News and Opinion

Arlene Foster has been forced to threatening the prime minister over Brexit, insisting she did not think Theresa May would even consider a deal which would treat Northern Ireland differently. Weekend comments by the DUP leader about the party’s “red line” on customs arrangements post-Brexit were interpreted by some as a veiled threat to pull […]

Any lack of security cooperation post-Brexit will be the fault of “the government’s pigheaded negotiating strategy”, home secretary Sajid Javid was told today. Mr Javid today issued a stark warning about the risk of weakening UK-EU ties on security, saying it would be “wrong and reckless” to advocate any “unnecessary reduction” in co-operation. He described […]

Britain could stay in the European VAT area after the Brexit transition period, according to reports – a move which would see one of Theresa May’s so-called “red lines” crossed. According to the Financial Times (click for link), Britain is taking an ‘active role’ in shaping new EU VAT regulations for the 2020s, suggesting the […]

Xenophobia and misogyny is a systematic feature of power relations. In her letter to The New Feminist, Helen De Cruz explains more. Misogyny is often seen as a hatred of women that some men feel. But as philosopher Kate Manne has demonstrated in her powerful book Down Girl, the logic of misogyny (OUP), misogyny isn’t […]

As the Mamoudou Gassama incident adds to Emmanuel Macron’s accumulation of glowing publicity, BARNABY TOWNS challenges some Brexit myths about the UK’s supposed superiority to our southern neighbour Another day, another picture-perfect photo opportunity for President Emmanuel Macron, this time thanking Mamoudou Gassama — the undocumented immigrant who saved a child dangling from a balcony […]

Anna Kessel on Caster Semenya, prejudice and a controversy dividing athletics. Are you woman enough? This is the question that has been repeatedly asked of Caster Semenya ever since, in 2009, at the age of 18, she blew away the competition to win gold at the World Championships in Berlin. Semenya was born and raised […]

Suzanne Moore on three writers grappling with the restlessness that comes with advancing years and who are interested in living fully, not contentedly. Recently I went to see Viv Albertine read from her new book To Throw Away Unopened. She started by saying she wakes up every day feeling murderous. There is a woman after […]

Maria Bates on how her identity has been changed because of Brexit. She no longer feels she is an individual. My identity, or more specifically the way in which I am perceived by others, appears to have changed since Brexit. I used to be seen as a friend, colleague, teacher, neighbour, customer, volunteer – the […]

Sadiq Khan has heaped pressure on Jeremy Corbyn by urging Labour MPs to be “brave” and vote to retain close ties to the EU. The Mayor of London urged MPs to defy their leader when controversial Lords amendments to the government’s flagship EU legislation return to the Commons. Mr Khan – Labour’s most senior elected […]

Referendums are best when the issue being voted upon is a narrow one where the pro and anti arguments can be easily explained on the back of an envelope. Sarah Austin explains more. I hoped for the result in Ireland but didn’t expect it. What I should have expected is the queue of Brexiteers (mostly […]

The UK will be “fully prepared” for leaving the EU without a deal, Downing Street insisted today, after reports civil servants have been drawing up scenarios for a “Doomsday Brexit” that would leave the country short of medicine, fuel and food. Prime minister Theresa May still believes that “no deal is better than a bad […]

Caroline Crampton on two new films in which their very different lead characters strive for a slice of liberty. Shiela Hancock in Edie. Picture: Contriubted. – Credit: Contriubted. The opening 30 seconds of Edie, a new film about an elderly woman at the limits of her endurance, are enough to melt your heart. Edith (Sheila […]

The term suffragette was originally created to mock and belittle women, says linguist Deborah Cameron, and has only recently been reclaimed. Until someone corrected the error, the recently-unveiled statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square was known to users of Google Maps as ‘the suffragette statue’. In fact Fawcett was not a suffragette, but a […]

Amna Saleem recalls a toxic term she heard when growing up, which succeeds only in trying to hold people back. When I was 14, a country club not too far from my house in the suburbs was seeking a waitress for weekend and holiday shifts. I had once visited the grounds on a school outing […]

In 1875, weavers fighting for better pay knew exactly who to blame for their exploitation. Women. Members of the Matchmakers Union who went on strike at the Bryant and May’s factory in London. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images Rather than blaming employers who forced women into economic competition with men by […]

Cookbook writer Claudia Roden on how she began to amass recipes, and how they help preserve a vanishing world. I began collecting recipes in London. It was after the Suez War, in 1956. The Jews were leaving Egypt and my parents arrived as refugees, leaving everything behind. We were inundated by waves of relatives and […]

Leading barrister and peer Helena Kennedy on how departure from the EU has made us all vulnerable – but especially women. Iam not a New Feminist. I’m an old one. But I would hazard a guess most young feminists who could vote, and did so, voted to remain in the EU. Nevertheless, many women voted […]

Medicine is one of history’s oldest patriarchies, says Tracy King, and its continuing inequalities explain why women turn to unproven alternatives. ‘You know what they call alternative medicine that’s been proven to work? Medicine.’ The words of Tim Minchin from his rationalist beat poem Storm have become a meme, a line thrown around online in […]

Female refugees are facing countless threats all around the globe, says Samira Shackle. And their mistreatment doesn’t end when they reach our shores. What struck me about Salma, when I interviewed her several years ago, was how physically small she was. She was sent to England when she was 18 from a village in Pakistan, […]

Bonnie Greer discusses a moment working in New York which epitomizes the battle of black women in politics, and society as a whole. I knew that I was lucky to land the job I had that spring of 1980 in New York. My other jobs had been packing candy in a cold warehouse and waiting […]

The social care system is at breaking point and Brexit is only going to make it worse. Dr Frances Ryan explores a looming catastrophe. Graph depicting key figures in the social care system. Picture: Archant – Credit: Archant Ask politicians to name the biggest issues facing this country over the next decade and two words […]

The Universal Credit scheme has hit lone carers disproportionately, says Anoosh Chakelian. She talks to someone living at the sharp end of a flawed policy. ‘I haven’t got time to help my daughter with her homework,’ Paula, a 39-year-old health worker from south London, tells me when we speak over the phone one morning between […]

From 18th century to Russell Brand and Owen Jones, Sarah Ditum explores the history of ‘brocialism’. Half a century before The New European became The New Feminist (for this week, at least), there was the Rat. Part of New York’s radical press, the Rat combined left-wing politics with nudie covers and pornographic cartoons – directed, […]

A cross-party group of MPs have signed an open letter calling for a final vote on any Brexit deal with an option to remain in the EU. The signatories include Labour MPs from all wings of the party, along with Liberal Democrats. The letter has been coordinated by the anti-Brexit Best for Britain campaign group, […]

The latest episode of the New European podcast is available now. This week New European Editor Matt Kelly chats to guest Editor Caroline Criado Perez about her feminist takeover of the paper. Meanwhile Richard Porritt and Steve Anglesey discuss Jacob Rees-Mogg’s continuing claims that he definitely does not want to be the next prime minster […]

This week in James Ball’s Deconstructed feature, we look under the bonnet of zero hours contracts; whether they are just a by-product of a changing economy, or whether they’ve been created this way. We tend to treat insecure work as if it’s an inevitable if dispiriting reality of the modern world. Immutable, inescapable. For many […]

Chimene Suleyman discusses the radical new face of identity politics, and why it’s something to be celebrated and not feared. Last week, Stacey Abrams was nominated as the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia. And so, history was made. Because Stacey Abrams is black. And she is also a woman. And this is the Deep […]

Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium from Europe show that international trade secretary Liam Fox is “as useful as a chocolate fireguard”, a leading anti-Brexit campaigner said today. Best for Britain CEO Eloise Todd said the slapping of tariffs by the Trump administration has shown the ‘failed’ policy of Mr Fox and […]

This week our columnist Marie Le Conte, aka the Young Vulgarian, questions whether men should be allowed to govern if they don’t have the maturity to behave well. The Young Vulgarian has long thought that men should only be allowed to legislate if they prove they can behave, and recent developments haven’t filled her with […]

There has been a culture change in the arts when it comes to attitudes to women, says Samira Ahmed. But we must not assume things will keep improving. After Ronan Farrow, son of Woody Allen, finally revealed the sheer scale of allegations of sexual assault, bullying and cover-ups against Harvey Weinstein, in October 2017, everything […]

How one case of forced marriage making its way to the UN court has marked the beginning of a shift in global feminism, Yasmin Alibhai Brown writes. After centuries of despair, fury and unimaginable bleakness where no hope could germinate, a tiny shoot sprung up to hearten Asian, Arab, African, Kurdish and other non-western feminists […]

Is it ever acceptable to define a woman’s work by her husband? Afua Hirsch discusses the issue of society deciding a woman’s role and what they can do with their bodies. This was the week we all learned a new Irish phrase – Tiocfaidh ár mná – or, in English, ‘here come our women’. Has […]