News and Opinion

Boris Johnson’s plan to save the United Kingdom has been entitled ‘Project Love’, according to one of his top ministers. According to Scottish secretary Alister Jack, in an interview with Politico, there will be a “slow-burn effort” from Number 10 to show Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland what the family of nations means to them.  […]

Denmark has revoked the residency permits of Syrian refugees, becoming the first European nation to do so. At least 189 Syrians have had applications for renewal of their temporary residency status denied since last summer. The Danish government says the security situation in Syrian has “improved significantly” and urged the refugees to return to the war-torn […]

Boris Johnson intervened after a Saudi bid to buy Newcastle United ran into difficulties, it has been reported. The Daily Mail said the prime minister asked one of his top aides to investigate after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned a row over the sale of the Premier League club could damage relations between […]

David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, has admitted he agreed with some of the viewpoints from those that fought the government over Brexit legislation. He said Gina Miller became an “unlikely ally” with her court case against the government which ruled that Theresa May must secure parliamentary approval before triggering Article 50. It was a case that […]

The government’s links with collapsed finance firm Greensill Capital are to come under further scrutiny as ministers continue to face questions over David Cameron’s lobbying activities. The head of the watchdog which exposed the way the former head of government procurement was able to take a position as a part-time adviser to the firm while […]

It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, as the only export that appears to be booming post-Brexit is the glut of UK companies rushing to set up in the EU. The government’s botched trade deal has left firms with two options: Relocation or red tape and regulations that will […]

The city of Paris has mislaid two 10-tonne art deco fountains that stood near the Port de la Chapelle metro station. The landmarks were built in 1935 but were moved temporarily in 2014 to clear a new tram route for the 2024 Olympic Games. However, no-one now seems to know where they were put. Local […]

Conservative MPs have voted down a proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the Greensill lobbying scandal. MPs rejected Labour’s bid to establish a committee to investigate the lobbying of government by 357 votes to 262, with a majority of 95. Under the proposal, ministers would be forced before parliament to give evidence and the government would […]

Scottish independence offers the only way back for the country to rejoin the European Union, the Scottish Greens have claimed. The party’s co-leader Lorna Slater said leaving the UK “is now our route back to EU membership” and that it would give Scotland “the powers and potential to be a leader in the transition to […]

CLAUDIA PRITCHARD on an artwork, an exhibition and a book which all demonstrate the way that artists have been inspired by trees. In our new, more outdoor life, trees have been a consolation, ever-changing but constant, by turn prickling with promise, brimming with plenty, stripping down for winter, and bubbling into life again. As the […]

The many chapters in the career of Shirley Williams tell the story of post-war Britain For all her recent reputation as a well-loved grandmother of British politics, Shirley Williams was not unfamiliar with its sharper edges. At a 1959 rally in support of independence for Nyasaland (later Malawi) at the Royal Albert Hall, racist hecklers […]

Labour has called for a parliamentary investigation into the David Cameron lobbying scandal over Greensill, telling MPs the former prime minister is “only sorry he got caught”. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves told the Commons: “Having refused to respond to any questions at all for 40 days, David Cameron chose a period of national grief, […]

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has again had to intervene in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) after Boris Johnson failed to answer a question. In the first PMQs since Easter, Johnson and opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer went head-to-head over the recent lobbying scandal involving former prime minister David Cameron. Sir Keir called on Johnson to back an […]

What does it mean, ‘to be fair’? In this extract from his new book, BEN FENTON explains the concept of ‘fairness’ came to have such a central role in modern society, particularly in the English-speaking world. In 1690, the English philosopher John Locke, a man whose work influenced Rousseau, Voltaire, Tom Paine and Kant, published […]

Scottish Labour has announced plans to pay television licence fees or help cover broadband bills for the over-75s. Party leader Anas Sarwar said the “staying connected” policy would provide every household with people aged over 75 with the £159 cost of a TV licence. Free TV licences for all seniors ended in 2020 after the […]

The European parliament has refused to set a date to ratify the Brexit deal for a second time, amid concerns the UK is not implementing it properly. Party group leaders had been expected to announce the deal would be ratified at a sitting in late April, but following a meeting said they would wait for […]

The government’s LGBT panel has been scrapped after three members quit last month. A government spokesperson said a replacement panel “will be set out in due course”, the BBC has revealed. Some members told the national broadcaster they were willing to stay on when their terms ended on March 31. Panellists have also said they […]

Brexit minister Lord Frost and the European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic will hold talks in Brussels on Thursday as efforts continue to resolve issues around Northern Ireland. The meeting was confirmed by the European Commission, which said the pair will “take stock of ongoing technical work” on the Northern Ireland Protocol. The minister and the commission […]

Alex Salmond has claimed his Alba party is being censored by the broadcasters ahead of the Scottish elections. The former first minister said the broadcasters “are simply failing in their democratic duty” because Alba has been excluded from the televised debates featuring leaders of parties who currently have MSPs at Holyrood. Salmond took umbrage with […]

MPs are to vote on whether to establish a parliamentary inquiry into David Cameron’s lobbying activities for collapsed financial firm Greensill Capital. A plan put forward by Labour would create a new Commons select committee to investigate lobbying, including the former prime minister’s activities, which would be able to summon witnesses to answer questions in […]

A former civil servant has hit out at Boris Johnson’s government and the way it does not think it has to “abide by the rules”. Jill Rutter, a senior research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe, said the revelation that the former head of Whitehall procurement became an adviser to Greensill Capital while still […]

Not even the Albanian regime’s determination to seal itself off from the rest of the world could stop the sounds of the country’s capital. Music thrives off cross-pollination. How, then, do musicians survive – let alone create – in an isolationist country where only a meagre diet of state-approved culture is on offer? Albania, and […]

The former head of Whitehall procurement became an adviser to Greensill Capital while still working as a civil servant in a move approved by the Cabinet Office, it has emerged. Downing Street has announced an independent review into how the failed firm secured government contracts, following a series of reports on former prime minister David […]

UKIP’s Wales leader has defended an election candidate who sent offensive tweets about Muslims. Stan Robinson, who is running on the South Wales West list, sent several derogatory messages in the past fortnight about Islam and Muslims. He has also retweeted a message labelling migrants “parasites” who should be “arrested” or “shot” to “stop the […]

The Department for Education has still not fulfilled its pledge to provide 1.3 million laptops and tablets to disadvantaged pupils, figures have suggested. A school leaders’ union has criticised the government’s “painfully slow” progress one month after all pupils in England returned to the classroom. Data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows 1,295,752 laptops […]

MPs have asked what Rishi Sunak is “afraid of” by avoiding the House of Commons during an urgent question on David Cameron and his involvement in the Greensill lobbying row. Text messages revealed Sunak revealed “pushed” officials to consider plans that could have helped the firm Cameron was lobbying for. Labour MP Andrew Gwynne told […]

Amid the moralising and propaganda, the Soviet Hollywood also produced dark fantasy movies that were a world away from Disney’s saccharine output – and created a troubled relationship with the communist authorities.  In the grand scheme of things, there are worse things about dictatorships than them telling audiences what they were allowed to watch, but […]

UK trade with the EU has slightly recovered in February after it had seen a record slump following its exit from the trading bloc. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that exports to the EU rose by £3.7 billion – or 46.6% – following a £5.7 billion decline in January. It said the increase […]