News and Opinion

If you don’t find sweets in your slipper or a festive log that poops presents, then is it really Christmas? 1) Austria Many towns put up a second tree, smaller than the one in the main square, and decorate it with treats for the birds to eat. 2) Bosnia and Herzegovina Naughty children in Bosnia […]

Amsterdam’s coffee shops seem the perfect embodiment of The Netherlands laid back, liberal outlook. But that belies a more sinister reality Last month, Amsterdam’s mayor, Eberhard van der Laan, announced the suspension of the city’s long-standing policy of closing down cannabis cafes involved in gun crime. This policy reversal followed a spate of ten shootings […]

Stephane Karo took a Romanian Gypsy band on tour and became a titan of European culture, with a claim to being the continent’s greatest musical mind Taraf De Haidouks became one of the most unlikely world music success stories thanks to the vision and energy of Stephane Karo – Credit: Archant Last month, a 56-year-old […]

Never mind Ode to Joy, Europe’s real anthem is another Beethoven masterpiece, one which tells the story of the continent Revolution of 1848 – Credit: Corbis via Getty Images Amidst the drama and dismay of 2016 it is poignant that a BBC Music Magazine survey of the world’s leading conductors this autumn voted Beethoven’s revolutionary […]

The Brexit and Trump victories were both forged in towns, angry at how globalisation has abandoned them to their fate. But things could be about to get even worse for them A week or before the US presidential election, I visited Youngstown in eastern Ohio. On a deserted street corner, across from a bail bondsman […]

For 70 years, the European Union, and its previous incarnations, has been an undeniable force for peace Tthe Union flag and the EU flag. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images Since the Second World War, with countries opting to work together to resolve differences, tensions between peoples and nations have reduced. Other organisations, such as NATO, […]

The threat of a hard border in Ireland is not a side issue in the Brexit debate, but a looming catastrophe for us all Cards on the table. We run an organisation called Open Britain but we both have a strong personal interest in what happens in Ireland. We are two of the estimated six […]

The catastrophe unfolding in Aleppo shows Europe, and Britain in particular, of the need to remain a powerful player on the global stage Images from Aleppo – warplanes in the sky, terrified children, families struggling with luggage, wheelchairs and IV drips in rubble-strewn streets, doctors blinking at ruined hospitals – have been plastered across our […]

Brexit has distracted Europe from the foreign policy crises on its doorstep, including the horror of Aleppo. This British diversion endangers the whole continent, including the UK Contrary to the much vaunted ‘left behind’ argument, Brexit is also a symptom of affluence and complacency supported by large numbers of comfortably-off voters. Many of the identity […]

As the row over Trousergate rumbles on, Liz Gerard explores why Fleet Street and Westminster are so obsessed with the Prime Minister’s fashion sense They’re gorgeous. So soft. And that cosy jumper. Terrific. But something’s amiss. And it’s not just those ghastly shoes. Or the price. We know what Theresa May looks like when she’s […]

Things just got sassy Professor AC Grayling has waged a tireless campaign against the flawed arguments of Brexiteers. In his latest letter, sent to all MPs, he makes a very simple demand of them ______________________ Dear MP, You are a representative of your constituents, and – as one who deliberates and votes on legislation affecting […]

The last three Conservative Prime Ministers were all brought down by the issue of Europe – and none faced problems anything like as grave as those confronting May This darkly wretched year moves towards its end with a row between Number Ten and a former cabinet minister over Theresa May’s leather trousers. A few days […]

In 2013 Labour’s Mary Creagh voted with her party in opposing intervention against President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal clampdown In Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, thousands of residents have been trapped for months, subjected to siege and starvation, and attacked with chemical weapons. As the city fell to regime forces this week, reports emerged of summary executions, […]

… we are dismantling Europe’s response to evil Smoke rises following a Syrian government air strike on rebel positions, in eastern Aleppo – Credit: AP/Press Association Images In 1936, the Spanish Republican government printed a poster featuring the face of a dead child beneath a sky of fascist bombers and the legend: If you tolerate […]

Britain’s EU ambassador has warned the government a post-Brexit trade deal could take a decade to finalise and even then may fail to get ratified by member states. It has emerged Sir Ivan Rogers told ministers in October that other EU members believed a trade deal may not be hammered out until the early to […]

2016 Year of Brexit magazine – a must-have for every Remainer! It has been a very bumpy ride but 2016 is – finally – drawing to a close. And to commemorate the year when Britain turned its back on its closest neighbours and biggest trading partners we at The New European have produced an annual […]

How to appreciate the art of camp stove cooking in the Scottish wilderness I spend a lot of time train-bound. Moving back to Scotland back in 2013 was a calculated risk; had we secured independence there would have been no shortage of work in a new, vibrant Scotland with all the challenges that entailed. No-one […]

Could the battle of left versus right be a thing of the past? So I’ve got a new MP; as I’m sure you will have heard, last week Zac Goldsmith managed to lose a majority of 25,000 in Richmond Park to be unseated by the endearingly gobsmacked-looking Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Olney. This has been […]

Sir Keir Starmer has issued a Brexit battle cry warning the government they face a scrap in the Commons over leaving the EU In a major speech setting out Starmer’s push to refocus Labour’s Brexit efforts he also told the PM he would not allow Theresa May to be handed a ‘blank cheque’ to trigger […]

There is a lot more to winter sports than skiing and snowboarding. And, far more places to experience them than just the Alps. We pick 10 places for snow and sport Kainuu, Finland You don’t have to traipse all the way across to arctic Alaska to experience the life of a pioneering dog musher. The […]

The post-EU referendum spike in inflation returned in November as the cost of living continued to squeeze the country’s bank balances. Inflation rebounded to a two-year high last month – driven by a hike in the price of clothes and fuel – after a brief respite in October. But as shoppers headed to the High […]

The Foreign Secretary thinks he’s re-creating Britain’s imperial past. In fact, he acts like he’s in ‘Allo ‘Allo, and is turning the UK into a Twilight Zone of bunting and marching bands ‘The biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux tapestry.’ That’s how the Right Honourable Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, currently Secretary of State for Foreign […]

Is the populism supposedly sweeping the Western world part of a domino effect set to continue into 2017 and beyond? Immigration and in particular integration have dominated the headlines in Italy, Austria and now in Germany. Several commentators have rushed to identify a causal connection between public sentiment over migration and the outcome of recent […]

The Brexit timetable vote helped to define the battlefield, but the bloodshed is all still to come The long walk from the House of Commons chamber to the adjacent corridor where they are required to vote, is one that can really concentrate the minds of MPs. This much was clear to see, as they trudged […]

UKIP’s Nigel Farage is everywhere – but does he warrant the exposure the media afford him? https://twitter.com/TheNewEuropean/status/807198195755417600 Last Thursday evening, former UKIP leader and current Donald Trump lickspittle Nigel Farage took his place on the panel of the BBC’s flagship politics show Question Time. On November 30, when David Dimbleby announced that Farage would be […]

Richmond Park must be an inspiration for those wanting an open, tolerant Britain – and we must shout loud enough to wake the government from its sleepwalk towards a trade war All the noise had come from the Hard Brexiteers: ‘we want an ugly, messy divorce,’ the Brexiteers chanted ‘and we want it yesterday’. Sure, […]

For the Labour Party, Brexit is neither a sprint nor a marathon. Brexit is a long, hard, treacherous mountain climb; just one slip and you could find yourself tumbling headlong to your doom. Many greeted the Opposition Day Motion to accept the timetable for Article 50 in return for a concrete plan for Brexit as […]

Think 2016 was a big year for surprising election results? Here are 7 European elections set to tear-up the political rulebook January 22, 2017 French Socialist party primary With the French centre right having chosen free-marketeer François Fillon as its presidential candidate in November, January will be the turn of the other ageing colossus of […]