Opinion

Readers have their say on Scottish independence Thank you very much for Ian Dunt’s article highlighting the unmistakably close parallels between the mendacious arguments of Brexiters and the SNP. It has been obvious for ages that the separatists have been using words and slogans almost identical to those who succeeded in splitting the UK away […]

It’s time for Labour to look for funding from those that share its internationalist social liberal values. I thoroughly agree with the views expressed by Alastair Campbell in his open letter to Keir Starmer. However, I would like to draw attention also to the important trends set out by Peter Keller in his excellent analysis. […]

Former BBC Gaza reporter JAMES RODGERS on why the region’s conflict has suffered from the world picking sides It is a part of the world still blighted by the scars of empire, the meddling of other states and the failures of its own leaders. And, with wearying familiarity, this month violence has broken out once more. As troops mobilise against […]

Britain finds itself on a collision course with France over fishing and access to the EU single market as forms and fees on UK visits to friends and family in France begin to bite It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain as various Brexit chickens continue to come home […]

We shouldn’t be shy of telling some home truths each time the cycle of violence spins once more Talking about ‘both sides’ of the Israel-Palestine issue makes us feel better. Every few years, the violence flares up again, like some hellish treadmill, rumbling forward to nowhere, each step another atrocity, another failure. Framing the situation as […]

LIZ GERARD crunches the numbers on how Paul Dacre’s Daily Mail covered BBC stories and finds evidence that makes a mockery of the idea of him as an impartial arbiter. Over the last ten years of the Dacre reign, the Daily Mail carried more than 4,000 news stories with BBC in the headline or subhead, about […]

A decision on whether Paul Dacre will become the next head of Ofcom is expected imminently. That it is even being considered is a scandal that reveals much about the current administration There are any number of reasons why Paul Dacre should not be appointed head of Ofcom, the super-regulator that oversees not only our […]

JOHN KAMPFNER on Charles Michel, a man whose recent travails reveal much about the shortcomings of the EU’s institutions How many presidents does it take to run a union? The answer, when it comes to Europe, is three. Plus, a high representative. The problem of duplication is compounded by the fact that each of them […]

The music of the Danish capital, like the city itself, is characterised by an extraordinary imagination and by flights of fantasy Despite being practically-minded enough to have made Denmark one of the countries with the highest quality of life in the world, the Danes also understand the power of imagination. Their most famous son and master of […]

Forty years on, the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Pope John Paul II remain as murky as ever. Roger Domeneghetti assesses the so-called ‘Bulgarian Connection’ Just before 5pm on the afternoon of May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II stepped into his open-topped ‘Popemobile’ ready to take a short, but slow journey around St Peter’s Square. The sun-drenched […]

TIM WALKER on his run-ins with Michael Winner, a thin-skinned character whose reputation has come under fresh scrutiny in the #MeToo era The late Daily Mail gossip columnist Nigel Dempster loved to have a flutter. When I worked as his deputy around the turn of the millennium, he’d be watching the racing on television most afternoons. On […]

With good reason, their windows are a source of great pride for Germans. But is it time for them to start looking beyond them? There’s one thing I just can’t get my German head around whenever I’m in a UK bathroom. I’m not referring to the separate hot and cold water taps – although they can be a […]

As Portugal tops the list of ‘green’ destinations for UK tourists, Will Self looks back on trips there and ahead to the future of tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic So, the list of ‘green’ destinations has been published and holiday bookings have already soared. The Great British Jet-Off – a major component of our national […]

The demise of some social distancing measures might be celebrated by some, but for others they will be hard to say goodbye to Have you updated your online shopping basket? Listerine? Right Guard? Extra chewing gum? Are you ready for Huggy Monday and the advance of the personal space invaders? With more guests allowed at […]

José Mourinho is a busted flush… so why does he keep getting plum managerial jobs? We really should stop doubting José Mourinho when he tells us he is “a special one… .not one out of the bottle.”  A linguist, a persuader, a winner in Portugal, England, Italy, and Spain. But when the trophies stopped and […]

On the eve of an American poet’s 80th birthday, the places and people over here broadened his horizons When he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’, Bob Dylan – who will celebrate his 80th birthday on 24th May – was clear […]

Why communication may have been the least of the problems when the Vikings invaded The Great Heathen Army of the Danes invaded eastern England in 865. Large-scale Viking settlements followed throughout the 9th century and on into the 10th. Many eastern and northern areas of our island came to have a heavily Scandinavian or Scandinavianised […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK on what might have happened if the attempt on Pope John Paul II’s life had been successful The two bullets fired by his would-be assassin perforated Pope John Paul II’s colon and small intestine, and he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood as he was rushed to hospital. Yet, they narrowly missed his mesenteric artery and […]

How the archipelago’s dialect hung on for centuries, but is now disappearing The Channel Islands lie between 70 and 85 nautical miles off the south coast of England. They are very much closer to the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy in France, which is only about 12 nautical miles away. The islands are not part of the […]

Many pro-Europeans, north and south of the border, have sympathy with the independence cause. But this is yet another Union they should fight to stay in A referendum on Scottish independence is coming. Boris Johnson pretends it isn’t. He will delay, prevaricate, challenge in court and maybe deny it altogether. But none of these tactics will […]

An anti-lockdown politician has young crowds chanting her name in the streets and the ruling Socialists on the run As midnight struck on Saturday hundreds of young people headed for the Puerta de Sol in downtown Madrid to celebrate the lifting of Spain’s state of emergency. They danced congas and partied like it was New […]

Will Laurence Fox end up with a radio job after the London mayoral elections? BITTER BLOW OF THE WEEK Like many of you, I’m sure, I have spent the last few days trying to recover from what must surely be the most savage disappointment ever to be inflicted upon the progressive caucus in this country. […]

The BBC’s Question Time offers an insight into why Labour lost many elections last week. Peter Kellner’s piece on Labour’s troubles in red wall seats was an interesting read and his insights informative. One only had to watch BBC’s Question Time last night to see some truth regarding Kellner’s points about how Labour has lost […]

Dark threats about a looming civil war and a coup involving senior military figures have electrified France and made the race for the Élysée Palace all the more febrile. An intemperate and inaccurate open letter was published last month by 20 retired French generals and 100 other officers, some of them still serving. It was apocalyptic in tone. It […]

Boris Johnson’s bid to save the Union by splashing the cash won’t be enough. He will need to do a lot more than that.  The ballots cast by Scotland’s voters hadn’t been fully counted when the high-stakes game of constitutional poker between Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson began. As it became clear – to no […]

The sound of us Remainers crying over spilled milk has been replaced by everyone crying over unsold milk It has been another gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain. The dairy industry has been among the biggest losers of Brexit so far, with milk and cream exports to the EU down 96.4% year […]

Efforts to explain recent political developments through the prism of regions misses more pertinent points about England’s electoral map On Crosby beach on the north shore of the River Mersey, Antony Gormley’s sculptures of naked metal men famously stand stoically in the face of the waves of the Irish Sea. Much of this coastline is lined by […]

Bonnie Greer on the impact of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, one of the greatest albums of all time, 50 years after its release Growing up African American and a sheltered Catholic schoolgirl on the South Side of Chicago, Marvin Gaye was the “ooh baby, baby man”. He was the troubadour of our clandestine basement […]

The existential crisis facing Labour is one shared by its sister parties across the continent As the UK’s Labour Party comes to terms with its latest failure to connect with the electorate it can at least comfort itself with one thing: it is not alone. Traditional social democratic and Labour parties across Western Europe are reeling from a […]

Earlier this year Keir Starmer called for a 1945 moment, but he has yet to outline what it involves. In June last year, Ed Miliband was asked on The Andrew Marr Show whether Keir Starmer was going to be a better leader of the Labour Party than he had been. “Definitely,” he responded, adding: “I […]

Here’s every Scottish independence supporter’s favourite thing… a list of reasons, from an Englishman, as to why Scotland might want to stay in the Union It was a good election for incumbents. Across the countries of the UK, parties engaged in frenetic, Covid-disrupted campaigns, only for most things to stay the same. Scotland’s parliament, on […]

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 […]