News and Opinion

Sir Keir Starmer has won the leadership of the Labour Party by a landslide, with Angela Rayner becoming the party’s deputy leader. Starmer took 56% of the votes cast in the main contest beating rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy after the first round of counting. His rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy won 135,218 […]

Sir Keir Starmer is the man who replaces Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader after the party was defeated in a general election for fourth time in December 2019. The shadow Brexit secretary and former director of public prosecutions has been the bookies’ favourite to win the leadership, despite being viewed as more of a centrist […]

The coronavirus lockdown rules could be relaxed in weeks if the rules are followed and the number of infections start to fall. Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, told BBC Radio 4 that while the epidemic was expected to plateau in the next week to 10 days, people’s behaviour was critical to determining what […]

Belgian author ANNELIES BECK reflects on the role that Brussels has played as the capital of the EU and a focus for its people. Umberto Eco’s response to my first question was booming laughter. We were sitting in a taxi, cruising along the Rue Royal through Brussels, the capital of Europe. I was a young […]

Fifty years ago, the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission managed to turn a technical failure into a stunning success. But, in the longer term did NASA come out stronger or weaker? MICK O’HARE reports In the Pacific Ocean, Astronauts from Apollo 13, Fred Haise (L), John Swigert and James Lovell (R) all in white suits, await […]

With no more plays to review, TIM WALKER reviews the stars he’s met, starting with Roger Moore and one role that really mattered to him The director Stephen Unwin has a question he puts to people who want to work for him on his productions. ‘Don’t you just love stars?’ he’ll say, smiling broadly. All […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has congratulated the new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on his election victory and invited him to a briefing on Covid-19 next week. Shortly before the result was announced, Johnson wrote to opposition party leaders inviting them to a briefing and insisting ‘we have a duty to work together at this […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the week bluster on Brexittalks rather missed the point on dealing with coronavirus. With every day that passes this gets weirder and weirder, doesn’t it? Barely a month ago we could scarcely imagine that most of the country would now be under curfew at home, actually a third of the planet and […]

Jeremy Corbyn has said he has let the Labour Party ready to win the next general election – despite leading the party to its worst showing since the 1930s during the December election. The Islington North MP said he regretted not being able to lead Labour back to power but – in what will be […]

The Conservative Party is under investigation over their campaign spending during the European Parliament elections, according to a watchdog. The Electoral Commission said five parties are being examined after submitting spending reports which were missing information that would give voters a ‘complete picture of their campaign spending’. It added that parties are required by law […]

Despite the coronavirus outbreak the government is continuing with Brexit talks. Consequently a campaign for assoicate EU citizenship must continue. The campaign to allow British citizens to apply for associate EU membership must go on. When all this is over the economic consequences will be devastating and the USA will be in no position to […]

Whether it’s the NHS, students or sport we should write off 2020. Andrew Adonis makes the point that students should be allowed to repeat this year with no fees. My daughter, who is in her first year at university, has already suffered as a consequence of the lecturers’ strike and will have lost half a […]

Boris Johnson has said he is ‘feeling better’ after suffering from coronavirus but will remain in self-isolation until his temperature drops. In a video on social media, the prime minister urged the public to stick with social distancing and not be tempted to ‘hang out’ in the warmer weather predicted for this weekend. ‘In my […]

As a New European reader, you probably reckon you keep a close eye on the continent’s news. Test yourself with our quiz… Think you’re on top of what’s been going on across Europe in the past seven days? Take The New European’s tricky quiz and find out just how much of a Europhile you are…

STEVE ANGLESEY on the theories spreading as fast as the virus As the author of The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File, Frederick Forsyth deals in elaborate yarns. Last month, readers of his Daily Express column were treated to the latest. The 81-year-old wrote: ‘Without any official announcement the word seems to be […]

BONNIE GREER writes how the central ‘beautiful figure’ of Italian culture cannot be seperated from the tragedy facing Italians Anyone who has been to Italy or known Italians will recognise la bella figura. The term literally means ‘beautiful figure’ and expresses a central part of the country’s culture, a basic part of who its people […]

The challenge awaiting Labour’s expected new leader could hardly be greater. Glen O’Hara reports on the man about to be pitched into an unprecedented crisis Sir Keir Starmer must feel as if he’s been asked to raise the Titanic. The last decade has done enormous, perhaps long-term damage to Labour’s image; if all predictions prove […]

CONSTANCE KAMPFNER reports from Nantes on how the country is coming to terms with its continued confinement ‘What’s confinement like over there? Is it true that it’s crazy strict?’ In the kid’s playground at the foot of my nine-storey tower block in a giant apartment complex on the outskirts of Nantes, I’m on the phone […]

One reader says those blaming China should look closer to home for who to blame over the response to coronavirus. Don’t blame the Chinese for being slow off the mark. They had no great warning and knew little about what was coming. However we did have warning and lots of information from China and we […]

One reader thinks the daily press briefings from the government has improved without Boris Johnson. I’m finding the 5pm Covid-19 briefings without Boris Johnson more factual, succinct and more credible. I think experts give more guidance than politicians. This may be our darkest hour but Boris is most certainly not Churchillian Tony Howarth London SW3 […]

The UK will carry out 100,000 Covid-19 tests per day by the end of April, Matt Hancock has said, as he set a new target as part of the government’s testing strategy. After several days of intense scrutiny over failures in testing, the health secretary said he was setting out a new ‘five-pillar’ strategy on […]

New government adverts over the coronavirus will warn ‘people will die’ if they don’t stay home during the coronavirus lockdown. One of the posters new government campaign surrounding coronavirus. Photograph: UK Government/PA Wire. – Credit: PA Full-page adverts featuring the new messaging – including the slogan ‘Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives’ – have […]

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has proposed a multibillion-euro European Union fund to help the countries whose healthcare systems have been hardest hit by Covid-19. In an interview on Dutch TV, Rutte said: ‘We are, of course, in solidarity with South Europe. There’s no doubt about it.’ Rutte says the Dutch have ‘taken the initiative […]

Who is on Question Time tonight? Here’s your guide Tonight’s audience-free Question Time virtually comes from Rugby – in that they won’t actually be in the egg-chasing Warwickshire town, but have sought out video questions from its inhabitants. But who’s on the panel? Here’s your complete guide… Matt Hancock Who? Health secretary A one-time candidate […]

The coronavirus pandemic is a result of an ‘immoral and corrupt’ government legalising abortion in Northern Ireland and angering God, a DUP councillor has said. John Carson represents Ballymena, Co Antrim, which was the former stronghold of ex-leader and Christian preacher the late Ian Paisley. His party strongly opposed Westminster legislation liberalising the law surrounding […]

WhatsApp, Facebook and the rest are playing a central role in this crisis. EMMA LUCK asks if they help or hinder Even for those who might have described themselves as social media sceptics, the coronavirus crisis seems to be driving more of us to rely on it. People who were previously avowed technophobes have swiftly […]

JOHN KAMPFNER on the EU’s faltering response to the coronavirus crisis. And why it still offers the greatest hope for a solution Dismiss the warnings of the Europhobe at your peril. For years, mainstream politicians in the UK ignored the noises from Nigel Farage until it was too late, until he had hijacked the entire […]

A leading union is calling for all NHS workers and other essential staff fighting the coronavirus pandemic to be given free travel across public transport. The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) said other parts of the UK should follow the example of Transport for Wales, which is making travel by rail and bus free for […]