News and Opinion

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 businessman has refused to remove a giant ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ poster from above his premises. Charlie Mullins, who owns Pimlico Plumbers, has accused Lambeth council of trying to stifle freedom of speech when it contacted him asking to remove the sign. He has said that the council had received complaints from those passing by […]

Remain campaigner Femi Oluwole has been busy schooling Brexiteers at this year’s Conservative party conference. The Our Future Our Choice activist met outspoken Brexiteer and Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin to ask him why he disliked the European Union so much. Martin told the young activist: ‘It’s got 5 unelected presidents, it’s got a court that […]

Research conducted among diplomats reveals an alarming decline in British influence, says JESS GIFKINS. As part of a research project, we conducted a series of interviews with current and former diplomats to try to assess what the role and reputation of the UK – a permanent member of the UN Security Council – might be, […]

A skeleton has emerged from the environment secretary’s closet in the form of an odd early 90s Channel 4 programme Remember when Michael Gove stole the rubbish from the front gardens of Sting, David Attenborough and Anita Roddick and rifled through their contents? Or when he compared Prince Charles to Hitler? Chances are you don’t. […]

In a refreshing change from the usual excuses about why Brexit is going so badly (Soviet-style EU, traitorous Remoaners, dog ate impact assessment papers), a leading think tank boss is blaming the EU for weaponising time itself. Appearing at an event alongside Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis, Shanker Singham of the Institute of Economic Affairs […]

The BBC series has imaginatively-exploded the traditional formula for the spy genre and created the sort of characters women want to see more of. HELENA BASSIL-MOZOROW reports. The new BBC comic spy thriller Killing Eve is a whirlwind spy tale of murder, obsession, betrayal and resilience. Its young female antagonist Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is a […]

Scotland looked certain to play a pivotal role in how Brexit would play out, but has since been sidelined. Could the country spring one last surprise? MAURICE SMITH​ reports Five days after the 2016 referendum, Nicola Sturgeon travelled to Brussels to discuss the implications of the vote with EU officials. As the parties at Westminster […]

From Boris dancing to fruit farmville, STEVE ANGLESEY details what you should expect at Theresa May’s Festival of Brexit Britain. They gave us plenty to choose from, but ultimately no disappointment at this Conservative conference was more keenly felt than the failure to put meat on the bones of Theresa May’s Festival Of Brexit Britain, […]

‘To at least half the nation, a 2022 festival would celebrate national self-immolation.’ I have rarely been so dismayed as at the Conservative party conference when a so-called mainstream Tory MP – the prime minister’s ‘envoy to Indonesia’ no less – refused to criticise Viktor Orban on the grounds that he had been ‘elected’ and […]

CLARENCE MICHEL is leaving the country after 14 years of living as a French person in London. My dear British brothers, it’s with deep sorrow that I’m writing this goodbye letter. In July, after nearly 14 years as a French person living and working in London and contributing to this amazing country, I left. MORE: […]

I strongly support the campaign for a People’s Vote, but I am at loss to understand why its promoters will not even reveal the most powerful argument for it… The all-out campaign of lies which both Leave groups ran before the 2016 EU referendum, and which very probably won it for them. I was reminded […]

Wales was the only devolved nation to vote Leave. But, says Geraint Talfan Davies, all suggestions are that it has changed its mind In the 2016 referendum Wales was the one devolved nation that did not hitch its wagon to the Remain cause. Devolution notwithstanding, the result seemed to underline the concept of ‘England and […]

Working class British men that voted overwhelmingly for Leave will be hit hardest by Brexit, a new study has found. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that males with GCSE qualifications or below are more likely than other groups to work in industries at extreme risk from new trade barriers with the EU after […]

Tory MP Nicky Morgan says Boris Johnson must decide if he’s politician or a hack, Sarah Vine is ‘unsackable,’ Liam Fox’s powder puff and Gina Miller’s mission to Ireland Businesswoman and Transparency Activist, Gina Miller, takes part in a panel discussion on ‘What Business should be doing about Brexit’ during Brexit minus 365 conference at […]

The collapse of the EU pet passport scheme and the end to free movement of workers would be a ‘disaster’ for the United Kingdom’s 54 million pets, say the organisers of a new event. The collapse of the EU pet passport scheme and the end to free movement of workers would be a ‘disaster’ for […]

JAMES BALL’s Deconstructed: ‘Our modern political era is dominated by a war against reality’ It is becoming increasingly clear that the modern political war isn’t one against poverty, or against crime, or drugs, or even the tech giants – our modern political era is dominated by a war against reality. And at first glance, its […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from London’s financial capital Canary Wharf, where the average salary is £100,000, the country’s biggest Waitrose has a temperature-controlled wine cellar and one restaurant, the Boisdale, boasts a cigar menu. But […]

European Council president Donald Tusk has used his latest speech to respond to comments made at Conservative party conference. Tusk criticised Jeremy Hunt’s remarks at the conference in which compared the EU to the Soviet Union. He said they were ‘unwise as it is insulting’, and also suggested that the conference only further hindered progress […]

Plain packaging on alcohol and fatty foods would make a very dull trip to the supermarket, says brand consultant RON CREGAN. If you fancy a civil servant or government minster stocking your larder shelves with indefinable labels, you may not have long to wait. With Brexit looming and a bill passed last week in Ireland, […]

Nissan has spoken out about the risk of a ‘no deal’ Brexit – but the company’s boss fears their warning won’t be heard. The car manufacturer warned that a hard Brexit will have ‘serious implications’ for the carmaker’s Sunderland factory. It said in a statement: ‘As a sudden change from those rules to the rules […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the wheat and the chaff. When the Conservative party organisers made that hash of the privacy settings on their Birmingham conference app (so that Philip Hammond’s mugshot was promptly tweaked to Eeyore’s), I finally wondered if the oldest political party in the world will have any post-Brexit energy left to resist Team […]

You don’t obstruct an investigation which you will believe will clear your name, says MITCH BENN Matt Damon on Saturday Night Live as Brett Kavanaugh. PHOTO: Fox News – Credit: Archant I’ve just finished watching the ‘cold open’ to the last edition of Saturday Night Live. The ‘cold open’ is a pre-opening credits sketch which, […]

Tory Remainer MP Anna Soubry has said that she feels ‘marginalised’ in the Conservative party and has warned that Theresa May is pitching for a ‘blindfolded’ Brexit. The MP criticised her party for banning a People’s Vote event from the conference arena and even the programme. ‘But Boris Johnson could have a blatant leadership bid […]

A chance to make a great escape. Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, until January 5 Bonnie Langford in 42nd Street. PHOTO: Brinkhoff/Moegenburg – Credit: Archant Musicals traditionally do well in bleak times so it’s no wonder that 42nd Street is doing a roaring trade. That grand old showman Michael Grade is behind this lavish stage version […]

With its dystopian visions and 16-bit images of Somerset pubs clad in UKIP posters, Not Tonight is no Sonic the Hedgehog It had to happen. Edinburgh this year was awash with Brexit-themed plays and stand-up comedy. James Graham’s TV drama on the referendum airs early next year. Even Arron Banks’ simultaneously bombastic and boring book, […]

Some viewed Theresa May’s Dancing Queen routine as a cynical attempt to distract the nation from a speech devoid of detail. https://twitter.com/Mr_LukeBenson/status/1047496636392464390 Certainly if you take a scroll through Facebook and Twitter you won’t escape seeing a version of that video at least once. But now the sense of disbelief has died down, what is […]

The assembled journalists in Birmingham gasped as Theresa May danced towards the podium for her conference speech. From a leader who answers questions with stock quotes and robotic phrases it was something of a shock. She did achieve something of course: She managed to get the nation talking about her conference speech, even if it […]