News and Opinion

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 […]

As the Conservative Party sheds roles at its central office, STEVE ANGLESEY looks at why a drop in donations has seen a downsize at Tory HQ. As Britain braces for another wave of redundancies, one outwardly successful employer has quietly been making job cuts of its own. Step forward the Conservative Party, which is shedding […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the many words which break the rules, If you have ever studied German, you may recall that one of the difficulties for a foreign learner of the language lies in struggling to come up with the correct plural forms of nouns. The word for ‘boy’ is Junge (you will also remember that […]

MICHAEL WHITE runs the rule over the list of 36 new peerages, which he says screams dysfunctionality at the top. When Boris Johnson ‘slammed on the brakes’ to halt the gradual easement of Britain’s Covid lockdown last weekend, the contrarian in me wondered if his government wasn’t finally getting ahead of the pandemic curve instead […]

WILL SELF questions Matt Hancock’s choice of words, and looks at some of the meaningless catchphrases of our time. Come the era, come the catchphrase – or the nonce word or expression for that matter. We all know those people who compulsively pepper their dialogue with terms that have become merely phatic, and hence meaningless: […]

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 […]

Donald Trump dominates discussion about this year’s US election. But what of his opponent? John Kampfner asks what a Biden presidency would look like. Imagine the inauguration of Joe Biden. For most people the joy will be unconfined, not because of the man who is about to assume power but because of the removal of […]

The Siberian city might appear a musical backwater, but it doesn’t sound like one, says SOPHIA DEBOICK The winter temperature plummets to 20 below zero in Novosibirsk and as the capital of Siberia it is a place easily associated with the inhumanities of Tsarist-era penal colonies and the Soviet Gulag. In fact Novosibirsk – the […]

Writer Anne Applebaum’s new book describes how her former friends and colleagues became agents of populism. FRANCIS BECKETT finds it a useful insight into what has happened to the right. Among the many deeply unpleasant people who populate Anne Applebaum’s fierce, angry new book about the new right is Laura Ingraham, Fox News journalist and […]

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. […]

The UK’s healthcare system is deeply integrated with Europe and is a particularly pressing issue in trade negotiations explains MATT WOOD. Protecting health and healthcare was one of the key issues during the EU referendum in 2016, and now, with the coronavirus crisis still ongoing, it is a crucial part of the trade negotiations. Our […]

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 […]

Boris Johnson has come out defending his decision not to suspend a senior Tory MP who was arrested on suspicion of rape. The prime minister said on Thursday that the allegation was being taken ‘extremely seriously’ after the Tories defied calls to remove the whip from the former minister.

Johnson, in his first comment about the […]

A new campaign has been launched in France, inspired by both the Brexit Party and Vote Leave campaign, with its leader vowing to ‘reprenons le controle’ which roughly translates as take back control. Charles-Henri Gallois, a politician with the Popular Republican Union in France, uses Brexit Party colours and fonts in his new campaign named […]

ANDREW ADONIS looks forward to a renaissance in overnight trains as a way to keep Europe connected I have never once managed to sleep for more than an hour on a sleeper train, but every time I see one I dream of Murder on the Orient Express. Now, thanks to aviation aversion more than romanticism, […]

Douglas Ross, the Moray MP who has become the new leader of the Scottish Tories, has denied that there was a Westminster ‘stitch-up’ to get the former leader Jackson Carlaw replaced. It has emerged that a meeting took place between Ruth Davidson and Douglas Ross on July 26, something a spokesman for Davidson confirmed to […]

A prominent Brexiteer has suggested that politicians should have relied less on scientific experts when making decisions relating to the coronavirus. Former Brexit secretary David Davis made the comments while discussing the latest report into the government’s handling of the virus. Davis told LBC’s Tom Swarbrick that he was ‘not surprised’ at the Home Affairs […]

Call The Midwife star Miriam Margolyes has launched a sweary attack on Boris Johnson, branding the prime minister an ‘incompetent sh*t’ who is only remarkable at adultery. The 79-year-old actress said that ‘bumbling’ Boris Johnson is a shadow of the former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher, saying his party is now funded by Russians and […]

The government has been accused of wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on face masks that do not meet NHS safety standards. The government purchased 50 million faulty face masks as part of a £252 million contract but failed to notice they lacked head loops. The masks, ordered from Ayanda Capital, have ear loops […]

HARRIS IQBAL runs one of the major charities dealing with the aftermath of Tuesday’s explosion in Beirut. On Tuesday a massive explosion tore through Beirut when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate combusted causing destruction that even war-time correspondents have seldom seen. A large-scale industrial accident in the face of a failing economy equates to nothing […]

The chair of the Brexit Party has called on the government to sack civil servants who do not return to the office because they fear catching the coronavirus. Richard Tice told LBC’s Tom Swarbrick that Downing Street should ‘lead by example’ and let go of staff unwilling to return to the workplace. The former MEP’s […]

New polling has shown the levels of Brexit regret in the country has increased again. Polling by YouGov has revealed that the number of people who think the 2016 decision to leave the European Union was ‘wrong’ has continued to lead over those that think it is ‘right’ over the past few months. There had […]

A senior Tory MP has slammed the European Research Group (ERG) as a group which acts as the ‘very opposition’ of what it means to be Conservative. Tom Tugendhat, a Tory MP and chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, criticised the group – which is now led by Mark Francois. He told Peter Geoghegan […]

Boris Johnson’s sister has questioned his claims that the family had enjoyed the ‘happiest holidays’ in the UK when they were younger. Rachel Johnson, journalist and radio presenter, said she had to ‘rack’ her brains to figure out which holiday her brother had been referring to when he mentioned it in a press conference. In […]

A new video promoting Britain’s relationship with the EU after Brexit, which it claims will lead to a new era of ‘cooperation’ and ‘close ties’, has been mocked on Twitter. Footage of an ad bigging up Britain’s new ties with Europe gained some unsavoury publicity when it launched on Wednesday. Shared on the Cabinet Office’s […]

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 […]

Nominations have closed in the leadership contest for the Scottish Conservatives, with Douglas Ross MP elected unopposed. The Moray MP is set to take over from MSP Jackson Carlaw, whose resignation last week led to Ross declaring his candidacy the following day. Carlaw said he believed he was not ‘the person best placed’ for the […]

Footage has resurfaced of a Tory Brexiteer praising Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement bill and trying to prevent MPs from scrutinising the document – days after calling for it to be rewritten. Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) provoked a stir this week when he suggested ‘fine print’ in the Withdrawal Agreement – which sets out the UK’s […]

The Daily Mail has continued its war on those working from home, urging ministers to issue ‘an unambiguous call for workers to get back to the office.’ The newspaper has published an opinion column accusing civil servants of being ‘workshy’ and ‘wrecking the recovery’ by avoiding their usual workplace during the pandemic, despite the guidance […]

A scientist on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) committee has called the England’s track-and-trace system ‘clunky’ and ‘slow’ and called on Boris Johnson to fix it. Professor John Edmunds, a member of the government’s all-important SAGE committee, said England’s test and trace programme is so ineffective that it could lead to a […]