Opinion

WILL SELF on missing the point of memes. ‘Meme’ is a coinage by Richard Dawkins, perhaps the most notorious – if not the most celebrated – of neo-Darwinians. In his brilliant exposition of the Darwinian worldview, The Blind Watchmaker, Dawkins theorises that given environmental selection pressures may no longer be working on the great mass […]

It is an attractive idea, but flawed, says MITCH BENN. You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I suggested that when one is considering whether a given project has ‘worked’, one should bear in mind that its ostensible objective (ie. what the public are told it’s supposed to achieve) and its actual objective (ie. […]

The acquittal of the former president has exposed flaws in the first past the post system that are just as relevant in Britain.  The Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump, though expected, has thrown up some uncomfortable questions for democratic countries where representatives are elected under a majoritarian system. It is now becoming very apparent that unelected, self-selecting supporters and […]

Our new football correspondent ROB HUGHES on the symbiotic relationship between Barcelona and Lionel Messi, its mainstay, that must one day come to an end. No player has better displayed the joy of football more sustainably than Lionel Messi. I first saw him at La Masia, Barcelona’s academy, when he was 13, and still feel […]

How can we get PR 'done' to reform our electoral system and British politics?

Europe's leaders are human beings - they are just as fallible as anybody else.

Readers respond to calls to reclaim the Union flag from nationalists. I am, have been and will remain an admirer of Mitch Benn. However, in his article he explores why the Union Flag should be reclaimed from “the insular, the nationalistic and the xenophobic”. He then lists reasons for loving it and what it represents […]

Alexei Navalny has done his bit, but only the president’s corrupt inner circle have the power to topple him. “I mortally offended him by surviving an attempt on my life that he ordered. That’s driving this thieving little man in his bunker out of his mind. Murder is the only way he knows how to […]

We must not forget the plight of EU citizens in the UK. The Sun has been full of praise for the government’s treatment of European citizens in the UK. A recent piece celebrated the fact that “five million EU citizens apply to REMAIN in Britain despite us leaving the bloc”. It had all been an extraordinary […]

The future of the NHS cannot be separated from the future of social care. And on this there is a scandalous lack of vision from ministers, says Lib Dem leader ED DAVEY. The Covid pandemic has reminded us all of something Liberal Democrats have long understood: that caring for people’s health doesn’t stop at the […]

JAMES BALL on the long road ahead of the country – and the risks facing Boris Johnson’s government. We are, by this point, all old hands at lockdown and reopening – we have at point seen it all before. Twice. So to be back at the phase when newspapers are starting to publish details of […]

The brave young journalists exposing the high-level corruption and crimes in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Over 3,500 people have been detained during rallies across Russia in protest at high-level corruption and the arrest of opposition activist Alexei Navalny. Navalny was arrested on arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on January 17 as he flew in after […]

Is the Remain cause destined to share the same fate as the Jacobite one… romantic but doomed, and destined for the dustbin of history? Writer JAMES HAWES explores the parallels and decides probably not.. at least not yet. Consider a time when a great part of us Britons has been led by vain and tactically catastrophic leadership into epochal […]

ROB HUGHES on Captain Tom Moore and Marcus Rashford, two Englishmen united in their service. Captain Tom Moore and Marcus Rashford are two of a kind. Separated by three quarters of a century – and last week by death – they epitomise salt of the earth Englishmen, inspiration to the rest of us throughout the hardest of […]

MITCH BENN gives a pro-European take on why he’s keeping the Union flags in his Twitter handle. Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed that I have two little flag emojis appended to my Twitter handle: the EU flag and the Union flag. I hope you’ll forgive my observation of the […]

The Chinese state has had an overbearing, stultifying effect on the country’s musical expression. Yet there have been acts who have pushed back. SOPHIA DEBOICK reports. Confucius said “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without”, and as Chinese New Year is celebrated this week, the singing of songs associated with the occasion […]

WILL SELF advances a satirical suggestion to solve some of the country’s problems. In the 1990s – as I’ve often had cause to relate – a profound change occurred in British culture. Up until that point British cuisine was pretty dreadful: over-cooked, urine-smelling veg; overcooked, leathery meat, together with piss-poor trimmings – that was our […]

Lionel Barber, former editor of the Financial Times, on the task facing Mario Draghi, the man dragged out to rescue his country. Late last autumn, Mario Draghi sat in his house in Umbria waiting, half in dread, for the inevitable call from Rome. Almost a year had passed since his departure as president of the European […]

Irish politician NEALE RICHMOND on how Ireland has reacted to Brexit. After more than four years of protracted negotiations and preparations, the Brexit transition period ended and reality has begun to set in. Queues at ports and airports, customs charges and trading issues are now the norm for consumers and businesses in Ireland and Britain alike. […]

Covid has damaged populists in power. But it has also assisted those in opposition, especially in Europe where the centre is struggling to protect its population, says NICK COHEN. To say the radical right is deceitful and malevolent is to state the obvious but miss the point. I do not mean to discourage you from fighting […]

Director’s cuts often seem overindulgent and overlong. But as Francis Ford Coppola takes a fresh whack at The Godfather Part III, Richard Luck celebrates 10 occasions where the reprise outdid the original. Truth be told, The Godfather Part III was a pretty decent movie from the outset. Admittedly it had a hard time living up to episodes […]

Italy’s new leader enters office with plenty of experience and esteem. But he will need even more than that to tackle the monumental task facing him, says Esmé O’Keeffe. Last Wednesday Mario Draghi became the latest Italian to receive a summons to the Quirinale and to trek up the highest hill in Rome to the palace – once home to […]

Keir Starmer is facing mounting criticism from within his own party. JAMES BALL assesses how seriously he should take it. Keir Starmer is, we’re told, a politician in crisis. Despite the devastating effect of coronavirus on the UK and on the standing of the government, the Labour Party lags behind the Conservatives in the polls, his personal […]

Lockdown has left much of the arts in limbo, but director Stephen Unwin has been characteristically bustling, says TIM WALKER. Theatres are much like any other places of work and the best directors – like all bosses – create environments in which everyone feels they can succeed. It’s all very well to scream at actors and […]

Fifty years ago Britain underwent an overnight switch to decimal currency. Roger Domeneghetti reports on how it came about, and why its effects still echo in British and European relations.

PETER TRUDGILL on why Australians haven’t developed regional accents… yet. Reader David Handley recent wrote to The New European in response to my column about the origins of Australian English (TNE #225), commenting on its regional uniformity. How, he asked, has Australian English failed to develop distinct regional accents? He is quite right to point to the […]

He has been kicked out of the White House, but Donald Trump is now trying to create a rival presidency – an independent powerbase that is tearing at the fabric of US society, says BONNIE GREER. Like the ham actor who refuses to leave the stage, Donald Trump left the White House in the full bloom […]

IAN DUNT on how liberals can redefine national pride and reclaim the flag from nationalists. Brexit, sold as a commitment to self-government, created an insidious side effect that may yet prove its most damaging legacy. It mutilated British patriotism and turned it into nationalism. In his 2017 book, The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt […]

DAN WHITE gives a personal account of how Brexit is already impacting the disabled. It came as no surprise to anyone in the disabled community that the government had not conducted an impact assessment on the effect of leaving the EU on disabled people, despite concerns around the supply of medical supplies expressed by the Royal […]

Readers are split on whether The New European should focus on rejoining the EU, or whether more time is needed. Congratulations on getting the backers and arrangements in place to enable TNE to continue and move on. What I would like to see is more coverage on how we can get to the point where […]

There’s scepticism from readers that the next leader of Scottish Labour can save the Union. The answer to Maurice Smith’s question, in my opinion, is that the Scottish Labour leadership candidate Anas Sarwar will not. The problem lies in the way the question is understood and answered by so many of your contributors. They seem […]

There is not a journalist alive unaware that Boris Johnson struggles with the truth. Yet this seems to make them less questioning not more, says ALASTAIR CAMPBELL. With an admitted bias born of being columnist and editor-at-large, I would argue that The New European has been among the very best new additions to the UK media […]