News and Opinion

Remainer author Sir Phillip Pullman has said that the government frontbench ‘should be resign’ if it was proven the government put Brexit before joining schemes that would protect healthworkers during the coronavirus outbreak. Author Philip Pullman. Photograph: Michael Leckie/PA. – Credit: PA The best-selling His Dark Materials author used a blog post to claim that […]

An ardent Boris Johnson supporter has leapt to the prime minister’s defence after it emerged the country’s leader missed five COBRA meetings in the lead up to the coronavirus outbreak. The man, known as John from Guildford, told LBC listeners during the James O’Brien show: ‘I think this is a great big media blow-up. Do […]

Experts warn that overusing hand sanitiser during the coronavirus epidemic could have the opposite effect in trying to prevent ill-health. WINSTON MORGAN issues a warning. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and governments have been advising people about the best hygiene practices to protect themselves. This advice has caused a significant surge in […]

An outspoken Remainer has called for Britain to ‘revisit’ the Brexit referendum after the coronavirus pandemic. Author Phillip Pullman said that politics ‘had to change’ in response to Covid-19, and called on the Labour Party to help re-frame the argument about Brexit. In a blog post, His Dark Materials writer Pullman condemned the government for […]

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has called on Boris Johnson to appoint a minister focused solely on the coronavirus response, and to establish a government department with responsibility for tackling the outbreak. Blair told Sky News that creating a department – or allocating senior ministers and business experts to tackle issues such as PPE […]

Newspaper calls for the lockdown to be lifted are out of step with public opinion. CATHERINE HAPPER says cabinet ministers would be wise to ignore the any rash decisions. In times of crisis and widespread concern about decision-making, the public are extremely reliant on journalists to put their questions to those in power. If there […]

A former chief scientific adviser has said that he cannot a recall a Cobra meeting which was not attended by the prime minister of the time. Professor Sir David King, who was chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, was asked about The Sunday Times investigation in which a Whitehall source claimed the government ‘missed […]

The Scottish government has called for a two-year extension to the Brexit transition period due to the coronavirus outbreak. Mike Rusell, the constitution secretary is urging the UK government to attend a joint meeting involving all ministers from the four nations to discuss the approach to Brexit during the Covid-19 outbreak. He wants the a […]

The government has been accused of ‘hiding behind scientists’ over the coronavirus outbreak at a time when there is ‘chronic failure of commonsense and leadership’. The allegations were made by Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan when he interviewed Oliver Dowden over his decision to allow the Cheltenham festival to go ahead days before the […]

The city renowned as Israel’s 24-hour capital has produced music fit for its reputation, says SOPHIA DEBOICK In few places has music been so important in defining a nation as in Israel. As early as the late 19th century, well before the state’s foundation in 1948, music was seen as a way to promote unity […]

Downing Street has hit back at newspaper reports about Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus, accusing the Sunday Times of ‘falsehoods’ and ‘errors’. The article claimed the Johnson administration ‘just watched’ as the death toll mounted in Wuhan, China. A government spokesman said: ‘This article contains a series of falsehoods and errors and actively misrepresents […]

EU citizens rights campaigners The3Million have said that ‘numerous’ EU nationals are being refused Universal Credit because of their settlement status. In a letter to the home secretary Priti Patel and work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey, the group warned that EU nationals with ‘pre-settled status’ were being turned away from essential benefits because they […]

Former Home Office civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam has formally launched legal action against Priti Patel. The department’s ex-permanent secretary is claiming ‘constructive dismissal’ in the claim submitted to an employment tribunal on Monday morning, civil servants’ union the FDA confirmed. Rutnam quit his post in February amid allegations of bullying behaviour by home secretary […]

Two-thirds of Britons want to see an extension to the Brexit transition period, with most preferring a longer extension until the coronavirus crisis has been resolved. The Focaldata poll, commissioned by cross-party campaign group Best for Britain and HOPE not hate, comes ahead of the first of three newly scheduled negotiating rounds between the UK […]

Iain Duncan Smith was left fuming in a live television after a presenter refused to accept blaming China as an explanation for the government’s slow response to the coronavirus outbreak. Iain Duncan Smith appears on Sky News to talk about the Sunday Times report on the coronavirus. Photograph: Sky News. – Credit: Archant The Tory […]

On the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Embassy siege, Richard Luck recalls the Britsploitation romp it inspired.. a film that spectacularly failed to do justice to the heroes it wanted to laud. Have your say Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a new book which takes us to a much storied corner of Europe. Confinement breeds wanderlust. If the current situation is teaching us anything positive it’s how to appreciate freedoms of which we thought practically nothing before, from seeing pasta on the shelves in a supermarket to throwing some clothes into a […]

A leading vaccinologist says it is ‘very difficult to predict’ when a coronavirus vaccine will be ready for the wider population. https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1251791687573176320?s=20 Sarah Gilbert from the University of Oxford appeared on the Andrew Marr show to explain the process of immunising against coronavirus. With the pandemic responsible for 15,464 confirmed deaths in the UK, as […]

Michael Gove has issued a staunch defence of the government’s response to coronavirus. The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was questioned by Sophy Ridge on the many perceived failures of government, following the publication of a damning report by the Times which accuses prime minister Boris Johnson of skipping five COBRA meetings as the […]

A new devastating report exposes how the government originally dismissed concerns about the coronavirus, and Boris Johnson failed to take action until it was too late. The Sunday Times report demonstrates Boris Johnson’s failure to take Covid-19 seriously until the end of February, and points out that when China first alerted the World Health Organisation […]

Author NIALL GRIFFITHS continues his occasional series of adventures across the continent, remembering the guardian angel who kept him out of trouble on a trip to Croatia We should all have our own personal Nened to appear at our shoulders in times of need, like the spectral ‘Third Man’ who would materialise at the peripherals […]

Michael Gove has confirmed that Boris Johnson missed five Cobra meetings about coronavirus, but insisted this was because the prime minister was not required. Asked about the Sunday Times report on the government’s handling of coronavirus, Gove told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge: ‘There are meetings across government, some which are chaired by the health secretary, […]

There is an undeniable pressure not to undermine the government’s response to the coronavirus. But LIZ GERARD argues we have a duty to question it. We are not at war. We cannot defeat the ‘enemy’ with grit or determination or by ‘fighting’ (and certainly not on the beaches). Walls do not have ears. This invader […]

Workers at an NHS trust have been told not to tweet about coronavirus matters including the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing. Staff at the mental health trust for Norfolk and Suffolk were issued with guidance for recommended use of social media on Friday evening urged them to avoid commenting on the topics […]

The Liberal Democrats have called for a £29-a-day ‘frontline service reward’ for those helping to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, just like the bonus paid to military personnel on active duty. The frontline service reward would be for the duration of the lockdown, the party said, adding that all key workers should also receive a coronavirus […]

Germany has been held up as an example of where Europe got the response to tackling the coronavirus right, despite having a bigger population than the United Kingdom. The European country has declared its coronavirus outbreak under control, as it prepares to take its first steps out of lockdown next week, with a partial reopening […]

The government has announced ‘a very large consignment’ of personal protective equipment (PPE) – including 400,000 gowns – is due to arrive in the UK from Turkey on Sunday. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick announced the consignment of 84 tonnes of PPE at a Downing Street briefing on Saturday afternoon. He said this shipment included 400,000 […]

Longtime Londoner WILL SELF on finding ghosts from the past in the locked-down capital Set in 1888, but published in 1890, in serial form in Lippincott’s Magazine, The Sign of Four is Arthur Conan Doyle’s second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective and intravenous drug addict. The plot has numerous convolutions – but the horse-drawn […]

Ministers are said to be split over whether to lift the coronavirus lockdown at the start of May or to wait until the summer. A number of ministers in cabinet are said to be frustrated the opportunity to debate the matter has been put on hold, with two strategies being considered at the top of […]

There is currently no evidence to support the belief that people who have recovered from coronavirus then have immunity, the World Health Organisation has said. Senior WHO epidemiologists warned despite the hopes governments across the world have piled on antibody tests, there is no proof those who have been infected cannot be infected again. Speaking […]

ALLIS MOSS tells the fascinating story of the offshore hideaway where the Yugoslav leader entertained celebrities and statesmen alike. Josip Broz Tito drives a cart on Brioni, 1969. His passengers are actress Sophia Loren, front left, and her husband, film producer Carlo Ponti and Tito’s wife Jovanka Broz. Picture: Getty Images – Credit: Bettmann Archive […]

Government ministers have been accused of losing control in the last few weeks. EMILIE ANCELIN says that Boris Johnson and his cabinet would benefit from looking to French president Emmanuel Macron for some tips in how to regain authority. Three weeks after putting the whole of France into lockdown, Emmanuel Macron gave his third address […]