Politics

The EU has been adamant that there will be no negotiation with the UK without formal notification that Britain is leaving. But next Wednesday, Theresa May will formally trigger Article 50—beginning the two-year process for Britain leaving the EU.  Many in government expect the start of the talks to be difficult: ‘get ready for a spot of turbulence’ says one of those intimately involved in the preparations for the negotiations. The expectation is that the EU will insist that the so-called ‘divorce bill’ must be settled first while the UK is adamant that it will only discuss that if the future trade relationship between the UK and the EU is also on

Spare a thought for Boris Johnson. Ever since the Brexit vote, the Foreign Secretary has struggled with the often hostile reception he now receives in London from angry remain-ers. Now it seems things have got so bad that he can’t even enjoy a quiet night out at the theatre. Thandie Newton — the Crash actress — tells the Sunday Times that her teenage daughter, Ripley, spotted Johnson in the audience on a recent trip to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre. Alas Ripley doesn’t hold such a high opinion of the Conservative politician and she proceeded to seek him out to alert him to this fact: ‘She

If Nicola Sturgeon is not the only star in the nationalist firmament, she remains the only one that can be relied upon to shine brightly. The SNP’s conference in Aberdeen this weekend reminded us of that fact. Angus Robertson commands a measure of respect but not even he would claim to be loved by the party. Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t always been either; she is now. And there was a reason—or, rather, many reasons—why Alex Salmond as denied the chance to address delegates from the conference stage. Yesterday’s man is considered an unfortunate embarrassment these days. And Sturgeon’s speech began well. ‘Our job is not to talk to each other’ she

We all have our roles.  In the world order which we inhabit, Ireland has one chief international responsibility: each St Patrick’s Day, its Taoiseach (prime minister) sets off to the Oval Office bearing a bowl of shamrocks. Ireland’s current Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, has been in the job since March 2011.  In Ireland’s last elections, last February, he fell 29 seats short of an overall majority.  From then, he started to face calls to resign.  In February 2017, a scandal broke involving a whistleblower in the Gardaí, Ireland’s police.  Kenny survived a confidence vote in February, but barely.  Later that month, he addressed his parliamentary party, saying he would make the