News and Opinion

MICHAEL WHITE on the week the world woke up to potential coronavirus catastrophe. Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Bewdley in Worcestershire. Photograph: PETER NICHOLLS/PA Wire. – Credit: PA One night this week I braved the rain and lurking Covid-19 epidemic to listen to two clever, old economists, John Kay and Mervyn King, explaining why they’ve […]

FRANCIS BECKETT talks to Labour leadership candidate Keir Starmer about the prospects of the UK rejoining the EU, Jeremy Corbyn and the proudest moments of his legal career. A couple of years ago I met Keir Starmer at a lunch and someone asked if he saw himself as the next leader of the Labour Party. […]

STEVE ANGLESEY rejoices as Mark Francois shows signs of returning to the political scene. Is it just me, or since January 31 have you felt that something is missing? Something which was laughed at and taken for granted, something which cost relatively little but delivered so much, something we imagined would always be there, right […]

TIM WALKER reviews The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre in London. I apologise for the late arrival of my review of The Prince of Egypt, but, then again, the show itself took its time on opening night. After about half an hour, Scott Schwartz, the director, walked out on to the empty stage […]

GEORGIA FLYNN works in Turin, one of the regions affected by the outbreak in Italy. She describes how the city has gradually closed down. Georgia Flynn. Picture: Georgia Flynn – Credit: Archant My first clue that the coronavirus might be something big came earlier than for most. I share a two-bedroom flat in the centre […]

NICK COHEN on how the coronavirus has exposed the fragility of our society and its norms – as well as the shortcomings of its politicians. You gauge a crisis by the classics people reach for to help them through it. After the Trump victory, they read Orwell’s 1984 and Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism. Now […]

BONNIE GREER explains why African-American women are backing Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump. Former first lady Michelle Obama and I grew up a few miles away from each other on the South Side Of Chicago, one of the heartlands of African America. The month that Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born, January, 1964, president Lyndon […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on a book which has some troubling lessons for Brexit Britain. There have been plenty of low points on the Brexit journey, many of them provided by what is laughably referred to as our frank, free and fearless press. The Daily Telegraph, which I vaguely remember as solidly Conservative but also solidly sober, […]

Boris Johnson and the government must provide more science to maintain public confidence in the handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called on the government to move into the ‘explain stage’ and be transparent about the data behind its decisions. He told the BBC: ‘The government do need to be […]

Health minister Nadine Dorries, who tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week, has been criticised for failing to alert the authorities about meeting fellow Tory Brexiteer MP Andrew Bridgen. The wife of Tory Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen criticised the health minister for not informing health officials of contact with her husband. Nevena Bridgen, wife of North […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has postponed the May 7 elections until next year because of the coronavirus outbreak. The local, mayoral and police and crime commission elections will now take place in May 2021. Ministers had appeared to be pushing on with plans to hold the vote after the Electoral Commission polling watchdog recommended the […]

In a despicable newspaper column for the Express, former Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe has claimed that coronavirus will be like AIDS – something ‘not as devastating as feared’. In comments condemned by the LGBT+ community the Brexiteer used her newspaper column for the pro-Brexit newspaper to tell readers that she believed the public were […]

The failed ideology of sovereignism is sweeping Europe – how will it be tackled? Even in these days of coronavirus panic, what we Italians call sovereignism is the real threat. Countries that lock themselves within their borders, countries that delude themselves they can face the future alone by relying on some theatrical leader. Sovereignism is […]

Government ministers that told us we’d had enough of experts now seem to have performed a sharp u-turn. The government which told us that ‘people have had enough of experts’ now briefs that its strategy on dealing with coronavirus is wholly in the hands of experts like the chief medical officer and the chief scientific […]

A number of committee members representing the actors’ union Equity have resigned after it apologised to Laurence Fox for calling him a ‘disgrace’ after his Question Time performance. Fox appeared on the BBC programme to deny that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, had been the victim of racism. He said: ‘We’re the most tolerant, lovely country […]

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…

A bill aimed at bringing post-Brexit social justice to the UK has moved a step closer to being adopted. Big Issue founder Lord (John) Bird is taking forward a Wellbeing Of Future Generations Bill, which receives its second reading in the House of Lords. He said that he is aiming to tackle persistent problems such […]

Another cabinet minister has self-isolated following the advice of doctors after coming into contact with health minister Nadine Dorries, who tested positive for the coronavirus. International development secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has said that she has tested negative for the virus, but will stay at home for seven days as a precaution. Two other Tory MPs […]

An SNP chief whip at Holyrood has been handed a vote in the party’s leadership elections by Unite the Union. George Adam said the trade union Unite had offered him an affiliate vote – despite him being an SNP MSP. Adam confirmed he had been offered a vote by Unite, despite having ‘told the union […]

Tonight’s edition of Question Time comes from West Bromwich where coronavirus and this week’s budget are all likely to be hot topics for the panel. Fiona Bruce introduces Question Time. Photograph: BBC. – Credit: Archant On tonight’s panel will be: Steve Barclay Barclay is a Tory MP, the chief secretary to the treasury and a […]

Coronavirus is not a reason to extend the Brexit transition period, Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed. Commons leader Rees-Mogg was responding to comments from a Labour MPover the coronavirus outbreak. Labour’s Justin Madders said that it was ‘absolutely right that government and businesses’ attention at the moment is focused on dealing with the coronavirus outbreak’. Madders […]

The BBC’s chairman has clashed with a senior Tory MP after he proposed a ‘pre-appointment hearing’ for the next director general. The BBC chairman and the chairman of the DCMS committee, Tory MP Julian Knight, have clashed over the issue of appointing the corporation’s new director general. Committee chair Knight asked if there could be […]

Recent news reports the world over have been littered with coverage over panic-buying to prepare for self-isolation, with toilet roll high on the list. MITCH BENN sheds light on how the clear-outs start. I’m a big fan of the ‘discount’ supermarket chain Aldi (other Germanic discount supermarket chains are available. Well one other is anyway). […]

The Liberal Democrats have decided to cancel their spring conference in York this weekend due to coronavirus fears. In a joint statement by president Mark Pack, federal conference committee chair Geoff Payne and chief executive Mike Dixon, the party said it felt holding a conference would be contrary to public health advice. The statement said: […]

Amid tumbling stock markets and crashing oil prices, JAMES BALL says the the country must be better prepared in future to protect people in an unexpected crisis. Most of us, if we’re being absolutely honest, don’t pay much attention to the movements of the stock markets, let alone the bond or commodity markets – if […]

ANDREW ADONIS questions if the Commonwealth is a fit vehicle to promote modern-day Britain. Harry, the artist formerly known as prince, rather appropriately chose Commonwealth Day for his last public engagement this week, celebrating an institution formerly known as the British empire. I used to think that the Commonwealth was pointless but harmless. I now […]

Boris Johnson is poised to announce a feasibility study into a new road crossing between Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to his Scottish secretary. Alister Jack said the UK should be ‘ambitious’ in its approach to new infrastructure, claiming the country is ‘lagging behind’ other nations. Asked why there had been no money for the […]

Scotland’s first minister has seemed to be among Britain’s most secure and formidable politicians. But, says MAURICE SMITH, the SNP leader appears to be listing. High-profile SNP MP Joanna Cherry at an event at which Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the next steps in the SNP’s campaign for Scottish independence. Picture: Ken Jack/Getty […]