News and Opinion

Greater Manchester mayor and former national Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham says the party would not have lost so many seats in the last election had he defeated Jeremy Corbyn in the battle to become its leader in 2015. The claim came in an interview with the Observer, in which Burnham said he would run […]

Brexit minister Lord Frost has threatened that the UK could soon take drastic action over the post-Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland over concerns about violence and disruption. He urged the European Union to “stop the point-scoring and work with us” to “rapidly” find new solutions to end border checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea […]

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 […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY has high praise for author Rónán Hession, a unique talent able to tell gently-paced tales of gentle characters Rónán Hession is a tonic for our times. In fact, you know what, he might even be the tonic for our times. I don’t say this lightly. When I read the Dubliner’s debut novel Leonard and […]

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 […]

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. […]

Edwin Poots has been elected as the new leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), party chair Lord Morrow has announced. The results follow the party’s first ever leadership contest. The 36 members of the party’s electoral college, made up of its MPs and Stormont Assembly members, were eligible to vote in the race between Sir […]

Megan Nolan reviews Real Housewives of New York, a show built on an addictive desire to feel superior and perhaps even pity for America’s super-rich This week season 13 of the reality show Real Housewives of New York began. I am badly addicted to this particular iteration of the franchise (there are Real Housewives in Atlanta, […]

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 […]

Boris Johnson’s former senior aide Dominic Cummings has warned the prime minister against unlocking England on Monday over fears of a surge in the Indian variant of coronavirus. Cummings shared calls from independent scientists on social media who claim that a lifting of lockdown on May 17 could risk a third wave of the pandemic […]

Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting is to step back from politics while he undergoes treatment for kidney cancer. Streeting, 38, said the diagnosis had come as “an enormous shock” but the prognosis was good as the disease had been caught early. In a video message posted on his Twitter feed, the MP for Ilford North said […]

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 […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has said the privatisation of Channel 4 will be considered during a government review of public service broadcasting. Channel 4 was launched in 1982 as a publicly owned, largely commercially self-funded public service broadcaster with a remit to offer “high quality and distinctive programming”. “I have set up a public service […]

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 first leadership vote in the history of the DUP will take place on Friday afternoon. The 36 members of the party’s electoral college, made up of its MPs and Stormont Assembly members, will be able to cast their votes for either Jeffrey Donaldson and Edwin Poots between 12pm and 4pm in east Belfast. Ahead […]

One in 10 EU nationals living in the UK are considering leaving before the deadline to get settled status, a new survey has found. The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) found that some 10% of EU citizens are considering to move by June – the legal deadline by which EU nationals […]

Lawyers have revealed five ‘false claims’ made by ministers they say prove the government refused to strike a deal to rescue visa-free touring in the EU. Legal opinion obtained by The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) found ministers misled performers about the reason behind not pursuing a Visa Waiver Agreement (WVA) with Brussels last year. In fact, […]

Northern Ireland’s troubled past and Brexit tensions are likely to dominate discussions between the Irish premier and UK prime minister on Friday. Boris Johnson has been dogged by criticism in recent days over his response to an inquest finding that 10 people killed in shootings involving the Army in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast […]

A legal challenge by unionists to the Northern Ireland Protocol is set to begin. The judicial review is being taken in the name of unionists from across the UK, including DUP leader Arlene Foster, UUP leader Steve Aiken, TUV leader Jim Allister and Belfast Agreement architect Lord Trimble. It will be heard by Mr Justice […]

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 […]

A senior trade unionist has been suspended by Labour after suggesting home secretary Priti Patel should be deported. Unite’s assistant general secretary Howard Beckett – who is standing for the leadership of the major union – has apologised for the social media message. He sits on Labour’s ruling national executive committee and has now been […]

Scotland’s newest MP told how she hopes to be a role model for other minorities after being elected to Westminster. New SNP MP Anum Qaisar-Javed also pledged she would “fight for independence” after being elected to represent the constituency of Airdrie and Shotts. The by-election, which took place just a week after the Scottish Parliament […]