News and Opinion

The boss of Britain’s biggest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, has launched a blistering attack on Brexit plans, warning that ‘tens of thousands’ of jobs in the car industry could be lost if the UK crashes out without a deal. Ralf Speth, the company’s chief executive, said he was concerned delays in the supply chain […]

Luciano Pavarotti: October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007 Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti performs during the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Photo: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images – Credit: AFP/Getty Images If we were to reel off a list of the world’s great opera locations it’s probably a safe bet that Beech House […]

Remainer-in-chief Alastair Campbell has blasted Brexiteers for being ‘terrified’ of a People’s Vote – because they would lose. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Campbell addressed claims that a People’s Vote on any Brexit deal was undemocratic. He said: ‘This idea that it is anti-democratic for the country to vote in a certain way and then […]

The owner of sweet maker Cadbury has said it is stockpiling ingredients and finished chocolate bars and biscuits in case Britain crashes out of the EU with no deal. Hubert Weber, president of Mondelez Europe, which owns Cadbury, said: ‘Like the whole of the food and drink industry in the UK, we would prefer a […]

For the Conservatives this is all out war – and Boris Johnson is advancing on Downing Street. The former foreign secretary is planning a Blitzkrieg on the Chequers plan as the Tories prepare for conference. Monday after Monday in the pages of the Tory parish newsletter the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson will fling grenades in […]

Hardline Brexiteers have been attacked as “barmy” after drawing up plans for a squad of tax inspectors to roam Northern Ireland after Britain leaves the EU. According to plans revealed by the Sun newspaper, the European Research Group of Brexiteers believe a hard border be avoided by something called ‘Inland Clearance’ which would see goods […]

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has vowed that if Labour cannot force a general election over Brexit the party could back a People’s Vote. His comments are the clearest sign yet that the opposition could back a return to the ballot box in a bid to topple the Tory government. Labour’s leadership has never come out […]

Cats and dogs would be stranded on the continent for weeks in the event of a no-deal Brexit, leaked contingency plans have revealed. Proposals set for publication this week, but leaked to today’s Sun newspaper, warn that a replacement to the EU’s Pet Passport would take months to negotiate, leaving animals unable to travel across […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been rubbished for “back of a napkin” economics after claiming a no-deal Brexit would boost the British economy by £1.1 trillion. The leader of the Conservatives’ hardline European Research Group will make a speech today claiming no-deal would boost the economy by the figure over 15 years, arguing that crashing out of […]

Politics is getting in the way of good government and Brexit is the result, says AC GRAYLING in a powerful essay Did you know that if the House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence in the government, that vote has to be repeated two weeks later in case any MPs have changed their […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY ​on a long-forgotten work which captured the thrill of exploring Europe, while also creating a proto-Brexiteer for whom travel is hardly worth the bother In 1759 Laurence Sterne was a consumptive 45-year-old clergyman living in the village of Sutton-on-the-Forest a few miles north of York and trapped in a bored obscurity at least […]

Mark Carney is to stay on as Bank of England governor until January 2020, chancellor Philip Hammond has confirmed – leading Remainers to mock it is the only Canada Brexit deal the government is likely to land. The move means extending Carney’s term by seven months, having previously planned to step down in June 2019. […]

The trade union movement has signalled it is preparing to demand a People’s Vote on Brexit. Brexit talks are at crisis point. @FrancesOGrady is serving notice on @theresa_may: if she doesn't deliver a Brexit for working people, our movement will mobilise and demand a popular vote #Marr pic.twitter.com/dPJSZUEpX0— TradesUnionCongress (@The_TUC) September 9, 2018 Head of […]

The United Kingdom and the European Union have fewer than 200 days before Brexit. And with the prime minister’s hated Chequers deal being torn apart by her own party and others the UK appears no closer to a deal. Watch the video to discover the key dates that face Theresa May in the coming months.

A website set up to show how EU money is spent in Britain is going viral, with more than 1,500 views a minute. In terms of internet content, myEU.uk does not immediately look like something primed to go viral. No-one is owning anybody else in the most awesome way. It will not tell you which […]

Carrie Symonds was one of Tory Party’s top communications staff. Then foreign secretary Boris Johnson passes Carrie Symonds as he leaves the Conservative party Black and White Ball at Natural History Museum in February 7, 2018 Photo: Getty – Credit: Getty Images But just weeks ago she quit her role unexpectedly as rumours of a […]

A man bidding to haul Boris Johnson before the courts over his Brexit claims has released a video outlining his challenge to the former foreign secretary. Marcus J Ball who is launching a private prosecution against Boris Johnson Photo: Sandra Vijandi – Credit: Archant Private prosecutor Marcus J Ball believes Johnson committed misconduct in public […]

The Conservatives risk a ‘catastrophic split’ unless the prime minister dumps her Chequers plan, according to a leading Brexiteer. Steve Baker, who quit as a Brexit minister over Chequers, is aiming to rally the Brexit wing of the Tories in a bid to scupper Theresa May’s plan at conference at the end of this month. […]

Leading City and political figures have rounded on the Conservatives over their “disastrous” handling of Brexit, warning that Britain risks ending up with the “worst of leave and the worst of remain”. With just 200 days remaining until Britain quits the EU, the prospect of a no-deal Brexit continues to spell acute economic uncertainty for […]

While the US produced a very raunchy scandal, British pop’s great controversy was a little more tame. Peter Andre and Katie Price coupled on I�m A Celebrity… (Photo by David Westing/Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images Lewdness was in in 2004. As Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson’s bustier at the Super Bowl […]

We cannot leave developing a future vision for Britain to the Brexiteers, writes LIBBY CHERRY Whether it’s Boris Johnson using casual racism for press attention or Trump’s antics, it is easy to view the last few years as a populist explosion that has usurped the rational rules-based systems of our liberal democracies. But this viewpoint […]

Peter Trudgill on a perfectly good word which may find its days numbered The Dutch word for ‘to buy’ is kopen. The corresponding word in German is kaufen; and the West Frisian equivalent is keapje. All the Scandinavian languages also have a related form: Norwegian kjøpe, Danish købe, Swedish köpa, Icelandic kaupa, and Faroese keypa. […]

This year’s Venice Film Festival delivered hit after hit after hit Elisia Del Genio and Ludovica nasti in My Brilliant Friend. Photo: Eduardo Castaldo – Credit: Archant Often when reporting on a film festival, the temptation is to sift the movies for themes in a strained attempt to intuit what the world’s filmmakers are saying […]

Theresa May’s Brexit strategy has put the UK constitution in a “suicide vest” and handed the detonator to Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier, Boris Johnson has claimed. The former foreign secretary’s extraordinary comments provoked an immediate backlash from Tory critics in the latest sign of the bitter Conservative divide over Brexit and the future leadership […]

Despite an ignominious start, Jim Stynes came to dominate Aussie Rules. RICHARD LUCK pays tribute to one of Europe’s great unsung – and tragic – sporting heroes MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – 1993: Jim Stynes of the Demons kicks for a goal during the round two AFL match between the Melbourne Demons and Footscray (Photo by Tony […]

Amid all the noise of Brexit one public institution has remained curiously quiet – the Church of England In the early 1990s David Hare wrote a trilogy of plays about the state of the nation’s institutions. His play about Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party, The Absence of War, now seems remote from the Corbyn takeover; while […]

A new exhibition, Magic Realism, Art in Weimar Germany explores the stunningly creative period that took place in Germany between the wars. Otto Dix, International Riding Act, X69281 – Credit: Photo ©Tate For the poet Stephen Spender, 1929 was the last year of that ‘strange Indian Summer – the Weimar Republic’. He had revelled in […]

During his lifetime John McCain challenged colleagues on both sides of the American political divide but his death has led the country to pause for thought. One of the most interesting things surrounding the death of Senator John McCain was the fulminations of various pundits on the left and the right, insisting how awful he […]

When even someone who hates referendums agrees that holding another is the only way forward for the UK. I hate referendums. Really, truly, viscerally loathe them. They’re divisive, they don’t allow for nuanced debate, they lead to lowest common denominator electioneering. And, unlike in an election, there is simply no mechanism by which people who […]

Ireland’s EU commissioner has blasted Britain’s “absurdist politics” and told leading Hard Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to “shut up and let Prime Minister May get on with her work”. Phil Hogan, the European commissioner for agriculture and rural development, said that Britain was ‘trapped in a recurring cycle of silly behaviour’ over Brexit […]

Bungling Brexiteer Boris Johnson is to divorce from his wife of 25 years. Boris Johnson and his wife Marina Wheeler leaving Carlton House Terrace in Westminster after he resigned as foreign secretary Photo: PA / Isabel Infantes – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The former foreign secretary and his wife Marina Wheeler have announced they have […]

When trade expert Jason Hunter humiliated Jonathan Isaby in a radio debate with come cold, hard facts the encounter went viral. Here he outlines some more incontrovertible truths to further demolish the Brexiteers’ bluster ‘Falling back onto WTO terms is nothing to worry about…’ So say many Brexiteers. But is true? First, it’s helpful to […]