Politics

In some ways Boris Johnson was right, we are trying to polish a turd, writes Peter Roberts. Who knows what will happen over the next days and weeks, but surely this must now be clear. 1) There’s no form of Brexit that will benefit the nation. We really are polishing poo; 2) The national interest […]

Brexit is moving into a new and hopefully terminal phase. Aware that they have no majority in the parliamentary Conservative Party, the Brexiteers are in retreat. I expect this new era will be soundtracked by moans about how their special Brexit has been ruined and how all its golden opportunities have been lost in a […]

Boris Johnson’s use of the term ‘the dream is dying’ is revealing. Dreams always end when reality intrudes. The Brexiteers have now received their wake-up call and know that the central thesis on which their argument was based – that ‘they need us more than we need them’ and therefore that at zero cost we […]

Many years ago, I was among environmentalist campaigners who were labelled ‘terrorists’ in the press. We did not deserve this because we were seeking not to damage the country but to save the world, based on scientifically-agreed, evidence-based, truths. Our crime was to protest against new coal-fired power stations. But now it is my turn […]

It’s interesting that Theresa May lectures other EU leaders on security, even though it has always been low on her agenda if present at all. It’s almost as though she was trying to generate supportive headlines in the British press rather than negotiating with other EU leaders. It looks to me like May knows that […]

Two years on from the referendum, the public call for a People’s Vote vote is clear. Some 48% of voters now say they want a second poll on the final deal Theresa May negotiates with the EU, compared to just 25% who disagree. This is hardly a surprise. A report from the Centre for European […]

Does Tony Blair help the cause to remain in the European Union – or does he hinder it? I was pleased to read Alastair Campbell’s article in last week’s TNE defending the Blair government’s record. I am astonished how much liberal vitriol there is against Blair until I realise that it largely comes from younger […]

I discovered I was truly European a long time ago. I am 87 now and was 20 then. We were cycling in Holland and Belgium and there was devastation everywhere. Among the ruins of Rotterdam, which the Germans had flattened, the piledrivers were at work. My family had earlier been bombed out in London and […]

Readers that marched in London last weekend have a lot to say about the Labour leader missing the event and those that are defending his position. The world is certainly changing. I attended the very inspiring People’s Vote march in London. It was the biggest demonstration I have ever been on without either Jeremy Corbyn […]

Surely even Theresa May must agree that Boris Johnson’s alleged response of ‘f*** business’ to a question at a diplomatic event about business concerns about Brexit renders his position untenable. For most of us in the UK, business is essential to our very survival. Business provides employment. Business enables us to put a meal on […]

Government ministers call the Airbus warning ‘part of a new Project Fear’. They would do well to take this warning seriously. Shortly before his death, I sat with one of the team who had negotiated the agreement for Broughton to manufacture the wings of these multinational European projects. He told me of the determination, of […]

A quick puzzle for you and your readers… the following quote belongs to who? ‘Any new law needs to be debated, We don’t have legislation by decree – that is what they have in Putin’s Russia or Erdogan’s Turkey. ‘What is our defence against legislation by decree? It is our parliament and the right of […]

Theresa May plainly took notice of Boris Johnson’s desire to see what Brexit would look like if it was negotiated by Donald Trump. In the last few days she has moved from hapless jargon-spouting bureaucrat to brazen liar. She has lied to Dominic Grieve and the rebels and lied that extra money for the NHS […]

With only nine months left before our EU exit, we have no coherent government proposal for Brexit which even meets Theresa May’s own commitments. With only nine months left before our EU exit, we have no coherent government proposal for Brexit which even meets Theresa May’s own commitments. At the same time, there must be […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was built on democratic foundations, it’s time for him to give us a say on Brexit, writes Antony Thomas. As a long-time socialist and Jeremy Corbyn supporter (from the days when it was unfashionable to be one), I am mystified not just by Labour’s response to the absolute Tory chaos of Brexit, […]

The co-ordinated Twitter bashing by key Corbynistas shows what the Labour leader really thinks of Brexit, writes Jonathan Hendrick. https://twitter.com/mattzarb/status/1005410512522407936 The co-ordinated Twitter bashing of Remainers by several Corbyn surrogates ahead of this week’s big parliamentary votes leave us in little doubt what Labour’s leadership really thinks of Brexit. We’re told by Matt Zarb-Cousin, Aaron […]

Your editorials advocating a People’s Vote on whatever terms Theresa May may negotiate in Brussels are welcome but do not explain the democratic necessity for such a ballot. So here it is. The UK entered the common market in 1973. Heath pushed the decision through parliament. There was no national debate ahead of accession on […]

At a pedestrian crossing in Bucharest a woman overheard us speaking English and said to us: ‘You are English, why are you in Romania?’ When we looked bemused at her question, she added: ‘The English, they hate the Romanians. I know. My sister lives in England.’ It turned out she had visited her sister here […]

It was striking to note the portents of doom heralded by various sections of the media around the issue of the so-called constitutional crisis besetting Italy. This was, as they saw it, yet another nail in the EU’s coffin post-Brexit. Much to their disappointment, this issue was quickly resolved, with a new populist government comprising […]

The whole country now has a real need to step back and do a reality check as to where we actually are with regard to Brexit, and the unbelievably ridiculous proposals being put forward by people in charge. The justice secretary David Gauke has stated that prisoners will be able to fill the post-Brexit workforce […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

From Theresa May to Dominic Cummings to Arron Banks – readers ask who is really subverting the ‘will of the people’? Theresa May flouts the convention of balance in the Lords by appointing a raft of Tories to the upper chamber. Dominic Cummings, of the lying Vote Leave campaign headed by Boris Johnson and Michael […]

Is it really worth throwing the country into chaos just to save a fiver on a pair of shoes? Brexiteers say they want us out of the customs union to strike new trade deals so we can get cheaper footwear. Only problem is, leaving the customs union will be hugely disruptive and costly and the […]

Here’s a question for the next time you are in conversation with a confirmed Brexiteer. Ask them how being in the EU, has in concrete terms, restricted their lifestyle or made them materially poorer. Not how it has adversely affected some unspecified people somewhere else or people in a survey organised by the Daily Express, […]

This reader would like to issue an apology to the United Kingdom. Dear United Kingdom, Please accept my personal apology for the current creature occupying our highest government office. He is a disaster of major proportions. He is an ignorant, egotistical, cowardly, narcissistic, bloviating, sexual predating, misogynistic, uneducated, congenital lying, criminal miscreant. He has no […]

Reading the runes is tricky, but it appears that Theresa May could be more courageous than many of us thought, as she seemingly tries to avoid the hardest of Brexits. Criticism from Johnson and Gove suggests she might be positioning herself on the side of the angels after all. She should be brave and think […]

I’ve just had ten days in France and North Italy. As I was wearing my EU/UK badge, I got Brexit chat – three types. My summaries may be useful to readers who discuss more vigorously than this octogenarian. (1) Leavers in the group I travelled with were polite but firm: ‘Bureaucratic gravy train’; ‘Under the […]

Last Friday on the Daily Politics I watched a rather smug Peter Bone and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown discussing the mental stresses caused by the Brexit process on Remainers. The debate was good-natured and none the worse for that. Bone clearly feels the war is won and he can afford to be comfortable with his vision of […]

I have just done Kay Burley and Jacob Rees-Mogg a favour: earlier this month, at the multi-millionaire’s imposing country house, the pair had an cosy, giggly 25-minute interview whose obvious intention was to depict Jacob as ‘just like the rest of us, really’. An absurd concept, but a real gift for him. So I have […]

Let’s cast our minds forward. Parliament has ruled out the ‘no-deal Brexit’ and we’ve had a People’s Vote on Mrs May’s final Brexit deal. She lost: the people support the status quo. Then what happens? Well, the next morning, Mrs May is still PM and she says: ‘I delivered on my promise to get the […]