News and Opinion

Welcome to the 2021 Maskies! Yes folks, commemorating 12 months of lockdown, it’s the first – and oh please dear God ONLY – annual Maskies Awards, in which we celebrate those who’ve made the job of being a satirist just that little bit easier over the course of this last plague-ridden year.  THE ‘SNAP YOURSELF […]

The prime minister will make his debut appearance in Downing Street’s newly-completed White House-style briefing room next week when he leads a coronavirus press briefing. Downing Street has confirmed that work on its media room in No 9 had cost £2.6 million to install is finished. Labour previously branded the hi-tech refurbishment a “vanity project”. […]

The European Union should step back from waging a “stupid vaccine war” with the UK, former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said. He warned that threatening export bans could cause “major reputational damage” to the bloc as EU leaders held discussions on tightening restrictions to supplies of coronavirus jabs. The commission has set out […]

A government minister has looked to downplay the role of campaigning by footballer Marcus Rashford in the decision to provide free school meals to pupils during the holidays. Children’s minister, Vicky Ford, was accused of being “disingenuous” about the success of the England and Manchester United star’s efforts in getting the Conservative administration to roll […]

BBC Breakfast presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty want to put the controversy over Robert Jenrick’s flag behind them Although Amanda Platell is Australian, she was indignant over the weekend at the way the BBC Breakfast presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty had gently teased the housing secretary Robert Jenrick about the enormous Union flag […]

The UK’s lobbying watchdog has launched an investigation into whether David Cameron persuaded government figures to grant loans to a financial firm he worked for. Cameron reportedly sent a number of texts to the chancellor’s private number requesting financial support for Greensill Capital through the government’s Covid business relief scheme. He is also alleged to have […]

MPs have called for an investigation into whether Boris Johnson broke the ministerial code in remarks he made about the procurement of Covid contracts. Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, Greens MP Caroline Lucas and Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran have written to the cabinet secretary Simon Case demanding an investigation into the prime minister’s comments. Johnson falsely […]

There remain “substantial barriers” for UK trade with Europe, with small businesses bearing the brunt of the post-Brexit strain, according to peers. A report by the House of Lords’ EU Goods Sub-Committee has warned small firms are “feeling the squeeze” since the Brexit deal with Brussels came into force in January. The committee is calling […]

The Union flag is to be flown on UK government buildings every day in a bid to unite the nation, new guidance has set out. At present, Union flags are only required to be flown on UK Government buildings on designated days, but the new guidance from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport […]

It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, where trade and vaccine squabbles with the EU are threatening to overwhelm our nation’s jab euphoria. Exactly what might have made the Europeans so suspicious of the lie-telling, law-breaking, flag-hugging UK will remain a mystery, but while Boris Johnson and David Frost […]

Another look at the continent’s weirdest stories, selected by Steve Anglesey. Paris police who boasted about busting a 1.2million euro (£1.03million) haul of MDMA and ecstasy turned out to have seized Haribo sweets instead. The gendarmes wrote on Twitter that after a “fruitful investigation” they had found a “large quantity of drugs to be sold […]

The world is on its knees in a pandemic that is close now to killing three million people. Yet the games go on, albeit as a ghostly, ghastly version of sport in stadiums without spectators. For a year, club football has soldiered on while communities have closed around them. In Europe we have the scarcely […]

Campaigners and charities have condemned the government’s plans to overhaul the asylum system, with some branding the plans as “inhumane”. Particularly of concern are plans to judge asylum seekers on how they arrived in the UK and not on merit. Migrant Voice said the proposals would condemn asylum seekers “to a life in limbo with […]

The Commons speaker has been forced to reprimand Boris Johnson following his comments about Labour’s position on Kill the Bill protests. Sir Lindsay Hoyle interrupted Prime Minister’s Questions to rebuff remarks Johnson made accusing Labour of supporting the violent protests in Bristol over the weekend. Johnson was responding to a question by the leader of […]

They may have not been history’s most dynamic dynasty, but their knack for ‘muddling along’ might just be the safest policy for the European Union. In his play Bruderzwist (1872), Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer depicts the notoriously indecisive and passive Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II being challenged by his energetic, activist brother Matthias. Rudolf is a […]

Touring could become “prohibitively bureaucratic and expensive” for musicians and other performers based in the UK because of Brexit, a committee of peers has warned. The Lords EU Services Sub-Committee also warned in a report on Wednesday that significant gaps remain for the services sector trading with the bloc, causing a prolonged period of uncertainty. […]

British weather and “grow-your-own food” will be among the themes celebrated during the Festival of Brexit, organisers have announced. A total 10 teams have been chosen to host events which includes showcasing the largest home-made vegetable patch project in modern times. The carnival remains a contentious issue among the public who say it is ‘politically motivated’ and a waste of £120million […]

Vaccine campaigners have accused Boris Johnson of a “warped” understanding of the crisis after he joked that “greed” and capitalism had contributed to the success of the jabs. The prime minister made the comments at a private meeting of Tory MPs, but then hastily sought to backtrack as he praised AstraZeneca for supplying the Oxford vaccine at […]

Following claims that the coronavirus pandemic has pushed Eastern and Western Europe further apart, we look at the recent political history of the key countries. BelarusOften described as Europe’s last dictatorship, the country has suffered a widespread crackdown on the protests that followed last year’s disputed election, which saw Alexander Lukashenko – president since the post […]

The home secretary has said she will make “no apology” for tougher immigration rules as she announces “the biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades”. Details of Priti Patel’s new plan for immigration, detailing how the government intends to deal with people entering the UK “illegally”, will be set out on Wednesday. The […]

Scotland’s first minister has said she would have resigned had she been found to have broken the ministerial code, but said she would not be “bullied” out of her position as she defeated an attempt to oust her. Nicola Sturgeon faced a vote of no confidence brought by the Scottish Tories, who claim she misled parliament […]

The Arts and Crafts movement provided a bridge from tradition and nostalgia to the modernism that was to follow. Few of its leading lights display this shift as sumptuously as Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo.  Between the Arts and Crafts pioneering work of William Morris and the lean soaring lines with floral motifs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a third and influential “M” helped define the look […]

Fears are growing that ministers want to “bury” a report into the controversial practice of fire and rehire. The government asked Acas to review the policy and received its findings in February. But ministers faced claims of “sitting” on the report given its lack of a response. Research from trade unions has suggested an increase […]

Brexit has contributed to a shortage of flower pickers in the UK, a bulb grower has said. Ordinarily, Taylors Bulbs in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, harvests around 2.5 million cut daffodil flowers per year. Kevin Haynes, horticulture manager, said he expects the firm to harvest around a third of that this year due to a lack of […]

Sir Keir Starmer renewed calls for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as the nation marked the anniversary of the first national lockdown. The Labour leader said on Tuesday that NHS staff and bereaved families are owed answers about what went wrong in the last year so the mistakes never […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the radical double life of beloved children’s author Arthur Ransome. Few writers have evoked a more bucolic view of England than Arthur Ransome. In the dozen books that comprise the Swallows and Amazons series he conjured magical stories of endless school holidays spent camping, fishing and messing about in boats, exploring nature and making […]

A Tory council candidate has been reprimanded by his own party after calling for Bristol to be bombed after Kill the Bill protests in the city turned violent. Stephen Halbhuber, a Conservative candidate for Eastbourne Council, faced immediate backlash after tweeting “just bomb Bristol” in response to a video showing protesters painting graffiti on a […]

The Scottish Tories have said they will press ahead with a vote of no confidence in Nicola Sturgeon after a Holyrood committee found she misled parliament. The final report of the Committee on the Scottish government Handling of Harassment Complaints was released on Tuesday, showing a majority of MSPs on the committee felt that Sturgeon […]