News and Opinion

Leaving the EU without a Brexit deal would inflict “substantial costs” on the UK economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. In the latest of its regular assessments of the state of Britain’s finances, the IMF said that all likely Brexit scenarios would “entail costs for the UK economy”, but that a disorderly departure […]

Jaguar Land Rover has announced that more than 3,000 staff will move to a three-day week at its Castle Bromwich plant in the West Midlands, just hours after a Tory Brexiteer accused its boss of “making it up” when warning that a Hard Brexit would wipe out profits and cost tens of thousands of jobs […]

Lili Elbe: December 28, 1882 – September 13, 1931 After much thumb-twiddling and clockwatching they realised the artist’s model was not merely late, she wasn’t going to turn up at all. In a Copenhagen studio that afternoon in 1908 sat Gerda Wegener, an artist and illustrator of growing renown, her husband the landscape artist Einar […]

A fresh wave of young people turning 18 means that if the Brexit vote was re-run the United Kingdom would remain in the European Union. A new poll found the cross-over point, when the Leave majority from the 2016 referendum will disappear purely through demographic change, has now moved forward to January 19, 2019 – […]

Almost £70,000 has been raised in a bid to haul Boris Johnson to court accused of misconduct in public office. Private prosecutor Marcus J Ball has spent the last two years building evidence against the former foreign secretary in a bid to prove he knowingly mislead the public during the Brexit referendum. He believes Johnson […]

A book leads to a new way to look at time. If we can let go of it, and stop falling for visions of ‘the future’, we might all be better off. Growing up in what used to be called ‘the ghetto’, there were always elders who seemed to exist in their own time. When […]

Nigel Farage was left rattled in a televised debate as he was forced to admit that the Brexit vote was a political move that had little to do with economics. During a heated tussle with The New European’s editor Matt Kelly the hardline Brexiteer claimed his support for exiting the European Union had little to […]

There have been predictions of Brexit in many forms. But the one Britain is hurtling towards is the most dangerous of all – and fatal to Remain. JONATHAN LIS explains . Twenty six months of the government deploying Britain as a crash test dummy, and you probably think you’ve heard all the Brexits. Hard. Soft. […]

A gym has launched a special class for Brits angered by Brexit to punch and kick their frustrations away. London fitness chain Gymbox has – with tongue only partially lodged in cheek – launched its Brexfit class at its Victoria branch today, consisting of a series of high-intensity exercises specially designed to maximise frustration release […]

A grassroots Labour campaign in support of a People’s Vote on Brexit has gained widespread support from members. On the eve of a crucial party conference in Liverpool, 35 contemporary motions were passed by members in local parties across the country urging Labour to rethink its Brexit stance. READ: Sadiq Khan demands People’s Vote Remian […]

The London mayor has heaped pressure on his party leader by breaking rank and backing a second referendum. Sadiq Khan, who initially ruled out a second vote, now believes the government should go back to the people over the Brexit deal. He thinks Britain is heading for either a bad deal or no deal. READ: […]

As the negotiations enter a critical phase, Britain still seems to be labouring under a great many misapprehensions. Fabian Zuleeg reports. Autumn 2018 is crunch time in the Brexit negotiations, with many on the EU side increasingly concerned about the risks implied by only finding a conclusion to the Brexit negotiations perilously close to the […]

The New European’s Editor-at-Large explores the British public’s disillusionment with its political leaders. So I’m at The Belfry, not playing golf, but speaking to a construction industry conference. Speaking twice as it happens; during the day about mental health – the construction sector has a real issue with suicide; and in the evening an after-dinner […]

We pay for social media with our data. But not for much longer, says PARMY OLSON. With regulators getting tough and consumers more wary, we’re about to start paying in cash. Sand Hill Road looks like any other strip of asphalt in California’s Bay Area: a wide thoroughfare that runs through a patch of suburbs […]

Whether you want to be a supporter, subscriber or advertiser, The New European needs your help to continue to fight Brexit The People’s Vote campaign and the fight against Brexit is on the march and The New European has been there every step of the way. But we need your help in the battle. So […]

Labour is unlikely to back any Brexit deal Theresa May secures from Brussels, a senior ally of Jeremy Corbyn has warned. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said she could not see the prime minister coming back with an agreement which would meet the six tests set by the party for supporting any deal. In an […]

Advances in technology have created a new phenomenon – social warming – says leading tech writer CHARLES ARTHUR. And its effects are just as incendiary as those of global warming. Unless you’re a psychopath, you wouldn’t want the company you created to be cited as a contributory factor in a genocide. Bad news then for […]

Comedian Mitch Benn takes to task the political commentators going to absurd lengths in search of the moral high-ground. If there’s anything more depressing than the sight of someone truly stupid giving full rein to their stupidity (and we’re getting more than enough of that at the moment, not to name any presidents) then it’s […]

Now is the ideal time to alert audiences to how Brexit stands to adversely affect classical music in this country, writes ALIYE CORNISH ‘Music is not mere entertainment, but rather one of the most powerful forces for good that we have. It makes us smile. It makes us weep. It brings us close to each […]

The award winning play fails to live up to the hype, says Tim Walker. The first thing to be said about Clare Barron’s Dance Nation is that it isn’t going to get you boogying in the aisles. The title suggests an upbeat song and dance extravaganza with a jaunty, attractive, young cast, some big, bold […]

Steve Anglesey explores the unfathomable attraction of Boris Johnson. How does Boris Johnson do it? Not the anatomical details, thankfully, but the feat of persuading outwardly normal women to spend time with him, despite the twin handicapsof looking like and behaving like Boris Johnson? Why do women consistently pick the ninny who thinks it’s OK […]

A British ex-pat who has built a successful business in Catalonia has launched a fight against what he describes as a ‘gross failure of democracy’. Martin Kirby who has launched a parliamentary petition – Credit: Archant Author and olive oil producer Martin Kirby wants the government to repeal the rule which states Brits who have […]

Labour’s left have picked up one of the worst tactics of the USA’s racist right, says James Ball. The British left is slowly metamorphosing into everything it hates. Riven by incidents of anti-Semitism, and losing the trust of Britain’s Jewish community, Labour loyalists have turned tackling racism into a test of loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn. […]

Michael White explains why the collapse of the ERG blueprint joins Boris as twin embarrassments of the week. Let’s try to maintain this column’s dignity by keeping its trousers on and seeing how far we can get with the serious stuff this week before having to mention the tawdry B-Word. No, on this occasion I […]

Gina Miller re-enters the fray on Brexit with a bold new initiative, the Russian link to the new woman in Boris Johnson’s life and how Andrew Marr silences his critics. Gina to make some waves in Dover If ever a town needed to be cheered up, it’s Dover. It voted Leave by a margin of […]

In this week’s diary Rachel Johnson talks being impressed by James O’Brien’s passion and the new TV show which is not safe for couples to watch. I spent the summer – God that feels like a long time ago – in Somerset. In other words, not in London. Reason I put it like that is […]

There are few labels in politics I hate more than ‘centrist’ and ‘moderate’ – and I shout from the rooftops my refutation of being either. I am radical but sensible – which is very different. Let’s dispose of ‘moderates’ first. Anyone who believes anything of importance ‘moderately’ is wet and a drip. There are a […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from Banbury, the Oxfordshire market town famous for its cakes. But who will rise to the occasion – and who will be half-baked? Here’s who’s on the panel and where they […]

Leading Tory Brexiteers have dismissed claims of a plot to oust Theresa May over her controversial Chequers blueprint – but do we believe them? Around 50 Conservative MPs are understood to have attended a meeting of the pro-Brexit European Research Group where a possible leadership challenge was said to have been discussed. At the launch […]

Barmy Brexit barman Tim Martin is banning some foreign spirts from his Wetherspoon pub chain – including party favourite Jagermeister. The move – which also includes dumping Courvoisier VS and Hennessy Fine de Cognac – is set to anger Martin’s younger clientele who are known to enjoy strong cocktail Jagerbomb – a potent mix of […]

For both embattled leaders prime minister’s questions must come as a welcome relief these days. This week the pair tussled over universal credit – an important topic and one where Jeremy Corbyn came out on top. He went on to Brexit saying: ‘The government’s Brexit negotiations are an abject failure – I can see that […]

Theresa May claimed a no-deal Brexit would not be the ‘end of the world’ – but the PM is clearly worried. It has been claimed that secret meetings of the Cobra emergency committee are being held to prepare for the UK crashing out of the EU. Usually Cobra – which stands for Cabinet Office Briefing […]