Inside the head of Germany’s next chancellor
The six-foot-six Friedrich Merz tends to look down on people – but his tenacity could be just what a troubled country needs
The Old Empire fights back
In a new book, the author argues that faced with multiple global crises, western civilisation is under threat – from the inside
What does real justice for Ukraine look like?
The country’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk wants forgotten victims released and war criminals punished. But those hopes seem further away than ever
David Olusoga: How to win a global battle of truth
Solitude and flatlining social mobility are shuttering millions into a network of conspiracies and grievance. We need new strategies to break them out
Sadiq Khan and the Brexit brick wall
Another worthwhile intervention on youth mobility from London’s mayor will be ignored by his own party
Europeans are cooling on Trump’s America
A new poll shows opinions shifting on whether the US can still be seen as an ally
Rachel Reeves and the price of peace
How can the chancellor afford increased defence spending without tax rises or public service cuts? There is one way out
The great Brexit leap forward
Undoing the damage done by leaving the EU is like crossing a fast-flowing stream. It must be done in one jump
Could Trump strike a bargain with Beijing?
His previous attempt to start a trade war with China only rebounded on America. This time round, might the US president try to cut a deal?
Why the left failed
Too much time fighting against the centrists meant the left missed the real, much more extreme political threat. Now we are all facing the consequences
JD Vance is graceless, reckless and pointless
The vice president’s arrogant and counterproductive rant in Munich was a lesson in hypocrisy
What happened at the AI summit in Paris?
The debate over the future of the new technology was between the US and EU. The danger for Britain is that we begin to look irrelevant
Farage ruined farming – so why do some farmers want him at their protests?
The industry is split about Reform’s leader appearing at their rallies against inheritance tax
The president’s brain is missing… again
Not even his shocked closest allies know what drove Donald Trump’s Ukraine sell-out
Why Unforgotten is unforgiven by Brexiteers
The programme’s swipes at the far right, GB News and toxic men have outraged some viewers
We need a Labour revolution on Brexit
Closer EU alignment would boost growth, strengthen our hand against an unpredictable US and set a trap for Farage and Badenoch
Donald Trump has no plan
Greenland, the Panama Canal, trade wars, the Gaza riviera, surrendering to Putin – and it’s only week three. Most of it won’t happen. But some of it might. And that’s the problem
What Trump’s Ukraine betrayal means for Britain
This Munich moment means Starmer must borrow to rearm, then forge stronger ties with the EU
The fatal timidity of the centre left
Politicians like Starmer and Scholz govern while looking over their shoulders. Rightists like Trump are more adept at concentrating power and using it
An opportunity the government cannot ignore
In a response to a critical analysis in the New European, Best for Britain argues that its growth numbers on greater UK-EU alignment do make sense, and that they reflect political reality
Matthew Goodwin’s book of nonsense
The populist commentator’s book on UK universities is filled with unoriginal argument, cherry-picked evidence and enormous self-regard. If he truly believes what he’s written, the only suitable response is pity
This car crash was Kemi Badenoch’s worst PMQs yet
A diet of topics plucked from the pages of the Daily Mail and Telegraph is leading the Conservative leader down a dead end
How Rachel Reeves could get growth – now
The plans she has suggested so far will only yield economic benefits years into the future. But what can she do straight away?
The fisherman who faced down GB News
A Leave-voting fisheries owner from the red wall was invited to praise Brexit – but told the channel it had been a disaster for his business
The wasted legacy of North Sea Oil
Half a century after oil and gas were discovered under the North Sea, Shetland is still enjoying the benefits that England threw away
Three years of war outside my window in Ukraine
As Donald Trump begins his sell out of Ukraine, one novelist reflects how, despite Putin’s brutality, Zelensky has held Ukraine together. Is Trump’s America about to change this?
Letters: What is the point of the Tories these days?
The party has lost its identity and risks sliding into obscurity under the rudderless leadership of Kemi Badenoch
Donald Trump, American Caesar
The president and his acolytes are creating a whole new way of running a country – and this is only the beginning
Why does mobile theft feel so personal?
For philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers, phone crime is ‘more akin to assault’
Cartoon: If WW2 was fought now, whose side would Trump be on?
How to destroy your life in a single tweet
One Sheffield man brought his world crashing down with an unwise post on X. But should he have ended up in court?
The Rest is Politics heads to Damascus
The scale of Ahmed al-Sharaa’s victory is immense. But, the challenge of rebuilding his shattered country is even greater
Why are Germans fed up with politics?
A recent psychological study revealed how the country picks its politicians. The results were nothing short of depressing
Lie of the week: Zia Yusuf on the Nairobi High Commission
The scientific reality of Trump 2.0
As a universal criterion applied to individuals, the president’s executive order on gender ideology is hopeless
Who can afford to live in Barcelona now?
The city is a prime example of why Pedro Sánchez has cracked down on people from outside the EU buying property in Spain
Dreams of independence in Europe’s far north
Once divided on independence from Denmark, the Faroe Islands now see a clear path forward – and it’s largely down to Donald Trump
Will Trump kill the dollar?
The president seems to think his policies will make America more economically dominant. In reality, he’s running an enormous risk with the US’s reputation – and its currency
Starmer is right to duck the US/EU tariff war
Joining in with Europe’s retaliation over steel import taxes would be self-defeating – but there’s a risk involved
Three steps to help Starmer beat Reform
The prime minister needs to crack down on crime, set and meet a fair migration target and bring in a UK ID card
When it comes to Brexit, politics still trumps economics
A new report from Best for Britain overlooks a crucial problem that will frustrate Britain’s attempts to build closer ties with the EU
When hard hearts beat soft power
The White House’s destruction of USAID is a callous, catastrophic mistake that will damage America as well as the world
Rachel Reeves’s long-distance plans
The right wing, Tory-supporting media is banging the drum for quick results, but trying to fix an economy as broken as ours will take time and patience
Germany’s urban-rural divide plays into the AfD’s hands
When the country goes to the polls, the divide will only become more entrenched
My father took a Nazi bullet – Badenoch would have thrown him out
The idea, proposed by the Tory leader, that people should wait 15 years before being eligible for a passport, is nothing more than crude xenophobia
Fixing Brexit can help Labour defeat Reform
If coupled with actual delivery of better arrangements with the EU, Reform’s weakness on Brexit is fertile ground
What Kosovo has that Britain doesn’t
The country goes to the polls on Sunday – and the people of Kosovo know exactly what they want
Why are Labour acting like the Tories?
By offering the same old rhetoric on benefits, migrants and spending, Keir Starmer looks like the continuity Sunak
If Trump’s plan for Gaza is insane, what does sane look like?
His ideas to redevelop Gaza are horrifying and absurd. But the strip is a warzone of rubble and bodies – if not this, then what?
The hypocrisy of Kemi Badenoch
For Badenoch and other politicians on the right, feminism is now a completed project
The shooting in Sweden: “an event which shakes our entire society”
Eleven people are dead in the latest outbreak of horrifying violence in Sweden. Can the nation hold together?
How Europe can lead in the age of Trump
The new president presents us with a huge opportunity. As the US becomes more volatile and unwelcoming, Britain, and Europe could well benefit
Counting the costs of Donald Trump
The recent seminar at Oxford University, held by the Europaeum network, discussed the challenges posed by the new president, for Britain, Europe and the world
Trump is both a symptom and a cause
The president both reflects and promotes grievances among those who voted for him – he is also more dangerous than before
Trump is no isolationist
Transactional diplomacy is in, and values are out. Getting tougher on China is the one thing on which Democrats and Republican agree
Trump’s boom-bust economy
Everything that the president has proposed will be inflationary – and inflation-driven booms have a bad history in the US
America’s all new economic model
The neoliberal economic model has gone, and been replaced by something much more powerful – and troubling
Trump, Gaza and the mutation of American philosophy
The US president embodies a new kind of pragmatism, where if you say it enough, and if you believe it yourself, even the most far-fetched ideas attract support
PMQs Review: Whatever happened to the Conservative Party?
The natural party of government is fast becoming an irrelevance at prime minister’s questions
The America we knew may well be gone forever
Even if the Democrats manage to get the presidency back in 2028 there is no real sense that things could return to normal for the US
The brutality of truth
A new film about an architect who survives the Holocaust is a stunning achievement, and one with deep resonance for our own time
Trump’s bullying tactics
Eventually, when a bully has got out of control and he’s made enough enemies, he may find the roles of bully and bullied reversed
The quantum leap: a century of innovation
It’s 100 years since Werner Heisenberg developed the theory of quantum mechanics. No one could possibly have imagined how this discovery would be put to use in the future
China’s AI game changer
China has upended the artificial intelligence war, and now anyone can win – shaking the assumptions of Trump, Musk and Starmer
The woman Musk wants to rule Germany
The tech bro’s ally Alice Weidel spouts fake facts and demonises Muslims – and she is getting closer to becoming German chancellor
Letters: The Holocaust is a warning from history
We should never forget what happened and be aware that it could all too easily happen again, here and now
How I remember John Prescott
At the late former deputy prime minister’s funeral, it became clear that Britain could do with some politicians like him today
Lie of the week: Reform on elections…
Cartoon: Why does Rachel Reeves dislike bats and newts?
Down in the dumps: Inside London’s sewers
After 150 years, the city’s Victorian sewers are at last being upgraded – but Thames Water remains firmly lodged in the financial mire
We’re hiring: Head of Audience
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Starmer ducks the inevitable on the EU.. again
At some point soon, the PM is going to have to choose Europe over Trump’s USA
Reform’s poll lead changes nothing for Labour
The populist party is a growing force that cannot be ignored – but Starmer’s government must still deliver or die
Badenoch is a dud. How long does she have left?
How long has the Conservative leader got before her notoriously ruthless party decides they’ve had enough of her?
Starmer is penned in by May’s red lines
The PM’s trip to Brussels is almost worthless while he adheres to the Brexit position laid out by his failed predecessor
The dark shadow of the AfD hangs over German politics
The leader of one of Germany’s main political parties relied on the extreme right wing AfD party to get his immigration bill through parliament. Big mistake
Welcome to Trump’s economic world war
An entitled, deluded president risks setting off a chain reaction of global financial devastation
What Trump doesn’t understand about Greenland
A complex set of historic agreements between the US and Denmark means that if he wants Greenland, Trump might have to give up something in return
I was a social mobility experiment. Here’s how it changed my life
Summer schools sent underprivileged kids like Wes Streeting and I to university. Reuniting with some of them 25 years on, this is what I found
Planning for an American collapse
Trump is already doing colossal damage to the US and sending his allies into a spin. Can Europe and China deal with America’s wild political volatility?
It’s time to fight for the four day week
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think it’s a bad idea – what more reason do you need?
Are you a political extremist?
Successive British governments have dismissed their voters’ more strident views for too long. This has left political space for the extremists to exploit – and they have been busy
I voted Leave. Five years of Brexit have shown me I was wrong
Quitting the EU has solved none of our problems – it’s only added restrictions, with nothing in return
The 50 most batsh*t quotes of Brexit
Five years on, the story of a national disaster in the words of those responsible (and Mr Blobby)
Five years after we left the EU, a damning poll shows up one crazy Brexit prediction
Rupert Lowe’s 2020 claim that “Remainers will disappear” now looks farcical as only 30% say we were right to leave
Dominic Grieve and Caroline Lucas: “We need to fight Farage – and Faragism”
Five years after Britain left the EU, the co-presidents of European Movement UK believe the country needs to begin a serious discussion about rejoining – but Farage, and his Tory admirers, are getting in the way
Brexit is the new communism
True believers deny that leaving the EU has failed; just that it’s not been done properly yet. Does this delusion sound familiar?
Kemi Badenoch is bad at PMQs. Again
While her choice of topics has narrowed, her inability to land blows on a PM with a current approval rating of -42 is mindblowing
In defence of Rachel Reeves
The chancellor deserves some of the criticism hurled her way, but she is right to focus on Britain’s long-term future
A nation of shoplifters
Shoplifting is the one British industry that is thriving – and whoever is to blame, it is heaping even more pressure on our troubled high streets
Climate of fear
The case for green measures has never been clearer. But ideology in the US and internal battles in the UK threaten any progress
Trump’s tragic tariffs
The protectionist president’s economic illiteracy and historical ignorance threatens a global trade war that no one can win
The kids are alt right
A populist surge across Europe is being fuelled by young people sick of broken promises, stagnant wages and waning hope. How can Keir Starmer respond?
Letters: Immigration is not about the numbers
Some readers are less concerned about the number of people coming to Britain and more worried about the lack of integration
Finding a ray of hope in Trump’s dark new era
At Davos, Nigerian-American Salome Agbaroji’s poetry urged leaders not to cower in the face of populism
Five years on, the calamity of Brexit leaves us isolated
The glorious vision Brexiteers sold of Britannia in 2016 has failed to materialise
Don Cupitt, the priest who didn’t believe in God
Despite once being a practising clergyman, the late Cupitt was noted for his radical ideas on ‘non-realist’ philosophy of religion
The ethics and risks of editing our DNA
Polygenic editing – making changes to DNA – is now a reality. But are the medical benefits outweighed by the ethical risks and hidden dangers?
Making sense of a mass shooting
Revising Montenegro’s gun laws will only end violence in the country if misogyny is addressed too
What Georgia’s protests mean for its future
When the government suspended the country’s bid for EU ascension, protesters took to the streets. But now their demands have evolved