News and Opinion

Without the US, Europe must do everything in its power to stop the backsliding in the Balkans European leaders are already realigning following US President Donald Trump’s visit to Brussels. Given Trump’s refusal to explicitly commit to NATO’s Article 5 collective defence guarantee in his hectoring speech to his fellow alliance leaders, coupled with the […]

We asked an expert on its use in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Among the consequences of the recent terror attacks has been the calls for the use of internment without trial for those suspected of terrorist activity. There is nothing new in this type of reaction to the threat that the UK faces especially […]

She ran it as the red hot ‘me, me, me’ campaign. And ended it as the ‘woe is me’ bigtime loser. If Theresa May gambled on playing the Maybot churning out ‘strong and stable’ slogans ad nauseam then she lost it in the manner of a weak and wobbly kamikaze pilot. And in the wreckage […]

A defence of the European dream I was deeply honoured to receive this year’s International Charlemagne prize, which I accepted – ‘as an English European’. These days, some people are a little surprised by that combination of adjective and noun: English European. Yet after all, one of the Emperor Charlemagne’s chief intellectual advisers was an […]

The election result has made the Tories dependent on the DUP – the hardest of Hard Brexit parties. But the reality of Northern Irish politics may significantly soften the UK’s stance when it comes to talks with the EU Founded by firebrand Protestant preacher, the late Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is […]

Brexit is not a done deal now the General Election is over, in fact the fight is just beginning Seventy three years ago British soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy with American, Commonwealth and European armies and units as the democratic world rose up to save the Continent from the ravages of extreme nationalism. Pride, […]

We pick out the most wrong and unstable Leavers of the week 10. Gordon Elcott Readers who remember the chorus of Jilted John’s eponymous top 10 hit from 1978 would have nodded with recognition when this previously unknown 55-year-old rang into a Five Live programme about floating voters, introduced himself as a traditional Green now […]

What better persons to aid and abet that than the Alpha and the Omega of British populism on US television: Nigel Farage and Katie Hopkins. One day I happened to stumble on Fox & Friends, Fox News’ breakfast show, where the President of the United States gets most of his information. The show has three […]

If the Vice President and a majority of either Congress or the Senate decide that the President is no longer fit for duty, he’s out. I sometimes feel a little semi-detached from my own emotions. Like I’m observing everything which happens to me – and moreover, how I feel about it – at a remove. […]

The debate that never happened, the mauling at the hands of snarling interviewers and numerous car-crash moments … Television has both shaped and scarred the election campaign So that’s it. The General Election is done, dusted and decomposing on the scrapheap of political history. Good riddance, over and out… stand by for the next one. […]

As Theresa May’s Brexit election backfires spectacularly Richard Porritt, Matt Kelly, Geri Scott and Steve Anglesey pick over the bones of a dramatic night. In episode five of The New European podcast, the team relive a surprising election night and consider the fallout for Theresa May following her disastrous campaign. Listen now here.

May has somehow managed to deprive the country of the strong and stable government she claimed that only she could provide. It is hard to know where to start. But one thing is clear – whoever came up with the line ‘make June the end of May’ should be snapped up as a great predictive […]

This has been a dreadful campaign, as shallow and mean-spirited in its way as the Brexit campaign last summer, its proximate cause. In a remote Greek beach village, accessible only by sea, I woke with a start before dawn last Saturday. What if I had been stubbornly wrong in dismissing Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of defeating […]

This is not just after the event wisdom – we spelled out in last week’s newspaper exactly this eventuality and what it means for Theresa May; a figure not jut diminished, but broken, by this calamitous election. She clings on with a grubby alliance with the DUP and she promises its business as usual. She’s […]

June 8, 2017, will be remembered as the day the British people took a step back from the brink of a catastrophic Brexit. On Thursday morning, Theresa May was Mrs Landslide. On Friday morning, she was toast. A day is certainly a long time in politics. Her decline is justified. In calling this election, and […]

Theresa May’s Brexit election gamble has backfired spectacularly leaving her position at the top of the Tory party on a knife edge. None of the parties can now reach the 326-seat requirement that would enable them to form a government. Already questions are being asked about whether May can continue as Tory leader after calling […]

Edouard Louis’ work explores the rage felt among the French working class which shows no sign of dimming Before we all breathe too much of a sigh of relief that Marine Le Pen appears to have been vanquished by Macron for now, it’s worth keeping an eye on the author who claims to be able […]

Overshadowed by the tragedy in Syria, the Arabian Peninsular and Horn of Africa is the second front in the geo-political clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran The Trump Administration recently approved a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia – a deal which congressional lawmakers are actively trying to block. They have good reason to […]

Mind-boggling palindromes and decidedly odd tongue twisters Tongue Twisters From the well-known line ‘around the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran’ to the awkward phrase ‘red leather, yellow leather’ one aspect of mastering a language is being able to master its tongue twisters. And they are always decidedly odd sentences: Combien de sous sont ces […]

Socialist cats, liberal spaniels and awkward chips Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron and his 5-year-old Springer Spaniel Jasper – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images 1. Politicians grappling with their maths This election campaign will be remembered for senior politicians coming unstuck on their figures. Jeremy Corbyn went on Woman’s Hour to launch a childcare policy without […]

General Election news as it happens through the night and into the morning .

LIZ GERARD is angry. With everyone from Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn – and here is why. Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I’m just off to the polling station. My cross won’t make a jot of difference. The defending MP took 58% of the vote last time and won’t be dislodged. The parties I have voted […]

It’s not just the strong and stable sloganeering that has been laughable this election… .

From Conservative U-turns to when Corbyn met the masses – David Schneider shares the moments he’ll remember from the general election 2017 PA Images – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images 1. Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable’ slogan It’s like the Tories have gone ‘let’s pick a slogan and see if we can be the exact opposite […]

The thing that has made the Conservative Party the most formidable election-winning machine in political history is also its fatal weakness; its blithe assumption of authority. It may come as a surprise to those of you who only know me from this column to be told that politics is not the abiding obsession in my […]

Greg Wright’s viral campaign video is awkward enough to make even Alan Partridge cringe Sir Greg Knight, the Conservative candidate for East Yorkshire, has made sure his election campaign video is one to remember, for both its awkwardness and its creativity. The original cringe-worthy campaign video – with the lyrics ‘You’ll get accountability with Conservative […]

The downfall of Katie Hopkins reveals a truth. She doesn’t represent a silent majority. She only speaks for herself Altogether now, sing along… there’s only one Katie Hopkins, only one Katie Hopkins. Thankfully perhaps, that’s true enough. But it proved to be one too many for Britain’s leading talk radio station LBC. Amid no outpourings […]

Russia’s dangerous ruler has created a country that is a more unpredictable adversary than the Soviet Union ever was. A column of Russian armoured vehicles moves towards the Roki tunnel. – Credit: AFP/Getty Images At his most fundamental level, Putin is a kleptocrat, committed first and foremost to the preservation of the authoritarian mafia state […]