Opinion

The Sun yesterday acknowledged its story on lower prices after Brexit was false. But Jacob Rees-Mogg, who enthusiastically endorsed it, remains shtum It was, by any standards, a belter of a clarification. Appearing on page 2 of The Sun yesterday, it ran to 214 words – incredibly, longer than the original article it was correcting. […]

We should recognise that however charmingly it is sold, what Rees-Mogg is selling is toxic, and not fit for consumption, says JAMES BALL During his early years in parliament, Jacob Rees-Mogg was a joke. Despite being the multi-millionaire part-owner and manager of a hedge fund, with hard-right homophobic and anti-choice views, his faux aristocracy was […]

Michael Romberg doesn’t believe Jeremy Corbyn will ever change his mind on Brexit – here he explains why. Those who hope that Jeremy Corbyn will change his line (Zoe Williams, The New European, issue 87) should imagine what his conversion-to-Remain speech would have to say. The first line is easy: ‘The deal that Theresa May […]

The entire web is built on the exploitation of our data, says JAMES BALL. The latest scandal asks serious questions – not just of the tech giants but of ourselves Every day we are all bought, sold, and traded dozens if not hundreds of times. Each time we click ‘search’ on the internet, companies compete […]

An anti-Brexit boyband has set off on their first European tour – and already they are wowing the crowds. Sir Nick Clegg, Lord Heseltine and Lord Adonis kicked off their tour of European capitals in Dublin by bashing Theresa May over the Irish border issue. Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick said: ‘We remain as […]

It is time to face the fact that Washington’s ‘special relationship’ is now with Moscow, writes MITCH BENN. There’s an inherent risk in writing on the topic of the many and varied scandals and intrigues which currently beset the Trump administration; that is, by the time you publish something, it is a pretty safe bet […]

In this week’s Brexit Deconstructed, JAMES BALL reflects on world events and the challenge Britain faces protecting itself post-Brexit. In the grim aftermath of the Salisbury poisonings, the challenges facing Theresa May – and the UK – in a post-Brexit future on the international stage become all too clear: the UK is simultaneously too big […]

Stephen Bayley wants to set the record straight on our original membership of the European Community – it was never just about trade, he argues. Reading the Wilson government’s leaflet about the 1975 referendum, sent to every household in the country, is a very interesting exercise. For one thing, it dispels one of the big […]

Expect much crowing from the government about the deal on the transitional period. Theresa May and David Davis will tell you this is a triumph and that Brexit is on track – sunlit uplands here we come … But that is not quite true. The European Union has made some compromises. But compare them to […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s response to the prime minister’s action over the Russian spy poisoning scandal was met with condemnation. And it was not just the government benches shaking their heads as he fell short of fully backing the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomatic staff – among other sanctions – but also many on his own side. […]

MITCH BENN examines tweets from an organisation that claims to be returning conservatism to the grassroots A tweet appeared a few days ago from the group Activate UK; this organisation describes its objective in its Twitter ‘bio’ as ‘Creating a united platform for young conservatives and returning power to the grassroots’. Leaving aside the slightly […]

Fascism arises when people have a yearning for order and peace at any cost, says BONNIE GREER A recent image stands out. It is the sight of Vladimir Putin. He strides across a long expanse of stage to a rapturous standing ovation. He stands at a lectern, a huge backdrop behind him. The image on […]

It might not be getting many column inches, but what is currently happening in the Upper House is encouraging. Peers are conducting their detailed, line-by-line analysis of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill during its marathon committee stage. And so far it has not made pleasant viewing for the government. The bill has been pulled apart and […]

Alan Quinn argues that the Conservatives are putting party before country on Brexit, jobs and manufacturing. The recent article in The New European about the threat to our automotive industry is a stark reminder to us all about the insanity of Brexit. As my union Unite points out, one million well-paid jobs depend on this […]

In this week’s Brexit Deconstructed, JAMES BALL discusses how Trump’s ‘America First’ policy is bad news for the UK The UK is leaving the largest economic union of nations on the planet – which also happens to be right on its doorstep – and pinning its hopes on a new deal with the second largest. […]

The history and legacy of slavery is what this popcorn-selling blockbuster both fights and mourns, says playwright, author and critic Bonnie Greer Black Panther is on its way to joining an elite society: the Billion Dollar Movie Club. Steeped in Afrofuturism and African American phantasmagoria, this is the film that has defied expectations. And what […]

Rick Llewellyn wrote to his MP one final time before leaving Britain and emigrating to France. Here he quotes the parting words he received from his MP. On February 24 I wrote to my (now ex) Labour MP John Cryer asking to be removed from his mailing list. I explained: ‘As a consequence of Brexit […]

One reader has started defining the Brexiteers that the BBC and mainstream media continues to roll out as the ‘Dismissers’. I wrote to the BBC, almost daily, during the Referendum of June 2016 complaining of their bias. Then, as now, the Remainer argument is put forward first, to be followed by some standby Brexiteer who […]

David Woodhead wants to remind Eurosceptics what former Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher had to say about Europe. Andrew Adonis refers to Margaret Thatcher’s Bruges speech of 1988. Although this is regarded as having injected the anti-EEC/EU poison into the Conservative party from which we have suffered ever since, it is worth recalling those aspects of […]

Readers cautiously welcome Labour’s shift in position on Brexit – here they explain why. Jeremy Corbyn’s speech does not go far enough for me and I cringed at the ‘Brexit that puts the working people first’ soundbite. However this is a welcome first step. We have moved on significantly from sixth-form dismissals of the EU […]

Cakeism is now a thing. Coined in the pages of The New European by the likes of Bonnie Greer and Michael White it is a brand of politics aligned with populism – basically they tell the electorate, like Boris did, we can ‘have our cake and eat it’. Of course, that is utter nonsense when […]

Vladimir Putin is not going to be brought to heel with vague threats we might not send Prince Edward to football’s global jamboree Cancel the World Cup! Tear down the stadia! Burn the Panini albums! Rescind Clive Tyldesley’s flight to Moscow (actually, definitely do this one). For foreign secretary Boris Johnson has told the Commons […]

Donald Trump had Britain’s best interests at heart, said the Brexiteers. As he now threatens the world with a trade war, they’re being remarkably quiet One of the most curious assertions of the Brexiteers was that America, and, more specifically, Donald Trump, had Britain’s back. That, despite wildly diverging priorities and interests, Uncle Sam would […]

Why Labour and Tory propositions on Brexit are much less than they appear. The recent Brexit propositions of Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May have succeeded only in adding to the muddle. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire/PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images If you’re a politician, or a toddler, it is possible that you now believe […]

Everyone scoffed when Boris Johnson said Britain could ‘have its cake and eat it’ outside the European Union. And yet it seems Theresa May has chosen that slice of nonsense as the government’s starting position for negotiations. The prime minister apparently wants all the plus points of a soft Brexit – no tariffs, deals across […]

The pressure is mounting for our embattled, exhausted, enfeebled prime minister. With her crunch Brexit address looming large the clock is ticking ever louder for Theresa May and whatever she does she won’t please everyone. It has been another awful week for May – Jeremy Corbyn final has some skin in the Brexit game, her […]

The grey man’s moment is now, writes MATT KELLY, and it could be pivotal How times change. John Major, the grey man of Conservatism, today gave an almighty blast against Brexit with more wit, punch and clarity than even the master of communication who followed him into Number 10, Tony Blair, has managed. It was […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kate Hoey, David Davis, Boris Johnson and that big red bus. Just some of the subjects covered by correspondents in this week’s mailbag. David Davis’ Vienna speech (it meant nothing to me) seemed to indicate that there would be no bonfire of regulations and standards after Brexit. Yet this is exactly where people […]

MITCH BENN has taken the words of David Davis to heart and is now ready for dystopia. Like, I imagine, a lot of you, I’ve been spending this week stocking up on crossbow bolts, carefully removing one sleeve from my old black leather bike jacket, and fitting my Toyota Aygo’s engine with an illegal nitrous […]

In this week’s Brexit Deconstructed, JAMES BALL discusses how chaotic governments can open the door to evil doings. When staff start briefing against the world leader they work for, the results are rarely flattering. Take briefings of one particular head of state, whose personal aides commented he would appear ‘shortly before lunch’, spending the morning […]

Brexit is on its way to becoming a mystical entity and a sign that the UK has gone mad suggests BONNIE GREER. Brexitarianism – we are now at the One True Faith stage – could soon achieve full convergence with that other True Faith: Trumpism. Just as one of the writers of The Simpsons recently […]

Readers are calling on Jeremy Corbyn to hold Labour’s own EU referendum and to act on party members’ wishes. The letter from Momentum supporter Jim Hoyle (issue 81) about attacks on Jeremy Corbyn in TNE misses the point. Huge numbers of Labour members and supporters, new and old, are bemused and depressed by the leadership’s […]