News and Opinion

Once the darling of Tory members Boris Johnson is playing a high-risk game, says RICHARD PORRITT. For Theresa May the Conservative Party conference was a round robin apology. At behind-closed-doors meetings, again and again she apologised for the Tories who lost seats or had big majorities almost wiped out in June’s general election. Although she […]

They have a new leader, but do they have a new purpose? RICHARD PORRITT went behind enemy lines at the UKIP conference and found a party on the brink. It’s Friday morning in Torquay. Weekenders are arriving at hotels as the sun struggles to dislodge the cloud. I spot not one black or Asian face. […]

Spain is facing an existential threat, says JASON WALSH, with the country’s fragile compromise – which has held since the end of Franco’s dictatorship – now in tatters. For those watching on television, or following in newspapers or online, there seemed to be only one flag being flown across Catalonia last weekend as the state […]

What does it say about the Conservative government that Boris Johnson, a man whose record for lying, cheating and disgracing himself on the national stage stands alone in our political history, is not only tolerated in government, but actually holds one of the great offices of state? What does it say about Theresa May that […]

As conference season draws to a close, former Tory candidate turned radio talk show host IAIN DALE charts the fortunes of those who have been on manoeuvres – and makes some tentative predictions/ Back in early April, Theresa May was mistress of all she surveyed. Her first eight months had been a success. She was […]

There was a time – in my political journalist life many moons ago – when I couldn’t imagine NOT being at the party conferences. This year, in a third and very different phase of my life, at both Labour and Tory Conferences, I couldn’t wait to get away. There was the period of my life […]

Steve Anglesey rounds up the losers and losers (because there are no winners) of another crazy seven days on Planet Brexit. 10. Jacob Rees-Mogg Told a Tory fringe meeting: ‘I think our Prime Minister is a heroine of 10,000 years and I welcome the every waking breath of the Prime Minister, our great leader.’ So […]

RICHARD PORRITT with this week’s big stories. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brexit head-banger and anti-abortionist, used a fringe event at the Tory conference to back the current head of the party’s nutter wing Boris Johnson. Speaking at a Bruges Group event he said: ‘There has been too much crying into our soup and saying it is all […]

Gin has undergone a remarkable resurgence in popularity in recent years, with many new brands and flavours emerging. There are some older producers, though, with a heritage even stronger than the gin they create. One English name in the art of distilled juniper berries that can be traced back more than 130 years is Beefeater […]

Theresa May faces a critical period in her premiership. Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex in Manchester. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images The theme of her speech was ‘The British Dream’ but those in the hall and beyond witnessed the Prime Minister […]

There’s good news and bad news for online news publishers: The good is that people are increasingly willing to pay for digital news subscriptions. The bad is that news often takes a back seat to entertainment services like Netflix and Spotify. This comes out of the latest study by Kantar Media on behalf of the […]

Jack Lang meets the football coach who has eschewed the English game to carve out a career in the dugouts of Latvia. Ask the average fan what they know about football in Latvia and they might mumble something about Southampton cult hero Marians Pahars and tail off. It is fair to say that this tiny […]

Brexit head banger Boris Johnson has suffered a bruising day at Tory Party conference as calls to sack him grow. (Left-right) Brexit Secretary David Davis, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson listen as Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in Florence, Italy. Picture: PA – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images Just days before Theresa May’s […]

In an excoriating attack, Britain’s foremost philosopher and leading anti-Brexit campaigner AC Grayling denounces the public figures whose dereliction of duty has imperilled the national interest. I accuse the UK government and, with a few honourable exceptions, Members of Parliament from all sides, of failing our country and failing our democracy. Most of these charges […]

The UK’s foremost philosopher and anti-Brexit campaigner issues a searing attack on those who have imperilled the national interest. I accuse the UK government and, with a few honourable exceptions, Members of Parliament from all sides, of failing our country and failing our democracy. Most of these charges have been laid before in these pages, […]

Mass Distraction. Mass Diversion. Mass Dissembling. Weapons regularly deployed from Donald Trump’s armoury long before he entered the White House, the launch-timing usually followed an easily-tracked pattern. Whenever The Donald felt the heat as a businessman, he rolled out the return fire using those familiar tactics. And this week, they have been dramatically, dangerously displayed […]

I’ve just noticed; it’s exactly a year since my first column saw print in this esteemed organ. And what a year it’s been. We are indeed living in the ‘interesting times’ the Chinese used to curse each other with, are we not? One of the best AND worst things about this gig is the fact […]

Thousands of pro-EU protesters have delivered a clear message to Theresa May at Tory Party conference: ‘Bollocks to Brexit.’ The Stop Brexit float which led the marchers. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images As many as 30,000 people peacefully marched through Manchester city centre after hearing speeches from prominent Remainers including Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince […]

Theresa May’s speech in Florence was truly derisible. The self-styled Boudicca of Brexit warbled on about the Renaissance and enduring partnerships, then proclaimed: ‘The UK has never totally felt at home being in the EU, perhaps because of our history and geography, the EU has never felt to us like an integral part of our […]

The Age of Gaslighting is upon us. The dictionary definition is this: ‘Gaslighting is a form of manipulation whose purpose is to cause the victim to doubt their own perception, memory and sanity; to destabilise.’ The term comes from the 1938 play, Gas Light, by that master of English pre-war melodrama, Patrick Hamilton. The plot: […]

Jean-Luc Godard’s À bout de souffle crackled and pulsed like nothing ever seen on screen before. IAN WALKER on a film which reinvented cinema and became not just one of the 20th century’s greatest films, but one of its greatest works of art They were fanboys scuttling around Paris in the late 1940s and early […]

As tensions rise ahead of Catalonia’s disputed independence referendum, only one thing is clear – the two sides are moving further apart than ever. ANDREW DOWLING reports An old refrain often used about Spain is that in the country ‘everything is politicised’. This became apparent following the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in mid-August […]

Pyongyang is capital of the world’s most secretive, suspicious – and dangerous – state. COLIN ALEXANDER has visited and explains what the place can tell us about the regime and how its current high stakes stand-off may play out Most of the chaperoned tours to North Korea each year include a walk through some well-tended […]

‘Quick, Google him,’ came the cry from the press desks as the new UKIP leader was announced. Henry Bolton was announced as the new UKIP leader at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images Henry Bolton’s appointment caught almost everyone off guard. But in doing so it seems UKIP has stepped […]

A little-known man called Henry Bolton has been elected as the new leader of Ukip in a shock result. The outsider candidate beat the two front runners in the contest – anti-Islam campaigner Anne Marie Waters and London Assembly member Peter Whittle – to win with 3,874 votes. He told the party members: “Brexit is […]

The myth of Friedrich Nietzsche as the godfather of Nazism was created by his sister Elizabeth – but is that the full story? SUNA ERDEM explores a century-old case of fake news Friedrich Nietzsche is widely considered one of the greatest and most interesting philosophers of all time. The 19th century German thinker challenged accepted […]

RICHARD PORRITT with the week’s big stories So to Manchester and the final party conference of the season – Conservative. Not many people expected Theresa May to be giving the leader’s speech in the wake of the general election disaster but she’s made it and is determined to reassert some authority. And one government aide […]

Ukip were widely mocked across social media today after unveiling a new lion logo bearing a remarkable similarity to the Premier League’s. The party, which will name its new leader at its conference in Torquay today, said it was one of several ideas for a new logo. Members will choose one today by placing a […]