Opinion

James Ball says Chris Grayling’s £14m ferry farce suggests it’s time to stop taking a collective nap and start panicking Transport Minister Chris Grayling. Photo: Getty Images – Credit: Getty Images If it weren’t a portent of the possible collapse of our country in three months’ time – Happy New Year everyone! – the case […]

A People’s Vote – or a second referendum – is the opportunity to give Britons that second chance to stop and think, writes BOB HALE. How many times have we heard someone say ‘in hindsight I would not have said that or in hindsight not done this’? Those of us supporting a People’s Vote are […]

The 1930s and 1940s created a template for festive films which is as powerful now as ever, writes BONNIE GREER. While filming Discovering: Christmas Films, which will be shown on Christmas Day and over the season on Sky Arts, it suddenly became clear to me that it was the Baby Boomer generation that discovered this […]

A grouchy MITCH BENN stays up late hatching a plot to finally put an end to Brexit. Every Leaver in Britain loved Brexit a lot… But the Gritch, who lived just outside London, Did NOT! The Gritch hated Brexit! The whole Brexitshambles! So he sat in his shed and he grumbled and rambled. It could […]

Early in 2018 the chances of no Brexit seemed totally out of reach, but the battle is now between a second referendum or the disaster of no-deal, writes JAMES BALL in this week’s Deconstructed. Let’s start with the good news: over the course of 2018 the chances of stopping Brexit – and the movement for […]

Theresa May’s sense of duty will go only get her so far. MURRAY HAWTHORNE says that she needs to show leadership to end the parliamentary stalemate she created. Theresa May won her vote of no confidence – but only just. Her 200 votes comprise a hollow victory; she herself a leader in purgatory on borrowed […]

There are still many questions to think about when it comes to another EU referendum. Former Conservative party adviser BARNABY TOWNS argues that anti-Brexit campaigners should be pushing to stop the Article 50 clock first. When the history of the Brexit crisis is written, the decision to trigger the Lisbon Treaty’s Article 50, setting the […]

The prime minister has a knack of categorically ruling something out before the opposite happens. BELLA FRIMPONG says a People’s Vote is the only way forward. Looking at the front pages it’s clear there is now only one political issue that is making the running. As a way of distracting from her epic failure at […]

British drama used to operate outside the constricting template of its American cousin. But does it still? If you are not a refugee, or coming for work or marriage, there are times when an immigrant must ask the question why their new nation was chosen. What made you really want to settle, become a citizen, […]

Suffering from Brexit burnout? MITCH BENN takes solace in the world of Doctor Who If, like me, you’re suffering from Brexit Burnout or just so bewildered by the rapidity and randomness of current events, you might find it quite therapeutic to give your aching grey cells a bit of a rest. With that in mind, […]

The European Court of Justice’s announcement earlier this week means the odds of stopping Brexit have changed but now new hurdles loom. The course of Brexit – or of trying to stop it – never runs smooth. This week we saw Theresa May bottle a vote on her deal, John Bercow bottle an effort to […]

For months headbangers in the European Research Group have threatened the prime minister. Theresa May has battled on with the threat of dismissal hanging over her like a hapless, over-promoted manager whose probation period is perilously close to its end. But now the ERG’s sword of Damocles has fallen. And they missed – they couldn’t […]

Young people from across the United Kingdom will gather in the House of Commons as it is packed out with MPs for Prime Minister’s Questions. BELLA FRIMPONG and PHOEBE POTTER explain why. This week, the prime minister abandoned the most important vote in the House of Commons for a generation, because she knows she cannot […]

Labour peer Lord Falconer has claimed that there hasn’t been a change of ‘circumstances’ to warrant a People’s Vote. CHEVAN ILANGARATNE explains why he is wrong. Because all of the problems which have occurred were all predicted, they were inherent in the plan to leave, campaigners argued what the dangers were and there was still […]

As young anti-Brexit campaigners plan to march on Westminster calling for a People’s Vote, JOSHUA CURIEL explains that politicians ignore the youth’s powerful voices at their peril. I believe three things about British politics. One, the public hates Westminster. Two, Brexit will leave my generation with what is arguably the worst inheritence in peacetime history. […]

MITCH BENN discusses how closely politics and Christmas should be linked. I come to report a disturbing development; in previous years (yes, this is now the third December in which I’ve been writing this column – doesn’t time fly when you’re mired in existential despair) I’ve noted that one bit of reactionary idiocy we’ve thus […]

Bonnie Greer’s touching tribute to the Second World War pilot who became an iconic social justice campaigner. ‘Wednesday’s child is full of woe,’ the nursery rhyme goes, and Harry Leslie Smith was born on a Wednesday. What could be called his ‘first life’ began in Barnsley. He was born to a coal miner father who […]

Readers are turning away from the BBC for their Brexit news – CHRIS CLODE explains why they’ve switched over. Having spent my life watching what I took to be BBC’s factual coverage of news, Brexit has cured our family. Now we have switched to Channel 4 for our evening news and for rolling 24-hour news, […]

Following a call from Exmouth, comedian Mitch Benn writes a rock parody song to offer an olive branch of understanding and cooperation to all the regretful Leave voters. I’m typing this while waiting for a video clip to ‘render’ (ie. be saved in a usable form); it’s taking a while, as my wheezy old laptop […]

Adrift and rudderless… It’s a matter of urgency. Bonnie Greer summarises the UK’s draft Withdrawal Agreement. The draft Withdrawal Agreement Theresa May brought back from Brussels should trouble us all. It does two things: it reveals something lurking in the shadows of Brexit – a deep, troubling and dangerous irrationality; and it is also the […]

We need a strategy to win the People’s Vote – which looks increasingly likely. Many former Brexit voters are bound to be very uneasy about the wisdom of their vote in 2016 but we must not patronise or insult them in the course of arguing for the remain option. The truth is that the voters […]

I am struck by the comments of Theresa May that her Brexit plan will stop EU migrants ‘jumping the queue’ when it comes to working in the UK. How low the UK has sunk that its Brexiteer government is now resorting to spreading resentment towards European citizens, classing them as ‘queue jumpers’? These individuals took […]

MARK LEMON has voted Labour since 1979 but feels he will not be able to vote for the party any longer if it does not changes its stance on Brexit. I am disgusted by Jeremy Corbyn’s attitude to a People’s Vote. Most Labour voters, MPs and party members want a chance to vote on any […]

With her leverage curtailed, the PM has upped the stakes to a dangerous level, writes JAMES BALL. When the ‘eurosceptic’ Conservative MP John Hayes was given a knighthood last week, his colleagues in parliament seemed less than delighted at his good fortune. Much of the reason for the discontent appears to be the suddenness of […]

The EU is the glue that holds superpowers together and UK’s failure to understand is a tragedy, says BONNIE GREER In my early days in this country, my television-watching consisted mainly of back-to-back documentaries. Gradually what began to fascinate me was the proliferation of programmes about the Second World War. They seemed to be endless. […]

Winning the right to repeal Article 50 could bring its own problems, says JAMES BALL Was there ever a better warning than ‘be careful what you wish for’? Hard Brexiteers are certainly getting that lesson in droves this week. First, they campaigned to leave the EU, and got their wish – only to discover that […]

For those who didn’t get a say in the original EU referendum they are hoping that there will be a People’s Vote so their voices can finally be heard. I am 20 years old and currently taking a second gap year to focus on the campaign I started to provide a youth voice on Brexit: […]

Let’s not forget, peace in Europe is not a natural state. We have to fight for it, says MITCH BENN I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the archive footage of the First World War trenches ‘restored’ by filmmaker Peter Jackson for his new documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. I put quotes around […]