News and Opinion

Should modern football – particularly the gegenpresse fußball coached by Jürgen Klopp – carry a health warning? Liverpool, the runaway English champions less than a year ago, look a broken team, physically and mentally. Their defence is cursed by injuries, their attack appears a wearied parody of what it was last spring.  But more recently, […]

Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings has blamed the EU for the UK’s slow coronavirus response, despite the UK leaving the bloc before the pandemic properly hit. In his first public appearance since leaving No 10 last year amid the fallout from a bitter internal power struggle, Cummings gave the damning assessment of its attempts […]

Boris Johnson has been reprimanded over misrepresenting Labour’s stance on the police bill that passed through the Commons Tuesday evening. Johnson was gently rebuffed by Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle at the conclusion of today’s Prime Minister Questions after he claimed Labour had voted against a bill on the wrong grounds. Responding to Sir Keir […]

The great statesman adored the Côte d’Azur, where he indulged his passion for painting. Artist PAUL RAFFERTY, who has explored the area in search of the locations he painted, explains the profound connection between the man and the region. August 1948, Aix-en-Provence, late afternoon, the baking heat now just about bearable. A convoy of artist, driver, valet, bodyguards and a […]

Dominic Cummings has revealed the four demands he made of Boris Johnson before joining No 10 as the prime minister’s chief adviser. Cummings told a group of MPs in his first public appearance since leaving No 10 that he persuaded the prime minister to sort of the “disaster zone” of Whitehall. Appearing before the Commons […]

ROB HUGHES on the very different goalscoring talents of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland and whether Premier League transfers lie ahead for them. No-one knows how Covid will drain the finances of football, but everyone rates two talents that Europe’s richest and most powerful clubs will scramble to buy. They are, of course, goalscorers. Kylian Mbappé was […]

People across Europe will die from Covid-19 as a direct consequence of the decision to halt rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, an expert from the UK’s vaccination committee has said. Professor Jeremy Brown said the move by more than a dozen European countries to suspend the vaccine over blood clot fears was “not sensible” and […]

Dominic Raab has denied saying the UK wants to trade with countries that violated human rights laws after a call with colleagues was leaked to the press. In a leaked video call listened to by HuffPost UK, the foreign secretary is heard telling departmental staff that only trading with countries that meet European Convention on Human […]

NINA DE AYALA PARKER on the pandemic of gender violence that led to the death of Sarah Everard. The reaction to the murder of Sarah Everard marks a watershed moment in the fight to end sexual harassment and femicide in the UK. Why? Because, the focus is no longer on women, but on men. It […]

Ireland’s prime minister is to hold talks with US president Joe Biden as the traditional St Patrick’s Day engagement goes online. The Taoiseach traditionally travels to Washington DC for St Patrick’s week to hold a series of high-level meetings with the most powerful political figures in the US. But the pandemic has prevented Micheal Martin […]

Dominic Cummings is to appear before MPs for the first time since he quit as Boris Johnson’s chief aide.     Cummings be questioned by MPs over the government’s new “high-risk” scientific research agency that he championed before his dramatic departure from No 10. In his first public appearance since the dramatic departure late last year, the […]

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale has been Europe’s most successful consumer organisation. But as it turns 50, can it defeat the twin threat of Covid and craft beer? Four Englishmen walk into a pub. They’re complaining. And for readers of distant pedigree raised on lazy, outdated gags of dubious cultural provenance, the pub really […]

Boris Johnson’s controversial curbs on protests would “make a dictator blush” and show his government’s liking for “authoritarianism”, MPs have warned. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill cleared its first parliamentary hurdle after receiving a second reading by 359 votes to 263, majority 96, despite opposition to several measures contained within it. Labour tabled […]

Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure to launch a public inquiry in the UK’s handling of Covid-19 after healthcare experts, government scientists and a former head of the civil service called for one. Thousands of bereaved families, nurses and ethnic minority leaders also backed calls for an inquiry into everything from lockdown tactics to test […]

Downing Street has not denied reports that Boris Johnson thought the best approach in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic was to “ignore it”. The prime minister’s official spokesman pointed to the government’s approach of doing “everything we can” to reduce transmission of the virus, protect the NHS and save lives. The BBC reported […]

The scandal of modern language education in the UK is going to cost the country dear Universities have been in the headlines, quite rightly, as students and their parents worry about being charged full tuition fees for nearly a year of online learning, while paid-for rental accommodation sits empty after tenants were told by the […]

Labour MP Mike Hill has quit as an MP, triggering a by-election in a key test of the Red Wall for Labour. The sudden announcement sets up a fresh electoral contest in Hartlepool, a seat long-held by Labour, marking the first test of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership since taking over from Jeremy Corbyn last year. […]

Downing Street had mulled over the possibility of “chickenpox parties” as a way to build immunity at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a BBC report has revealed. More than 20 senior politicians and officials who were present when pivotal decisions about Covid-19 were made spoke with the BBC, sharing what was a litany of mistakes […]

WILL SELF on discovering his DNA background and finding out he is not as closely related to Ivan Lendl as he had always assumed. One sunny afternoon in the late 1980s I was idling my way down Sloane Street from Knightsbridge towards Chelsea when a plumber’s van screeched to a halt on the far side […]

The SNP has requested to get indyref2 on the ballot paper at the Holyrood election in May. According to The Herald, Nicola Sturgeon’s party requested to have “Vote SNP for indyref2” and “Both votes SNP for indyref2” included on the ballot paper. The party also lodged a request to register “Nicola Sturgeon for SNP First Minister” […]

Criticism of the handling of the Sarah Everard vigil in London has continued with the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner making pointed comparisons with peaceful scenes in his region. Around 100 people attended a vigil in memory of the 33-year-old in Nottingham on Saturday, with the event passing peacefully. This contrasted with scenes in south […]

The “green Brexit” promised by the government has not been delivered, with weaker protections in areas such as nature and air quality, campaigners have said.

UK leaders and medical experts have defended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine despite multiple European countries pausing its use due to concerns over possible adverse side effects. Boris Johnson said there was “no reason at all” to stop the vaccine’s rollout and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would accept her jab “without […]

The foreign secretary has defended the government spending more than £2.6 million on creating a White House-style media briefing room in Downing Street after pictures of the refurbishment surfaced this week. The images published by ITV News on Monday show the room in No 9 Downing Street has been kitted out with cameras and rows […]

A new four-part HBO documentary assembles a compelling and gruesome case against Woody Allen. JASON SOLOMONS, who has written a book on the director and a long-time fan, describes how watching the series has changed his attitude towards his hero forever. Starting in the pit of my stomach and rising to the bottom of my throat, […]

Minister for Women Liz Truss will not be attending Boris Johnson’s meeting on violence against women, Downing Street has confirmed. Johnson last night announced he would be holding a meeting of the Crime and Justice Taskforce to discuss ways to make streets safer for women and girls following the alleged murder of Sarah Everard on March 3. […]

Bonnie Greer on how American’s obsession with personal freedom makes Joe Biden’s fight against coronavirus even tougher “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, ’cause once you’re dead then that’s a bit too late.” And to the tune of her great song Jolene, Dolly Parton got herself […]

Organisations including the RSPB, Liberty and Friends of the Earth have written to Priti Patel and Robert Buckland to raise concerns about “draconian” legislation to boost police powers. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is being “rushed through parliament” during the coronavirus pandemic and will have “profound implications” for the public, the groups said. […]