The Daily Mail calls those who ‘heaped adulation’ on Fidel Castro over the weekend – including the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – ‘useful idiots’. The paper says after Castro’s death on Saturday, the Cuban leader’s supporters are ignoring the ‘poverty he inflicted on his people’ as well as his torturing of political opponents and the fact that he ‘failed his people abysmally’. So why, the Mail asks, do those like the Labour leader have such a different view of the former Cuban leader? The paper suggests in its editorial that there is a simple answer: ‘Messrs Corbyn, McDonnell and Co have never grown up since their student days’.
Meanwhile, the Mail also takes a pop at Mark Carney. It says that the Bank of England governor is being something of a hypocrite after criticising the PM for ‘trespassing on his patch’ when she spoke out against low interest rates. Isn’t Carney doing the same ‘with his suggestion that Britain should remain in the EU until 2021,’ the Mail asks? The paper goes on to say that this ‘meddling in politics’ is hardly for the first time either – given Carney’s ‘contributions to Project Fear’.
The Guardian offers something of a defence of Fidel Castro in its morning editorial, urging readers to view the Cuban dictator through ‘the political and intellectual setting of 20th-century Latin American anti-colonialism rather than seeing him through the eyes of the 21st century’. The paper says Castro won his battle against ‘a brutal and corrupt US-friendly regime’ and that despite his many sins ‘that can never be excused’, ‘there also emerged a remarkable system of health care and education’ which boosted life expectancy significantly’.
Fidel Castro’s death is the chance for Cuba to ‘free itself’ from the ‘malign shadow’ of the country’s former leader, according to the Times. It says those praising him are part of a ‘deluded generation of western students’ and the paper says the only ‘marvel’ is how Castro managed to cling on for so long. The Times points out that in his final years economic woes forced Castro to soften his approach slightly – but says that ’there were no political concessions, no free elections and no let-up in the propaganda war with Washington’. Yet Castro’s death does now provide the chance for proper change, the Times argues. It says ‘Washington now has a chance to coax Cuba down the road to liberty’ – but will Donald Trump capitalise on that opportunity? The early signs shown by the president-elect don’t look promising, the paper says.
When Theresa May lies awake at night worrying about Brexit, she should find some reassurance from ‘one critical player in this unfolding debate’ – the Polish prime minister, Beata Szydło, according to the Telegraph. The PM is due to meet her Polish counterpart in Downing Street today, and the Telegraph says its an ideal opportunity to see how the Brexit deal can be negotiated in a ‘down-to-earth’ way. The paper says Poland ‘shares many of our misgivings about the EU’s undemocratic nature’ and goes on to say that ‘Mrs Szydło’s talk of ‘a constructive’ approach should reassure Britain – and Theresa May – that Brexit negotiations do not need to be ‘as punitive and intractable as Remainers imagine’.
And in the Sun, Trevor Kavanagh agrees that now is no time to be fed-up about Britain’s future. It might be true that Brexit ‘is the toughest political challenge faced by Britain in peacetime’. But there is still plenty to smile about, he points out. Companies are queuing up to invest in Britain and the PM also has ‘more subtle cards to play’ – most notably the fact that ‘squabbling EU states need us more than we need them’. And while Brussels might be trying to play hard ball and threaten Britain over what kind of Brexit deal the UK will end up with, its important to remember that ‘the angry words and threats from Brussels are . . . just words,’ Kavanagh says.
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