News and Opinion

Labour are losing the battle to control the national conversation while the Tories continue their inevitable march into Brexit chaos, writes Michael White. These are dark, post-Salzburg days for all sides of the Brexit debate, not much light visible at the end of the tunnel, wherever the tunnel turns out to be going. Canada Plan […]

Readers react on the letters pages to the suggestion a People’s Vote could be held without staying in the EU as an option. Though a People’s Vote ballot paper with no option to Remain would be an abandonment of the democratic principle that ‘no change’ should always be an option, such a referendum could easily […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s anger isn’t unappealing, it’s a refreshing thing in a world of mushy centrists, writes MIC WRIGHT. Anger’s got a bad rap in the world of modern politics. When you think of it, it’s easy to picture the jowl-rattling rage of the gammon, the pub bore belligerence of Nigel Farage, the suited street thug […]

The shadow Brexit secretary still remains a Brexiteer… for now. If I ever need a lawyer to get me out of a tight spot, Sir Keir Starmer QC will be the man. Once ‘QC of the year,’ and a former Director of Public Prosecutions, I am confident no legal stone would be left unturned. In […]

The opposition leader forgot the Labour’s six key Brexit tests on the same day the party claimed Theresa May’s Brexit plan was failing them. The shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer spent most of this year’s Labour conference confirming that the party was preparing to vote against whatever deal Theresa May presents to Parliament, but […]

That there is a lot of plastic in the ocean and that it is eaten by turtles (and other endangered species) is well known. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find stranded dead turtles with their guts full of plastic. But what is less clear is whether plastic eaten by the creatures actually kills them, […]

With six months to go until Brexit D-Day, the prime minister’s options are narrow, writes JANE MERRICK. In one scene of the Panorama programme Inside No.10: Deal or No Deal?, Theresa May was shown at her desk, phone in hand, on hold to EU chief Jean Claude Juncker. It was a fitting metaphor for a […]

Tim Walker on Indhu Rubasingham, the best and brightest young theatre boss we have in this country. One of the occupational hazards of being an artistic director of a theatre is that you can all too easily find yourself distracted from what’s happening on the stage by the lampshades that need to be replaced in […]

As they struggle to make headway, the Liberal Democrats need to do more to promote the one issue they have always held the high ground about – Europe. As Liberal Democrats emerge from Brighton, their challenge is complex but clear. Both main parties are simultaneously in crisis, with surveys finding that 35% of voters feel […]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used his conference speech to declare that ‘all options are on the table’ regarding Brexit. Speaking at the close of the conference in Liverpool, Corbyn backed shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer who previously defied senior Labour figures by saying an option to remain in the European Union would not be […]

A new exhibition about the great man paints a very selective picture of the country he was born into and its corporate interests, says Andy Higginbottom The Mandela and Me exhibition at the British Council in London marks the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth in 1918. It is sponsored by Anglo American, the mining giant […]

Two senior shadow cabinet members have distanced Labour from a second Brexit referendum just a day after party delegates voted to keep the option on the table. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said the party would not include a new referendum in its manifesto if a general election was called before March. Her justice […]

A Tory Leave MP was left looking like a bit of a lemon after carrying out an ‘analysis’ of the fruit and vegetables in his local Tesco. Daniel Kawczynski used the backdrop of a fruit and vegetable stand in a Tesco store in Shrewsbury to make his case that ‘massive tariffs imposed’ by the EU […]

Born December 31, 1908; died September 20, 2005. CHARLIE CONNELLY on the extraordinary life of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal Portrait of the Austrian Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. 1970s (Photo by Adriano Alecchi/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images) – Credit: Mondadori via Getty Images When American troops liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp, east of Linz, on May […]

Theresa May has repeated a claim that a general election before Brexit is not in the national interest. She made the claim to scotch suggestions of a November poll after reports that Downing Street officials had war-gamed a winter vote. Speaking to reporters as she flew to New York for a meeting of the United […]

An EU official has hit out at the Sun and Daily Mail for their coverage of Brexit. V?ra Jourová, a Czech politician and European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, criticised the two newspapers for creating ‘division’ rather than ‘building dialogue.’ Jourová referenced the two newspapers, alongside examples of ‘growing anti-Muslim and anti-Roma rhetoric’ […]

Jeremy Corbyn set out the most radical left-wing agenda of any mainstream party in a generation, as he declared that Labour now represents “the new common sense” and is ready to govern. To fervent applause from delegates at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Corbyn called on prime minister Theresa May to call an early general […]

Labour has opened the door to reversing Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, by overwhelmingly backing a motion that could lead to a People’s Vote. The party’s conference in Liverpool voted overwhelmingly to keep the option of a fresh vote ‘on the table’, after shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer explicitly stated that it […]

A new Brexit referendum with an option to remain in the EU is “likely”, the Labour first minister of Wales has said. Carwyn Jones told Wales’ National Assembly that people had “the right to express a view as to whether they wish to leave in circumstances that not one Brexiteer suggested would happen”. It follows […]

Labour Leave MP Kate Hoey has claimed that the reason so many young people are anti-Brexit is because they have been ‘indoctrinated’ by their university lecturers. The Labour Leave MP made the claim at a party conference fringe event as the Brexiteer tried to explain why so many young people were anti-Brexit. According to YouGov, […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the unlikely origin of the name of a stretch of water off the Scottish coast The sea between the northern Outer Hebrides and the Scottish mainland is called the Minch, while the more southerly strait between the Outer Hebrides and the Isle of Skye is known as the Little Minch. The word […]

The government has so far published 77 technical notices giving guidance on the impact of a no-deal Brexit. The documents, which have been published in batches on the gov.uk website since the end of August, cover a range of areas from roaming charges for mobile phones to delays in sperm donations arriving in the UK. […]

Angela Merkel today rejected Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan, saying Britain could not have free access to Europe’s single market for goods without accepting the rest of the EU’s four freedoms. The German Chancellor said that Britain had still not expressed a clear position on its post-Brexit relations with the EU, warning that only ‘six […]

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has dished out a stinging slap down to Labour’s leadership at conference telling delegates: ‘Nobody is ruling out Remain.’ His speech in Liverpool received the biggest cheers of the conference so far ending with a lengthy standing ovation. And during the speech around two-thirds of the audience spontaneously got […]

Labour Leaver Graham Stringer has launched a bizarre attack on Remainers at conference. Appearing at a Labour Leave fringe event the prominent Eurosceptic MP claimed his party’s fudge over a second vote had killed the People’s Vote campaign. Speaking alongside other Labour Brexiteers he claimed those who want a new vote had ‘contempt for democracy’ […]

The dual role of the resort of Torquay has played a significant part in the development of English comedy. Faulty Towers. PA – Credit: Archant If you visit the picturesque Devon seaside town of Torquay and make your way up the main hill that dominates the town’s centre, you will find yourself amongst the grandeur […]

Labour is set to vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal in Parliament, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed. Addressing Labour’s conference in Liverpool, the shadow Brexit secretary will warn that Tory ‘division, chaos and failure’ over Brexit is putting the country’s future prosperity at risk. ‘The party that once promised to fix the roof while the […]

A new pale ale is to be launched in celebration of Europe and as a unique protest against Brexit. Campaigners from the Lambeth for Europe and Wandsworth and Merton European Movement groups helped to create the new ‘delicious, light and fresh’ drink, which is carefully blended from British and German hops. The group says the […]

Brexit documents have laid bare the grisly prospect of no deal, with the likelihood of chaos at ports, disruption to food supplies and increased business costs, the government has been warned. Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said his industry would be hit by “ever more” administrative burdens. He said: “Our […]

Nigel Farage has claimed that he could deliver a trade deal for the UK… but because the government will not talk to him he’s not prepared to write it. Farage was touring the television studios again when made the claims on the Good Morning Britain sofa alongside The New European’s Alastair Campbell and his daughter […]

Sir Keir Starmer has slapped down shadow chancellor John McDonnell – insisting that a People’s Vote with an option to Remain is still on the table. https://twitter.com/Cornwall4EU/status/1044230144947294213 Starmer was asked by journalists about John McDonnell’s comments following a Brexit fringe event at Labour party conference. The shadow chancellor had earlier enraged Remainers within the party […]

​He lived the archetypal life of a poet – intense, eventful and tragic. Yet Friedrich Hölderlin remains an obscure figure outside Germany. A newly-translated work, outlining a momentous existence, could change all that, says CHARLIE CONNELLY What are the key ingredients that make up the classic poet’s life? Is it the wilful excess and general […]