All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Riddle: when is discrimination against a historically disadvantaged racial minority perfectly legal? Answer: when they do too well. The first ruling on the Students for Fair Admissions suit against Harvard University is in. A federal judge in Massachusetts concluded last week that for America’s be-all-and-end-all university to discriminate against Asian applicants in order to serve
I was five years old when the world first ended. That was in 2000, the year that a United Nations official predicted 11 years before that entire nations would be wiped out by rising sea levels. Since then, I have survived the Arctic melting on at least six separate occasions (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
For the latest competition you were invited to submit a poem about yellowhammers. This sparrow-sized songbird has inspired poetry from John Clare’s lovely ‘The Yellowhammer’s Nest’ to Robert Burns’s unlovely ‘The Yellow, Yellow Yorlin’ (‘But I took her by the waist, an’ laid her down in haste/, For a’ her squakin’ an’ squalin…’ and you
Donald Trump has consistently supported Britain’s departure from the European Union. ‘Countries want their own identity,’ the president has said, ‘and the UK wanted its own identity.’ Indeed, Trump has been such a forceful advocate of the Leave position that he has announced that he should be called ‘MR BREXIT’. Trump has assured Britons that
A paralysed prime minister holed up in Downing Street, a deadlocked Parliament out of touch with public sentiment and political discourse descending into rancour and abuse. Millions of British people can be forgiven for looking at this situation with total despair. What caused this situation? An unreformed political system well past its sell by date
It is one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent political history. On Wednesday afternoon, the Brexit talks seemed pretty much dead—hence my piece in the magazine this week. Even the optimists in Downing Street were struggling to see anyway through. But by Friday lunchtime, the UK and the EU were agreeing to intensify negotiations
I walked down Villiers Street to Embankment Tube station. In front of me were two Extinction Rebels, a mother and daughter. Strapped to the little girl’s back was a white teddy bear. Strapped to the bear’s back was the handwritten slogan: ‘You selfish gits. Stop burning down my house.’ I wonder how they knew I
‘We didn’t win two world wars to be pushed around by a Kraut.’ Do you find this statement: a) Funny, and rather pertinent b) Unfunny, and a bit embarrassing c) Conclusive proof that Brexiteers are reactionary xenophobes, whose desire to leave the EU is driven by hatred of Germany If you answered c) you may
In the great days of the Daily Telegraph’s Peter Simple column, when I was a youth, that acid but hilarious satire on contemporary Britain had a cast of imaginary characters of whom one of my favourites was the Very Reverend Dr Spacely-Trellis, the ‘go-ahead Bishop of Bevindon’. Spacely-Trellis was a ‘modern’ Anglican of the sort
As the world’s Catholic bishops meet in Rome to waffle about the problems of indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin, events in their own tribe have taken a dramatic turn. Last week, Vatican police raided the Church’s own money-laundering watchdog. Meanwhile, in a simultaneous raid on the Vatican Secretariat of State, prosecutors seized documents, computers,
Rory Stewart’s announcement that he would run as an independent candidate for Mayor for London was typically civilised. This was no political suicide bomb. Instead Stewart waited for his erstwhile party’s conference to finish before making his move. But this trademark decency does not render his decision any less barking to his detractors. I’m on friendly
Both domestically and internationally, Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn presents himself as a friend to Muslims, aware of and sympathetic to the problems they face. And superficially his presentation is valid. In stark contrast to his problems with the Jewish community, Corbyn does seem at ease with Muslims – he supported the community after Islamophobic attacks
The Labour party is abuzz with talk that the party could back a second referendum before a general election. It’s not that Jeremy Corbyn has suggested such a move is on the cards – in fact, this week he’s been saying the exact opposite while setting out his stall for a general election. However, John
As the clock ticks down to the European Council, can Boris get a last minute deal with the EU? Until today, this didn’t look likely. But the Irish and British governments have gone into the negotiating ‘tunnel’ – euphemism for a period of intense negotiations with no media scrutiny. But what could the two sides
The chance of a Brexit deal being agreed between the UK and EU has risen. This morning Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay met with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier to pick up where Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar left off at the pair’s Cheshire meet. With the Prime Minister and Taoiseach agreeing that they could see
The fate of Boris Johnson’s premiership will be determined by Nigel Farage and the Brexit party. Even if a Brexit deal can be agreed, another extension to the deadline of 31 October still seems possible. If the can is kicked down the road, the question of how Farage’s voters will react is key. Without the support
Donald Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria is one of the most shortsighted foreign policy miscalculations in recent memory. The president’s actions leaves the West’s Kurdish allies at the mercy of Turkey. And Trump’s bizarre attempt at justification – claiming that he abandoned the Kurds because they didn’t help the United States in the Second
‘The Ukraine Affair’ involving Donald Trump was front-page news across the world this month – but not in Ukraine itself. There were flutterings of embarrassment and face-palms on social media as the transcript of the Zelensky-Trump call emerged, but they very soon petered out. Believe it or not, on 1 October it was eclipsed by a
Brenda Hale is an incredibly clever and more importantly, kind, human being. On a human level you would do well to make a beeline for her at any party or stuffy function. Few judges have done more to help charitable causes and access to law. As I’m not a politician, you can trust me when
The Irish border is awash with journalists and pundits from Great Britain, scratching their heads in wet frontier fields patrolled by incurious Friesians. No border bridge has been left unmolested by visiting television crews in search of a sombre framing shot. The former ‘Killing Fields’ outside Enniskillen were my home until I left for university
I pass on, with little confidence or real understanding, that Boris Johnson seems to believe that Leo Varadkar and Dublin have lessened their objections of principle to his Brexit offer. Maybe both sides are moving in a significant way. We’ll see. What I should point out however is that if the negotiations were to collapse this weekend, that would
Is all hope lost that a Brexit deal can be agreed before 31 October? That’s been the mood music coming from both the UK and Brussels in recent days. However, Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar have this afternoon made a joint statement making clear that they haven’t given up on agreeing a deal just yet.
It’s time to say goodbye to Britain’s so-called Chief Nanny, Dame Sally Davies. In her final report as Chief Medical Officer, Davies shows why she won’t be missed. She proposes a ban on eating or drinking anything other than water on trains and buses. Davies also suggests that nothing fatty or sugary should be available to
This year’s Nobel Prize for the silliest piece of scientific research must go to something called the Climate Accountability Institute, for revealing to the world that 35 per cent of all global carbon and methane emissions since 1965 can be traced to just 20 global companies. This week they were named and shamed in the
We’ve begun to behave as if young people are special; more virtuous and wiser than adults. It’s wrong and it’s creepy and we’ve got to stop it — not for our sake so much as for theirs. It looks as if, come Friday, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg will win the Nobel peace prize, and if she
Members of the One Nation caucus of Conservative MPs met with Boris Johnson this afternoon over concerns the party could shift to a no-deal platform if an election takes place after a Brexit delay. No. 10 sources have suggested such a policy could be the best electoral route for the Tories in this scenario –
When Michael Gove was welcomed back into government this year and appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, some wondered if Boris Johnson was really wise to trust his old nemesis with the serious business of government. After all, Gove both ran against the PM in the recent leadership contest and, infamously, stabbed him in
I share Extinction Rebellion’s environmental concerns and I’ve previously joined their protests. My friends and colleagues fill their ranks. I even have a man-bun. But I can’t get behind their latest efforts to coax students to quit the classroom. Pre-empting this week’s disruption in London, Extinction Rebellion released a video recounting why student drop-outs, including marine
It was where we went on our first date. It was where we took our kids for meals out. And it was the one place we always knew we could get something decent to eat when we were stranded in a strange town. As Pizza Express runs into trouble and could ultimately fold, there has
If the Naga Munchetty fiasco wasn’t cause for enough embarrassment for the BBC, an apparent attempt to censor a script referring to a Sikh Guru’s martyrdom for fear it, ‘might offend Muslims’ should certainly be. The Beeb’s in-house ‘thought police’ have driven Lord Singh to quit a radio slot he’s contributed to for thirty-five years. It’s
When Anne Sacoolas – the wife of a diplomat who allegedly crashed into and killed teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn – fled the UK, she not only caused untold anguish to the Dunn family, but she also helped to undermine the system which protects diplomats and their families throughout the world. The right that is now
This morning when Angela Merkel told Boris Johnson his Brexit offer did not provide the requisite confidence that the border on the island of Ireland would be kept open while preserving the integrity of the EU’s single market, it looked as though any Brexit deal was dead – and that the Prime Minister would therefore
Elections are a busy period for most politicians – the time when they hit the streets of their constituencies, knock on doors and hand out thousands of leaflets – all in an attempt to keep their seats in the House of Commons. And while some undoubtably do work hard for every ballot slip, some MPs
