has taken in more than one million refugees. So what has been the impact on the continent?

The week's weirdest news from Europe includes a drug mix-up in Poland, a trigger-happy pensioner in Germany and a violent squirrel in Turkey

Lupin, Call My Agent and Money Heist are among the familiar names in our list of the best Europan TV series to stream, but there are hidden gems too

The country's historical and recent anguish provides a strong undercurrent to its music.

Sanctions against Belarus for the “hijacking” of a passenger plane carrying a journalist who had been critical of the Lukashenko regime must be “fully implemented”, the head of Nato has said. Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg met Boris Johnson in Downing Street on Wednesday and the pair discussed the future of the alliance ahead of a […]

It has been a year since the first signs of trouble for Europe's last dictatorship. So has Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko ridden out the storm, or simply delayed the inevitable?

The existential crisis facing Labour is one shared by its sister parties across the continent As the UK’s Labour Party comes to terms with its latest failure to connect with the electorate it can at least comfort itself with one thing: it is not alone. Traditional social democratic and Labour parties across Western Europe are reeling from a […]

The German village of Wakendorf II, population 1428, was covered in a wave of liquid manure after the seal on a farm silo burst. Locals said there was a “bestial” smell after the 230,000-litre holding tank, on a farm overlooking the village in Schleswig-Holstein, emptied its contents at 11am last Saturday.  Christopher Möller, 22, said […]

Richard Hamilton eschewed the knockabout nature of other purveyors of Pop Art, says Richard Holledge, but his work packed just as much of a punch. Pop! Whaam! Blam. Exclamation marks!!! Technicolour explosions. That’s Pop Art for you. The comic book whizz-bangs of Roy Lichtenstein and a group of post-war artists typified the 1960s for many – […]

Colour was always at the core of Wassily Kandinsky’s art. Claudia Pritchard reports on a stunning exhibition which traces his creative journey as he was shifted around Europe by the events of the early 20th century The career path from lawyer to artist is not often taken. Tchaikovsky managed to duck out of jurisprudence and […]

Denis MacShane on the late Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, a man who helped modernise France and Europe, and relished an argument and a rivalry. “Your friend, Tony Blair, who does he think he is. He’s now calling for Albania to be let into Europe?” Valéry Giscard d’Estaing stretched out his long legs in the French embassy in […]

Lech Walesa helped create modern Poland. Thirty years after he came to power, MICK O’HARE reports on a complex character and his even more complex legacy When Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party was re-elected in October 2019 under prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki it was on a ticket of more of the same. More right-wing […]

Jason Solomons finds actor Viggo Mortensen in characteristically ebullient mood in their over-running Zoom catch-up. Although still best-known to audiences as heroic Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films, actor Viggo Mortensen has a reputation in the business as cinema’s Renaissance Man. He acts, writes poetry, composes music, sings, paints, runs a publishing imprint, […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on Rene Goscinny, the French comic editor and writer, who co-created the Astérix comic book series. On January 20 this year a statue was unveiled in Paris on a patch of grass near the junction of Rue de Boulainvilliers and Rue Singer. It’s unassuming, some might say underwhelming: a podgy middle-aged man in […]