News and Opinion

Emergency powers may be needed to ensure patients can still get the medicines they need after a no-deal Brexit, the body representing health product distributors has warned. The Healthcare Distribution Association, which represents private companies supplying more than 90% of the medicines used in the NHS, warned that regulatory problems and transport hold-ups could result […]

The ability of police to tackle serious and organised crime could be “significantly impacted” by a no-deal Brexit, the chief of the National Crime Agency has warned. NCA director-general Lynne Owens said she was “deeply concerned” that withdrawal from the EU without a deal could deprive UK police of the use of tools like the […]

Going trick-or-treating? Download and print our Monsters of Brexit masks and dress as something truly terrifying. Bojo The Clown, who thinks he’s It but whose plans are far from penny wise… – Credit: Archant If you’re out knocking doors for Halloween, why not go as the ultimate trick – Brexit? Faggenstain, who brought monstrous ideas […]

Documentary-maker Michael Moore’s new film paints a disturbing picture of the US, by looking back at a 1980s book which predicted how the country could fall victim to a form of fascism. BENJAMIN IVRY reports Hard truth: a scene from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Photo: Archant – Credit: Archant Amid civic chaos, people cling to […]

World-leading scientists have warned Theresa May not to allow Brexit to create new barriers to collaboration across Europe. Dozens of winners of the Nobel Prize have written to the prime minister and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker setting out their concerns. Their message was echoed by the London-based Francis Crick Institute, which warned that a […]

Theresa May’s insistence that her Brexit deal is 95% complete aimed to win over Tory MPs – but was widely ridiculed both online and offline. The prime minister said that the ‘shape of the deal across the vast majority’ of the withdrawal agreement was now clear. She told the Commons that ‘important progress’ has been […]

The boss of Ryanair has used a television interview to savage the Tory ‘half-wits’ behind Brexit like David Davis and Liam Fox. Michael O’Leary was speaking on CNBC in Ireland when he said that the UK is getting closer to a period where flights could be grounded, but he believed that could be eliminated when […]

A rattled Leave Means Leave chairman baffled radio listeners by saying Gina Miller was ‘going round with her fingers in her ear’ before hanging up to avoid a proper debate. In his appearance on Andrew Castle’s LBC show John Longworth trotted out the same tired lines – calling the People’s Vote a ‘loser’s vote’ and […]

Theresa May has slapped down anonymous MPs who used violent imagery to describe a possible coup to unseat her. Weekend newspapers reported Tory backbenchers saying the prime minister would be “knifed” and that she should “bring her own noose” to a meeting with MPs to discuss her Brexit plans. The PM’s official spokesman said May […]

Delia Smith tells the crowds that ‘the only way we can avoid this total madness and win back our future has to be a People’s Vote.’ The TV chef and Norwich City shareholder has spoken out against Brexit and called on MPs to give the country a final say. Delia said that Brexit could be […]

While 700,000 people marched for a People’s Vote in London – an embarrassingly small number of people greeted Nigel Farage in Harrogate. The former UKIP leader was the main attraction at the latest Leave Means Leave rally aiming to ‘save Brexit’ and to put an end to the prime minister’s Chequers plan. The event took […]

HOWARD JACOBSON’S brilliant essay on toxic masculinity Men! What to do about us? That’s not a question I ever expected to hear myself ask. I have not, I hope, been a fatuous defender of my sex. My gender, right or wrong, is not a principle that’s guided me. But I have ridden out at times […]

JAMES BALL says despite the week of theatrics for the UK government, the bigger challenge ahead is still whether they can pass a budget. This has not been a week short on theatrics for the UK government, whether in the Commons chamber or EU negotiating rooms. But despite all this public drama, there is – […]

The People’s Vote march attracted almost 700,000 people making it the biggest anti-Brexit demonstration and the second biggest protest of the century. People’s Vote March – Carol Davies – Credit: Archant We have been indundated with photographs from Saturday’s march – here is just a flavour of the photographs we have received from readers. • […]

A report in a national newspaper claims that the government is now exploring the option of a fresh Brexit referendum. Despite claims from the prime minister that there will be no People’s Vote, the Sunday Times reveals that civil servants have been ‘war-gaming’ a fresh vote because they fear Theresa May will struggle to get […]

Nigel Farage was left making his own case for the People’s Vote after he debated it with Labour peer Andrew Adonis. The pair were discussing a People’s Vote and the campaigners’ march through London which around 700,000 people attended. According to Farage the event was ‘a good show’ but he put this down to being […]

STEVE ANGLESEY on Nigel Farage, Priti Patel, and crowns another Brexiteer of the Week. Living in the past: Priti Patel. Photo: Getty – Credit: Barcroft Media via Getty Images ‘This is the most important campaign that has ever been fought in British history,’ Nigel Farage told the couple of hundred supporters who turned up to […]

JASON SOLOMONS reports from the London Film Festival on a British hat-trick and the return of Peter Jackson Josh O’Connor and Laia Costa in Only You. Photo: Getty – Credit: Archant As the last post on the annual festival circuit, the BFI London Film Festival has carved out a unique position in Europe as a […]

Organisers estimate more than half a million people were protesting. Can you spot yourself or anyone you know among them? Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People’s Vote March. Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire – Credit: PA Delia Smith, Deborah Meaden and Sadiq Khan are some of the famous faces among crowds of hundreds of thousands […]

Organisers estimate a crowd of more than 500,000 at ‘the biggest demonstration on Brexit yet.’ As many as 570,000 people have come together in the capital to protest the progression of Brexit, say The People’s Vote campaign. The march, hosting speakers including celebrity cook Delia Smith, Dragons’ Den businesswoman Deborah Meaden and London Mayor Sadiq […]

Tens of thousands of people are massing in London to send a defiant message to Theresa May: ‘We want a second referendum.’ The People’s Vote march has started. Photo: Jono Read – Credit: Archant The People’s Vote march has kicked off with large crowds organising in central London to call for a fresh referendum on […]

Britain’s declining influence has put global security in peril. And it is entirely self-inflicted, says James P. Rubin, a former aide to Bill Clinton A major power doesn’t become irrelevant overnight. It happens over time. And so it has been a painful process to observe the UK, whose empire once spanned the globe, become steadily […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK on a year when the pop charts were filled with vibrancy and variety.. characteristics that were about to become severely stifled There was never a dull moment to 1986. While the Sun gave us ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’, 30 million watched Dirty Den leave Angie on Christmas Day, and globally millions more […]

BONNIE GREER on the stubborn strand of irrationality that is the bedrock of Brexit LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 10: Conservative MP John Redwood gives an interview adjacent to the Houses of Parliament on May 10, 2010 in London, England. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that he is to stand down as Prime Minister and […]

ANDREW ADONIS on ignoring the Financial Times and why we should march for a People’s Vote It turns out that I am personally responsible for the Brexit chaos. In the opinion of no less an organ than the Financial Times, it is my activities, and those of fellow campaigners for a People’s Vote, which are […]

In June more than 100,000 campaigners marched against Brexit. On October 20th organisers are expecting an even bigger crowd calling for a People’s Vote. Why are people marching? Polls in recent months have shown that a majority that support a People’ Vote. Organisers say that ‘whether you voted to Leave or Remain, nobody voted to […]

Blur drummer DAVID ROWNTREE on the perils of touring Europe with his band before the era of open borders. And why Brexit would be such a damaging step backwards Brexit is likely to be a disaster for touring musicians. I know this because I remember what it was like in the old days. I first […]

The Today programme disinvites Patrick Kielty after his epic Twitter showdown with Boris Johnson, the tears of Steve Baker and Boris Johnson’s freebie tickets to get booed at The Oval The bookers on the ailing Today programme on Radio 4 felt they had pulled off quite a coup the other day by securing the popular […]

When ELLIE KIELLER was 4 years old she watched a Disney film and fell in love with Paris. Next month she will move there – but first she’ll be marching in London to make sure others can make their European dream a reality. I’m 4 years old. I’ve just watched Disney’s The Aristocats and I […]

The People’s Vote March will bring together people from across the United Kingdom to fight for a final say on Brexit. Young Plaid Cymru activist CARMEN RIA SMITH explains why the Welsh are marching. You wouldn’t apply to a college or a university without knowing what it looks like. When you make one of the […]

The number of Brits seeking to reclaim their German citizenship has leaped following the Brexit vote, it has been revealed. A German government response to opposition politicians published today says 1,667 people applied to Germany’s embassy in London last year to reclaim the citizenship they or their ancestors were stripped of by the Nazis. The […]

Brexiteers have made some pretty daft comments about the Irish border recently, but this could be the worst of all. If a backstop is such a good idea to sort the border issue why do we not go for a backstop around the entire British Isles then Irish Republic can be part of it too […]