Opinion

MITCH BENN discusses how closely politics and Christmas should be linked. I come to report a disturbing development; in previous years (yes, this is now the third December in which I’ve been writing this column – doesn’t time fly when you’re mired in existential despair) I’ve noted that one bit of reactionary idiocy we’ve thus […]

Bonnie Greer’s touching tribute to the Second World War pilot who became an iconic social justice campaigner. ‘Wednesday’s child is full of woe,’ the nursery rhyme goes, and Harry Leslie Smith was born on a Wednesday. What could be called his ‘first life’ began in Barnsley. He was born to a coal miner father who […]

Readers are turning away from the BBC for their Brexit news – CHRIS CLODE explains why they’ve switched over. Having spent my life watching what I took to be BBC’s factual coverage of news, Brexit has cured our family. Now we have switched to Channel 4 for our evening news and for rolling 24-hour news, […]

Following a call from Exmouth, comedian Mitch Benn writes a rock parody song to offer an olive branch of understanding and cooperation to all the regretful Leave voters. I’m typing this while waiting for a video clip to ‘render’ (ie. be saved in a usable form); it’s taking a while, as my wheezy old laptop […]

Adrift and rudderless… It’s a matter of urgency. Bonnie Greer summarises the UK’s draft Withdrawal Agreement. The draft Withdrawal Agreement Theresa May brought back from Brussels should trouble us all. It does two things: it reveals something lurking in the shadows of Brexit – a deep, troubling and dangerous irrationality; and it is also the […]

We need a strategy to win the People’s Vote – which looks increasingly likely. Many former Brexit voters are bound to be very uneasy about the wisdom of their vote in 2016 but we must not patronise or insult them in the course of arguing for the remain option. The truth is that the voters […]

I am struck by the comments of Theresa May that her Brexit plan will stop EU migrants ‘jumping the queue’ when it comes to working in the UK. How low the UK has sunk that its Brexiteer government is now resorting to spreading resentment towards European citizens, classing them as ‘queue jumpers’? These individuals took […]

MARK LEMON has voted Labour since 1979 but feels he will not be able to vote for the party any longer if it does not changes its stance on Brexit. I am disgusted by Jeremy Corbyn’s attitude to a People’s Vote. Most Labour voters, MPs and party members want a chance to vote on any […]

With her leverage curtailed, the PM has upped the stakes to a dangerous level, writes JAMES BALL. When the ‘eurosceptic’ Conservative MP John Hayes was given a knighthood last week, his colleagues in parliament seemed less than delighted at his good fortune. Much of the reason for the discontent appears to be the suddenness of […]

The EU is the glue that holds superpowers together and UK’s failure to understand is a tragedy, says BONNIE GREER In my early days in this country, my television-watching consisted mainly of back-to-back documentaries. Gradually what began to fascinate me was the proliferation of programmes about the Second World War. They seemed to be endless. […]

Winning the right to repeal Article 50 could bring its own problems, says JAMES BALL Was there ever a better warning than ‘be careful what you wish for’? Hard Brexiteers are certainly getting that lesson in droves this week. First, they campaigned to leave the EU, and got their wish – only to discover that […]

For those who didn’t get a say in the original EU referendum they are hoping that there will be a People’s Vote so their voices can finally be heard. I am 20 years old and currently taking a second gap year to focus on the campaign I started to provide a youth voice on Brexit: […]

Let’s not forget, peace in Europe is not a natural state. We have to fight for it, says MITCH BENN I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the archive footage of the First World War trenches ‘restored’ by filmmaker Peter Jackson for his new documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. I put quotes around […]

Cabinet might have approved the Brexit deal, but will their support last? JAMES BALL looks at the challenges Theresa May faces. Almost every week for the last two months has been described as a ‘crunch week’ for either Theresa May, Brexit, or both. It seems like that is finally true, and that May has a […]

We still don’t know much about Theresa May’s mammoth cabinet meeting as she begged her ministers not to ditch the Brexit deal. But one thing is clear – all did not go to plan. Number 10 scheduled in three hours for the crunch meeting – it ended up coming in at a whopping five. READ: […]

Is Arron Banks a bad boy or sad chancer, asks JAMES BALL It’s almost easy to feel fatigued: another week, another set of fresh allegations connected to Brexit. This week, though, we’ve had two – and both sets refer to Arron Banks. During the course of the EU referendum campaign, Banks became the biggest political […]

Even at a most basic level there is a complete lack of knowledge about the very nature of the Irish border, says SARAH JANE SMYTH I was born in November 1997, just five months before the Good Friday Agreement was signed. Because of this, some may assume I have seen little of the conflict which […]

MPs should resist the pressure to accept any old Brexit deal and stand up to the new nationalism by demanding another people’s vote, says Labour MP Owen Smith The Thiepval Memorial looms over the rolling hills of the Somme region in northern France, a permanent reminder of the blood of nations that irrigated its fields […]

MATT KELLY watched Channel 4’s What the Nation Really Thinks and saw a sobering night for Nigel Farage We’re rubbish at international negotiations, our government is the laughing stock of the planet and our economy has gone from leading global growth to also-ran. But when it comes to world-class eye-rolling, Britain is still a force […]

Britain is built not just on its diverse roots, but on the deep scholarship which explores them. A new exhibition celebrates both aspects, writes BONNIE GREER. One of the more hilarious aspects of white ethnic-nationalists is their interpretation of British history. About a decade ago, I was invited to appear on Question Time alongside, among […]

Politics of hate will fall and the politics of hope will endure, writes MITCH BENN. It’s been another one of those weeks in which clinging to the positive – indeed just finding the positive – has seemed like a Herculean labour. And don’t come to me expecting zingers about the (thankfully ineptly-executed) mail bomb campaign […]

We are already poorer, but worst is to come, writes JAMES BALL in this week’s Deconstructed. There are moments when it seems the government is determined to treat Brexit like the bleak joke that it is. Perhaps the most striking of these was the strategically leaked pre-announcement to the Sun ahead of the Budget that […]

The People’s Vote March for the Future proves resistance is working, argues Mitch Benn. Well, that was a thing. I took part in the People’s Vote March for the Future in London on Saturday and, a quick mental number-crunch confirms, there’s a reasonable statistical probability that you did too. I’ve seen the jaw-dropping aerial shots […]

Public displays of policy are a powerful thing, argues James Ball. When a politician makes a big and public declaration on a policy, it becomes far more likely that they’re going to do it. Anyone who remembers the 2010 Liberal Democrat election campaign and manifesto will know this is no hard-and-fast rule – after promising […]

It is time for the Baby Boomers to step aside and allow the young to take control, argues Bonnie Greer. In conversation with a much younger friend recently I started to see more clearly than ever before why those of us of the Baby Boomer generation must step aside and allow the young to go […]

JAMES BALL says despite the week of theatrics for the UK government, the bigger challenge ahead is still whether they can pass a budget. This has not been a week short on theatrics for the UK government, whether in the Commons chamber or EU negotiating rooms. But despite all this public drama, there is – […]

BONNIE GREER on the stubborn strand of irrationality that is the bedrock of Brexit LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 10: Conservative MP John Redwood gives an interview adjacent to the Houses of Parliament on May 10, 2010 in London, England. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that he is to stand down as Prime Minister and […]

Why are our institutions and public servants being stopped from doing their jobs, asks a New European reader. The Met Police are stalling on an investigation of the Leave campaigns which broke electoral law because it is too ‘politically sensitive’. The head of HM Revenue and Customs has received death threats after setting out the […]

MITCH BENN has a simple message for all of those considering marching on Saturday – get on the bus and turn up! It can be tricky sometimes, when trying to spur one’s contemporaries into action (which appears to be pretty much my full-time job these days) to strike the proper balance between urgency and despair. […]

It’s almost crunch time and expectations are mounting on what Brexit will look like. After two years that have felt like Groundhog Day, we’re rapidly approaching crunch time on Brexit – if the bare bones of an exit deal aren’t in place within the next fortnight, there will be no November summit and no realistic […]

The indomitable singer remains an inspiration as her songs remain anthemic Within days of Aretha Louise Franklin’s birth, on March 25, 1942, a new Bob Hope movie was released called My Favourite Blonde. Hope plays his usual wiseguy, nudnik and stooge, caught up in a maelstrom he cannot comprehend. His sidekick in life and in […]

Writer, comedian and musician MITCH BENN issues a rallying call for readers to join the People’s Vote March in London. It’s getting more difficult, isn’t it? With every day that passes it’s getting harder not to just switch off the news, log off the internet, go about our daily business and pretend that none of […]