Opinion

A round-up of some of the weirdest stories from Europe. Napoleon fans eager to mark the 200th anniversary of his death can now buy replicas of the emperor’s socks for 250 euros (£215). The idea is the work of Parisian clothing company Mes Chaussettes Rouges, who have based their designs on an antique pair of […]

Polling expert PETER KELLNER on the long term factors behind the party’s decline, and what might help reverse it Two rival theories have sought to explain Labour’s drubbing in this month’s elections. The left accuses Keir Starmer of deserting the party’s socialist principles. The leadership fears that the party has not changed enough: it needs to […]

In an open letter, editor-at-large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL – the man who helped mastermind Labour’s last spell in power – offers his constructive advice to Keir Starmer on how to revive his party’s fortunes Dear Keir, I hope you are bearing up despite all the brickbats. You are experiencing something every Labour leader has had to contend with… […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK on the music of Johannesburg and its undisputed queen, Mama Africa Johannesburg was a city built on gold, springing up rapidly after precious metals were discovered there in the 1880s, but it became a byword for impoverishment. Soweto in particular, originally a mine workers’ encampment and later one of the places black Jo’burgians from […]

How Seve Ballesteros hauled golf from its safe, gin-soaked, cliquey complacency into a thrillingly glamorous spectacle There aren’t many golfers who have played a shot so brilliant, so miraculous even, that a commemorative plaque is installed on the spot, but then there haven’t been many golfers like Seve Ballesteros. Even at his best it would have been […]

The publishing industry has remained remarkably robust through the pandemic, but the coronavirus has exacerbated some alarming trends for the UK’s literary scene. I only realised this the other day while I was actually doing it, but of all the things I’ve missed during the pandemic – popping out for a pint, going to the […]

On the 40th anniversary of the election of François Mitterrand, former Europe minister DENIS MacSHANE considers his immense role in European integration and how he enlisted Margaret Thatcher in this project. Forty years ago France woke up to its first socialist president. The election of François Mitterrand, which came two years after Margaret Thatcher’s victory and one year after Ronald […]

BONNIE GREER on why Boris Johnson’s success shows Britain is fatally addicted to toffs who get away with it One of the nicer things about being an adult when you move and settle in another country is that there is always a bit of you that never quite assimilates.  Your new country is like a […]

TIM WALKER on Dame Maggie Smith, an actress able to make people laugh, on and off screen. When I went to see Dame Maggie Smith appearing in A German Life at the Bridge Theatre in London, I was invited backstage to see her after the curtain went down. It was a hot night in 2019 and the […]

Labour needs to learn from Boris Johnson that it’s personality, not policy, which is currently winning elections  With each election that sees Johnson’s party rise in the polls, win seats and be applauded by the mainstream media, my heart sinks a little deeper. I’m now convinced that policies don’t cut it – all you need […]

How the best rugby union players from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland come together to bring unity. It really shouldn’t work. Every four years, the best rugby union players from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are brought together for a couple of months to take on one of the sport’s southern hemisphere giants. New Zealand, […]

Marine Le Pen is successfully convincing French voters that Emmanuel Macron is out of touch… could she succeed in 2022? Earlier this month thousands of people joined the May Day protests across France. Trade unionists and workers marched to demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions and their impacts, particularly on the working class. This comes less than […]

It has not even been five months since the end of the Brexit transition period and there have been armed patrol vessels in the Channel. The sad thing is: this is only the latest stage in a development that began with the Brexit referendum and saw a significant decline in Britain’s role on the diplomatic […]

English football supporters are deluding themselves over fan power and the idea that the Bundesliga is more even than the Premier League. What do you imagine upset the Glazer Brothers more – their football team across the pond being prevented from playing on Sunday, or the Monday morning hit to the Manchester United share price […]

The media ignores the impressive gains made by the Greens and independents The headline results of the local elections in England are clearly bleak for Labour and rosy for the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats are, in effect treading water, while the Greens and independents have made some gains in terms of numbers of councillors. But […]

There has been a post-Brexit trend exhorting food shoppers to ‘buy British’. But just how feasible is it? And is it necessarily a good thing? It is not just food. On the ‘Buy British’ Facebook group, recent requests for advice on UK-sourced homemade goods include everything from ‘leisure batteries’ to Lancashire sofa cushions. No, I didn’t know […]

Does what we know about its creators’ mental health overshadow the brilliance of The Goon Show? Can the all-too-familiar concept of the sad clown spoil the enduring charms of one of British comedy’s enduring monuments? It is a question worth asking this month, on the 70th anniversary of the first UK broadcast of radio comedy The Goon […]

PETER TRUDGILL on how English, having spread one way around the world, suddenly reversed direction During the 1600s and 1700s, the English language spread westwards from Britain across the Atlantic to Canada, the USA, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Central America. Then, suddenly, at the very end of the 18th century, it started spreading back […]

Politics has changed and one reader says Labour loyalists must stop looking to the past. The problem facing Keir Starmer is simple to state but immensely difficult to solve.  It is one that has been with us for a very long time. After two decades working in the coal industry, I became a writer and researcher. […]

France has always prided itself on its great thinkers. But the current crop are embarrassing and increasingly irrelevant. What happened? There must be some lesson to be drawn from the fact that today’s woke crowd insults France and the French while name-dropping French totems from a great height. As the country is repeatedly condemned, Merleau-Ponty, […]

Jason Solomons has known Noel Clarke for 15 years and admired his refusal to be denied by the British film industry. But that was before the allegations that have left his career, and BAFTA’s reputation, in tatters… Whichever way you look at it, the Noel Clarke allegations are disastrous for British cinema.  It’s a story […]

Sergei Krikalev went into space as a citizen of the USSR. While he was away, his country ceased to exist and he was left stranded in orbit. On its 30th anniversary, MICK O’HARE tells the astonishing story of his flight. On 19 August 1991 Boris Yeltsin, newly elected president of the Russian Soviet Republic, stood […]

An honest referendum about the future of the UK and EU seems a long way off after the latest election results The results suggest that the UK is beyond redemption. How people can see past the lies, and continue to support the Tories is truly astonishing. It really doesn’t bode well for the years ahead. […]

The breakdown of talks with Norway over fisheries signifies another broken Brexit pledge.

An intriguing new exhibition allows the public to view paintings from the Golden Age of Dutch art while experiencing the smells associated with them.  A painting is a painting is a painting. You look at it. It might mesmerise you; Jackson Pollock. Make you smile ironically; Rene Magritte. Lift your soul to the heavens; Tiepolo or, a Damien […]

Financial scandals are never fatal for PMs, but they do lasting damage There is a familiar sequence. Another allegation about the misconduct of Boris Johnson erupts on the front pages. Those that despair of Johnson’s leadership say to themselves or aloud that “surely this one will get him”. A poll is published a day later […]

If a picture is worth a thousand words – and if you need that picture to assuage the feeling that football is being sold to the devil – study this photograph. The scene is Wembley Stadium last Sunday evening. Moments after the final whistle of this season’s first cup final, Tottenham’s defeated Son Heung-min is […]

Politicians are badly letting down the electorate, and more than ever we need a coherent opposition. UK politics has failed us badly and the people know it. But opposition politicians have swallowed the Brexit pill and say we are in a long game. Labour’s loss in Hartlepool shows that our political landscape needs restorative action […]

The results in Scotland and Wales shows voters turned their backs on Boris Johnson, so why not in England? Why can so many English people not see through Boris Johnson? The Scots and Welsh clearly can – it was as heartening to see the election results north and west of Little England as it was […]

It would be little surprise if Boris Johnson turned out to be the ‘chatty rat’ the leak inquiry has yet to identify. Anyone who knows me also knows that I have something of an addiction to my phone. Nor is this a new thing. As far back as 1997, journalist John Williams, who was with […]

The electorate may still view Boris Johnson favourably, but the prime minister may not get the same reception internationally. Current reporting would suggest that a large proportion of the electorate is not too concerned about Boris Johnson’s competence or character, as long as they believe that the country is being tolerably well run – vaccination […]

TANIT KOCH on how the quest for equality is having an impact on the German language. Some of us have put lockdown to great use and improved our language skills at home. Some, like editor-at-large Alastair Campbell, have even chosen German, despite the lasting damage done to its reputation by Mark Twain (The Awful German Language), Hollywood (“Achtung! Schnell, […]