United Kingdom

Five years on from Brexit, the issue is far from being “done”, despite promises from Boris Johnson.

The Chesham and Amersham by-election results show what can be achieved from tactical voting

With over 84% of Japan still waiting for their first jab, why are the Olympic Games being held there? Is the sporting world, and compliant politicians, playing fast and loose with the pandemic? The European football tournament across 11 countries, the Copa América in Brazil, the fast-approaching Tokyo Olympics, might all be seen as brave defiance […]

John Blankenstein was back-page news when he took charge of England’s first match at the 1992 Euros – but it wasn’t his refereeing the newspapers were interested in… When England faced Denmark in their opening match of the 1992 Euros, many tabloid-reading fans knew as much about the referee as they did about the Danes. […]

Megan Nolan on Believe Me, a show which seems to stray the wrong side of the fine line trod by true crime series In Tampa, Florida, in 1984, 17-year-old Lisa McVey (now Lisa Noland), suffered an unimaginably extreme trauma after being kidnapped by the serial killer Bobby Joe Long. Over the course of her 26 hour […]

PETER TRUDGILL takes on the linguistic purists once again for their attachment to words’ ‘true’ meanings There are some pedantic people around who reckon that it is wrong to use the word aggravate to mean ‘irritate, vex’ or ‘annoy’ – as in “please stop doing that, it’s very aggravating!” This is probably the most common usage of the word […]

The Lib Dems' by-election victory was morale-boosting for opponents of the government, but the most significant action is needed elsewhere

Mitch Benn looks at Dido Harding's attempt to become chief executive of the NHS in another look back at the week in politics

The news that John Bercow was joining the Labour Party came as much a surprise to Sir Keir Starmer as everyone else.

Home secretary Priti Patel has said that British nationals living in Europe are having difficulty accessing benefits, services, and jobs. Patel accused the EU nations of hypocrisy and of treating Britons unfairly, exactly five years after the country voted to leave the bloc. She said that “a number of reported instances of UK nationals in […]

Jason Solomons meets Ben Wheatley, the director behind films like Kill List, Sightseers and Free Fire, ahead of the release of new movie In The Earth Everyone went to the woods in lockdown. Remember all those walks, those endless trudges through mud and twigs and leaves and into forests you’d never bothered to visit, dragging […]

A new exhibition celebrates the pioneering British artist Eileen Agar and her sideways look at the life aquatic Seven months before the outbreak of the Second World War, left wing and anti-war artists exhibited together at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore and Vanessa Bell were among those contributing some 200 works to the exhibition […]

The food industry is predicting a nightmare for British customers, with price rises and empty shelves caused by Brexit It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain as customers digest mixed news about Brexit’s impact on food. The downside is that your weekly shop is going to cost more; the […]

Will the loss of Simon Rattle be London’s musical gain? UK music critics have been gnashing their teeth at the news that Simon Rattle will leave the music directorship of the London Symphony Orchestra and beetle off to Bavaria. Heading to Germany to flee underfunding in the homeland is a tradition for money-conscious European musicians, […]

Emerging from his party’s recent electoral victory in Chesham and Amersham, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has ruled out the possibility of an alliance with Labour.  On LBC‘s Swarbrick, Davey said that “there were quite a lot of Labour people and Green people who voted for us very comfortably, partly because they could see that […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on an award for translated fiction that is gradually growing in stature, and its very worthy winner While most of the annual book award talk is naturally focused on the Booker Prize for Fiction there are other gongs whose gentler tones occasionally penetrate the literary din. The Women’s Prize for Fiction grows in […]

Tim Walker reviews After Life at the National Theatre – and only awards it one star. The National Theatre re-opened its doors last week with a show called, appropriately enough, After Life. The venue has itself been hovering between life and death for a very long time, like the characters in Jack Thorne’s play, and even its […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the pacifist campaigner Bertha von Suttner, a woman not intimidated by anyone she met, even the most powerful men in the world

PETER TRUDGILL on how bottlers became butlers There are about 45,000 people in Britain who bear the surname Butler. In comparison, there are a quarter of million Browns and half a million Smiths. But 45,000 still seems to be rather a high number if we assume that all of our contemporary Butlers are descended from men who […]

Half a decade after the referendum, the economic hit to the UK caused by Brexit is becoming clearer. But it will be years before the true impact is understood It has started already; you will have noticed it yourself; the pro-Brexit press is starting to write those articles we all knew were on the way… The […]

Many progressives are certain that the only hope for ending Tory rule is to replace first past the post. Polling expert PETER KELLNER is not so sure it is a good idea The case is made easily – and frequently: if we had a different method for electing our MPs, Britain would still be in […]

Dominic Cummings has explained why Tory officials prevented Boris Johnson from being interviewed by Andrew Neil during the 2019 general election. In the latest of his sustained war of words with his once long-standing ally, Cummings claimed the prime minister is a “gaffe machine” who is “clueless” on policy. During the 2019 December election campaign, […]

Concerns are quickly rising over the future of power-sharing in Northern Ireland after DUP leader Edwin Poots stepped down after just 21 days in the role. He becomes the shortest serving leader in the history of the party.  He resigned after an internal revolt against him began over a deal he agreed with Sinn Féin […]

We asked readers for their views on whether or not the Chesham and Amersham by-election demonstrated the need for a progressive alliance to stop the Tories.

The Queen had a brutal put down for Boris Johnson, reports Tim Walker.

Five years after the EU referendum, readers have their say on the Brexit vote.

Just who the hell are the British? After five years of Brexit, 18 months of a pandemic and a year of Black Lives Matter, the country – and the world – still doesn’t know My life in the United Kingdom started in 1972 at the age of eight with a black eye. My brother, who is two years older, and […]

Readers add to the list of best European shows to stream I was very pleased you recommended some very top favourites of mine in your “Best 40 European shows to stream”. Some other excellent series are: I Know Who You Are (Spanish); Vanished by the Lake, Killer by the Lake, Fear by the Lake (French); […]

The UK exported more food and drink to outside the EU than into it in the first few months after Brexit as exports to the bloc nosedived. Sales to non-EU countries made up 55% of all UK food and drink exports in the first three months of 2021 compared to less than 40% a year […]

Boris Johnson’s Tories suffered a humiliating by-election defeat as the Liberal Democrats scored a historic win in Chesham and Amersham. Lib Dem Sarah Green is the country’s newest MP after winning the seat, which had been a Conservative stronghold since its creation in 1974. Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said the result sent […]

Pledges from wealthier nations to help vaccinate other countries are no more than token gestures It had all been going so well. The UK’s four-stage reopening – at a slower and more cautious pace than previous liftings of restrictions – had successfully completed its first three stages, and had done so without too much in […]

The champions of Brexit have gone particularly quiet since the UK left the EU - but are Remainers guilty of doing the same too?