News and Opinion

In the 12 months since the 2019 general election, Boris Johnson has seen his party’s poll lead drop from double-digits to level-pegging with Labour. The Tories had opened up a large gap in the polls by the end of 2019, boosted by the personal appeal of Johnson and a successful election campaign message of Get […]

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has insisted it would be “completely wrong” for Labour not to vote one way or the other, should the UK and EU reach an agreement, given it is the “most important issue of the day”. Shadow ministers appearing on the Sunday round of broadcast interviews repeatedly said they wanted prime […]

Gordon Brown has said he believes Scotland would not vote for Scottish independence but branded Boris Johnson “out of touch” over devolution. The former prime minister predicted that Scots would vote to remain part the UK in another referendum but warned it would be a “hard battle” to keep the union together. Brown also described […]

The Dutch city might be better known for its art, but from its Golden Age to the present day music has been at the heart of its identity. SOPHIA DEBOICK reports. Despite spending his whole life in his home city of Delft, 40 miles from Amsterdam, Vermeer is as synonymous with the capital of the […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY profiles the thinker Hannah Arendt. In 1960 Hannah Arendt noticed that Adolf Eichmann, one of the key architects of the Holocaust, was due to stand trial in Israel the following year. A decade earlier Arendt had published her groundbreaking book Origins of Totalitarianism, in which she examined the roots in anti-Semitism and 19th […]

The paintings of JMW Turner tell the fast-paced story of the modern age bursting into being. Claudia Pritchard reports on a new exhibition which recounts this gripping tale. At first glance, the silvery mound of fresh-caught fish in the foreground looks ready for pan and the plate, but the pilchards in Joseph Mallord William Turner’s […]

Lech Walesa helped create modern Poland. Thirty years after he came to power, MICK O’HARE reports on a complex character and his even more complex legacy When Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party was re-elected in October 2019 under prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki it was on a ticket of more of the same. More right-wing […]

TIM WALKER on how Brexit helped turn actor Frances Barber from an enemy to a friend. It was a young man named Tyler who first acquainted me with Frances Barber. Six years ago, she boarded a plane at Heathrow bound for Los Angeles and he’d been seated beside her. The crew made a big fuss […]

Jonathan Sale on the centenary of a courtroom drama centred on Rudyard Kipling’s celebrated poem, If, and the continuing power of the very iffy word itself. If – and it’s a big if – I’m any judge of groundbreaking literary cases, this month sees the centenary of a wonderful example of poetic justice in action:  Rudyard Kipling […]

Jason Solomons finds actor Viggo Mortensen in characteristically ebullient mood in their over-running Zoom catch-up. Although still best-known to audiences as heroic Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films, actor Viggo Mortensen has a reputation in the business as cinema’s Renaissance Man. He acts, writes poetry, composes music, sings, paints, runs a publishing imprint, […]

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier has cancelled a Brexit briefing with national envoys because of “ongoing intensive negotiations in London”, a spokesman for the bloc confirmed. Barnier has binned a Friday briefing for national envoys to the bloc in the latest sign both sides could be nearing a trade deal. Hopes for an agreement had been […]

Conservative Party members have rated Boris Johnson as one of the least popular figures in cabinet, according to a new survey. The monthly poll by ConservativeHome found Johnson, polling at a satisfaction rating of 2.6, was only slightly more popular than health secretary Matt Hancock (0.4) and housing minister Robert Jenrick (-1.8). Party chair Amanda Milling received -14.6 while education […]

The Brexit deal we end up with won’t be worth the paper it’s written on, and Boris Johnson is to blame, writes LUISA PORRITT, the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor of London. Like many Brits, I have been on a streaming spree of The Crown over lockdown. For those who haven’t been watching, the latest series […]

A Brexiteer economist who said Britain’s fishing industry had been “decimated” by the EU has been urged to review his facts. Liam Halligan, an economist and Sunday Telegraph writer, claimed Britain had a “colonial relationship” with the EU over fishing rights. Appearing on BBC 1’s Question Time, Halligan said: “Two-thirds of fish in British waters are caught by […]

Boris Johnson’s majority in “Red Wall” seats could be “wiped-out” at the next general election, new polling has revealed. The Tories could lose as many as 36 out of the 45 “Red Wall” seats it won in last December’s General Election. Voters said mishandlings around the coronavirus and Johnson’s decision to stand by Dominic Cummings following […]

Ivor Gaber on a new book which lays bare the threats facing the BBC, and why we should all care. The title of the book says it all… The War Against the BBC: how an unprecedented combination of hostile forces is destroying Britain’s greatest cultural institution….And why you should care. And the two authors know what […]

Brexit talks are due to continue on Friday amid warnings the prospect of a breakthrough is “receding”. Negotiations between the UK and EU seemed to stall on Thursday – with Britain claiming Brussels was calling for fresh concessions at the 11th hour. And with the Brexit transition period due to end on December 31, there […]

It is May 2021. The morning after the Scottish parliament election. And in line with the most recent polling, the SNP has won a landslide, taking 56% of the constituency vote and 47% of the regional vote. The result means a significant Holyrood majority for the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon declares it a clear mandate for […]

BONNIE GREER on the breath of fresh air that Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state represents. President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, speaks French. This is not unusual for many who join the foreign service of the United States. Former senator and presidential candidate, John Kerry – Barack Obama’s foreign secretary – […]

The money on offer was good, says WILL SELF, but it was outweighed by the ridicule and sense of personal failure that would have followed. When all else fails – opined the wit and poet, Christopher Logue – try Wales. The makers of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! have certainly cleaved to […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed on Thursday that devolution would be a “triumphant success” if the Conservative party had a majority in Holyrood – and slammed what he called the “failure of the SNP” to deliver for Scotland.  The leader of the House of Commons made the remark to SNP MP Tommy Sheppard during a session of […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that Eton “work very well” without girls, dismissing calls by the education secretary to make the school mixed-sex. Rees-Mogg, a former Etonian, spoke out after Gavin Williamson suggested it would be a “great step forward” if the elite schooling institute altered its admissions policy to include female students. Boris Johnson, David […]

A prominent public health expert has said that anti-lockdown campaigners are responsible for worsening the very restrictions they oppose. Professor Devi Sridhar, chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh told the Stormont politicians: “The people who are most anti-lockdown have been frustrating to listen to because those are the people pushing us into lockdown… “The […]

A fish merchant has said he was “brainwashed” into voting for Brexit and that he “wishes he hadn’t”. Brixham-based fish merchant Ian Perkes told Financial Times (FT)that he “never looked at implications of the paperwork” that a vote to leave would bring.  Perkes has now added his name to a letter from the fishing industry to […]

The importance of the fishing industry – and its centrality to the Brexit negotiations – does not lie in economic figures. Fishing, in the UK, is important. And, generally speaking, many Remain supporters have failed to understand that – and it could even be argued our failure to do so helps to explain not just why […]

Chris Philp has refused to rule out the Home Office using a “giant wave machine” to deter migrant crossings in the English Channel. Philp told the Commons home affairs committee that ministers had not counted out sending asylum seekers to Ascension Island or to disused oil platforms as their claims were processed. Philp came under pressure to deny reports that the […]

This week’s Question Time comes from Bath, a city that has its own currency and was the filming location for Les Miserables and TV series Inspector Morse. But what will the virtual audience make of this week’s panel of politicians from the past and present? On the panel is: Michelle Donelan MP Michelle Donelan is […]

Weak Labour is letting itself be led by the Conservatives on Brexit.  It’s the hope that kills you. Every football fan knows the feeling. But it’s the same in politics too. Despite being kicked out of the party a while back I so hope Labour win the next election. I so hope the venality and incompetence […]

Gavin Williamson has become the centre of an ongoing joke after he claimed Britain swiftly approved a Covid-19 vaccine because it was a “much better country” than others. The education secretary told LBC radio that Britain had “much better” medical regulators than France, Belgium, and the US, who helped rapidly approve a coronavirus vaccine. Commenting UK regulators approving […]

TIM WALKER on the latest manoeuvrings for the job of BBC chair. Plus, the return of Michael Gove’s mystery leaker. Mandrake hears that the BBC plans to announce its new chair before Christmas and it looks as if Richard Sharp – a Tory donor who was once Rishi Sunak‘s boss at Goldman Sachs – is a shoo-in. More […]

Germany’s health minister has struck down claims UK officials were able to swiftly authorise the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine because of Brexit. Jens Spahn said the claims had been ‘misplaced’ as he reminded Westminster politicians that the vaccine had been partly developed by German biotech start-up. In a briefing on Wednesday, Spahn said although Britain had already approved […]

Joe Biden will be an infinitely tougher prospect for Vladimir Putin than Donald Trump. Yet the Russian president still has time on his side, says JOHN KAMPFNER. George W Bush, not a man commonly thought of as soft, said this of Vladimir Putin at their first meeting in 2001: “I looked the man in the […]