Political news

• Killing In The Name Of Tradition? That's A Red Rag To A Bull

  12-11-2017 23:55
  The Foreign Office said, very recently: "The Foreign Secretary (Boris Johnson) was expressing a personal view that he respects this Spanish tradition." This was, of course, in response to his remarks that the banning of bullfighting is 'political correctness gone mad'. He's not alone, of course. Cruelty in pursuit of 'tradition' is one of the most common excuses an animal welfare campaigner hears. And yet it's one of the weakest and ill-conceived arguments against the perpetuation of brutality.T
  
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• EU Planning For Failure Of Brexit Talks, Says Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier

  12-11-2017 22:58
  The EU’s chief negotiator has warned that the union is drawing up contingency plans in case of a “no deal” Brexit.Michel Barnier said that the collapse of talks with the UK was a “possibility” though not his preferred option.He told French newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche: “It’s not my option, but it’s a possibility.“Everyone needs to plan for it, member states and businesses alike. We too are preparing for it technically.&ldq
  
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• Viable Pipe Bomb Found Near Omagh War Memorial Before Remembrance Sunday Parade

  12-11-2017 21:08
  A viable pipe bomb was discovered close to a war memorial in Omagh before a Remembrance Sunday parade took place, police have confirmed.The march was diverted and the traditional wreath-laying at the Co Tyrone town’s cenotaph was postponed after the area was sealed off following the discovery of the device on Sunday.It comes almost two decades after a dissident republican Real IRA blast killed 29 in the busy market town in 1998.My statement re the senseless act of disruption in Omagh this
  
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• ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Result: Ruth Langsford Is The Seventh Celebrity To Leave The Competition

  12-11-2017 21:01
  Ruth Langsford has become the seventh celebrity to leave ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.The ‘Loose Women’ and ‘This Morning’ presenter faced Paralympic gold medallist Jonnie Peacock in Sunday night’s dreaded dance off.Ruth and Anton Du Beke and Jonnie and his partner Oti Mabuse bothalso performed their Foxtrot again.It was then down to the judges to decide who to save. Craig Revel Horwood chose to keep Jonnie and Oti, telling them: “The person I think tha
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe On 'Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown' Amid Breast Cancer Fears

  12-11-2017 20:05
  The British woman who has been jailed in Iran has seen a medical specialist after finding lumps on her breasts and is “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”, her husband has said.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held in one of Iran’s most brutal prisons on charges of spying and spreading propaganda, despite only being in the country on holiday with her daughter visiting her parents.Nazanin has been held for around 19 months, but her situation was made worse earlier this month
  
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• If prominent remainers apologise to angry leavers, Brexit can still be avoided | Letters

  12-11-2017 19:17
  Brian Forsdick argues leading remainers must acknowledge that many people who voted Brexit have every right to be angry; Martin Large says the effects of crushing market fundamentalism drove the Brexit vote; plus letters from Tim Worstall of the Adam Smith Institute, Rev John Cameron, Ian West, Richard Bull and Andrew WilksAt last a prominent remainer, Jonathan Freedland, has woken up to the reality of the continued support for Brexit (We’ll never stop Brexit and Trump till we address the
  
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• Gove accused of worsening British-Iranian woman’s plight

  12-11-2017 18:50
  Environment minister says it is Tehran, not Boris Johnson, that should be in the dock
  
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• We Must Find A More Environmentally Friendly Way To Commemorate Remembrance Day

  12-11-2017 18:26
  In essence I appreciate the sentiment and symbolism of the Remembrance Poppy Appeal and there is no doubt that the Poppies' presence serves as a poignant reminder of service men and women worldwide who have fought, or continue to fight, in global conflicts. This is important, no doubt, as we strive towards living peacefully with our fellow humans. The unspoken irony of this tradition is the environmental cost of the annual affair itself, which inevitably adds a dimension of threat to an already
  
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• Why You Should Care How Tertiary Legislation Is Hidden Within The EU Withdrawal Bill

  12-11-2017 18:23
  I am going to explain how Clause 7 of the EU Withdrawal Bill this week takes away control from Parliament and hands it to the Government, and to unelected public bodies in a way that nobody voted for on June 23rd 2016.In particular, the clause Bill creates the opportunity for the Government to 'legislatively sub-delegate' - in other words create tertiary legislation. Once you understand what tertiary legislation is, you'll see why anyone who cares about our constitition should be willing Parliam
  
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• It's Time To Reign In The 'Man With Long Arm' But We Also Need To Empower Women

  12-11-2017 18:00
  It's a sad fact of life that not everyone behaves well all of the time. We knew this long before Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey were accused of sexual harassment and assault. And we knew about sexual harassment in the workplace long before recent Westminster revelations.The key thing for me is power. This is what links the current investigations being undertaken in Westminster, Holyrood and Cardiff on the one hand with the Hollywood scandal on the other. It's about power in the workplace. Sex
  
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• Remembrance Sunday: Prince Charles Leads Tributes To War Dead

  12-11-2017 17:45
  The nation fell silent at 11am as people across the country reflected on the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers on Remembrance Sunday.The Prince of Wales laid the first of many wreaths at the Cenotaph in a scene repeated at war memorials around the country.The Queen had asked Charles to lay her wreath at the Whitehall memorial, in what is believed to be the first time the monarch has broken with tradition and not performed the symbolic duty when at the central London service.Wreaths were laid at
  
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• Sadiq Khan Willing To Meet Donald Trump Despite Twitter 'Fisticuffs'

  12-11-2017 17:42
  Sadiq Khan says he is willing to meet Donald Trump when the US president visits the UK, despite the rocky relationship the pair have so far fostered on social media.The London mayor added he would be happy to show Trump parts of the capital where people of different faiths and none “respect, celebrate and embrace” each other.He also described himself as a “reluctant participant” in Twitter “fisticuffs” with Trump, which included the pair clashing over the resp
  
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• I Don't Care About The Artistic Output of Abusive Men

  12-11-2017 17:30
  So Louis C.K. has finally been unveiled as a serial harasser of women; Hollywood's answer to the creepy mac-clad flasher in your local park. On Thursday the New York Times broke the story, which has been bubbling furiously beneath the surface of the Harvey Weinstein allegations for weeks. Five brave women came forward to tell the Times that C.K. had masturbated, or had asked to masturbate, in front of them. And guess what - no one in comedy is shocked, because everyone in the industry knew about
  
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• Sunday Shows Round-Up: David Davis Dismisses Moves To Oust PM And Gove Backs Boris

  12-11-2017 16:36
  It has been a busy week in politics with Theresa May replacing two cabinet ministers and calls intensifying for her to sack a third - Boris Johnson. Brexit talks got back underway in Brussels on Friday and speculation is mounting about May’s future as PM, with 40 Tory MPs reported to be ready to back a vote of no confidence in her leadership. So, despite some shows not airing on this Remembrance Sunday, it was a very busy day for politics news.  The Andrew Marr Show&nbs
  
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• Russia Investigation Focuses In On What Donald Trump And Top Aides Knew

  12-11-2017 15:19
  Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has questioned Sam Clovis, co-chairman of Donald Trump’s election campaign, to determine if the President or top aides knew of the extent of the campaign team’s contacts with Russia, two sources familiar with the investigation said on Friday.The focus of the questions put to Clovis by Mueller’s team has not been previously reported.“The ultimate question Mueller is after is whether candidate Trump and then President-electTrump k
  
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• Gove fends off Labour calls for foreign secretary’s scalp

  12-11-2017 15:17
  Environment minister says it is Tehran, not Boris Johnson, that should be in the dock
  
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• EU planning for collapse of Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier

  12-11-2017 14:43
  Chief negotiator says no-deal scenario is not Brussels’ preferred option, but everyone needs to plan for itThe EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has said the bloc is drawing up contingency plans for the possible collapse of Britain’s departure talks. Barnier, who last week gave the UK a two-week deadline to provide greater clarity on the financial settlement it was prepared to offer as part of the divorce deal, told France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper the f
  
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• Michael Gove Says He 'Doesn't Know' What Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Was Doing In Iran

  12-11-2017 14:04
  Michael Gove said he doesn’t know what British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing in Iran before she was arrested and jailed.The British-Iranian was visiting family in Iran, but is being held on accusations of spying and spreading propaganda.Blundering Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is thought to have added five years to her jail term after he said that she had been “training journalists”.Prime Minister Theresa May faces mounting pressure to sack Johnson, who will not apo
  
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• Sir James Dyson's Vision For Post-Brexit Britain Is Raising A Few Eyebrows

  12-11-2017 14:01
  Billionaire businessman Sir James Dyson has said it is time to walk away from negotiations with the EU and a post-Brexit Britain should scrap corporation tax and make it easier to hire and fire workers.The entrepreneur, who campaigned for Leave in the referendum, said it was quite outrageous that “incredibly unreasonable” Brussels Is demanding “billions and billions”.Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “I don’t think it is the Government’s fault,
  
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• 'Why Would You Want To Sack Him?' Tories Rally Round Boris Johnson

  12-11-2017 12:49
  Boris Johnson is “doing a great job” despite potentially consigning a British-Iranian mum to more years in a Tehran jail, his allies in the Tory party insist. As calls intensify for Theresa May to sack the foreign secretary, cabinet ministers used the Sunday politics shows to get behind Johnson. He has drawn criticism for a series of errors, the latest of which saw him wrongly assert that aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was “training journalists in Iran”.&n
  
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• Michael Gove: I don't know what jailed Briton was doing in Iran

  12-11-2017 12:39
  Environment secretary’s comments follow outrage from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family over Boris Johnson remarksMichael Gove has risked inflaming the situation of a British mother imprisoned in Iran by saying that he does not know what she was doing in the country, in contradiction of the government’s official position that she was there on holiday.The environment secretary’s comments on the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe follow outrage from her family earlier this
  
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• Former Scotland Yard Chief ‘Knew Of Damian Green Pornography Claims’

  12-11-2017 12:23
  Following the Sunday Times’ report, Green said the story was “completely untrue” and the allegations amounted to “false, disreputable political smears”.He added: “More importantly, the police have never suggested to me that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer, nor did I have a ‘private’ computer, as has been claimed.”Sir Paul said he had viewed the allegations as a “side issue” and it was not Scotland Yard&rsq
  
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• Boris Johnson Met 'London Professor' Joseph Mifsud Embroiled In Trump/Russia Investigation

  12-11-2017 11:21
  A photograph has emerged of Boris Johnson meeting the “London Professor” named in the statement of offences against Donald Trump’s former foreign policy advisor who pled guilty to lying to the FBI last month.The Foreign Secretary has already denied meeting Joseph Mifsud but a picture on Facebook posted last month clearly shows the two men together at a recent event.Johnson now faces accusations of a possible security breach at a time when concerns are being raised abo
  
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• Donald Trump's Latest North Korea Gaffe Has Basically Proven Kim Jong-Un Right

  12-11-2017 10:39
  Donald Trump has... erm... we’re not even sure anymore.The President of the United States who is a 71-year-old adult currently representing the world’s most powerful country on a tour of Asia, last night tweeted this...Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!November 12, 2017
  The USA has been locked in a war of words with North Korea since the country
  
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• May faces defeat by MPs demanding meaningful vote on final Brexit deal

  12-11-2017 10:28
  Remainers in Commons say they have the numbers to veto a bad deal or no dealTheresa May faces a devastating Commons defeat over Brexit within weeks if she continues to deny parliament a meaningful vote on the final deal with the EU, Tory and Labour MPs have warned.With the withdrawal bill returning to the Commons on Tuesday, a cross-party group who oppose a hard Brexit and are co-operating on tactics say they believe they have the numbers to defeat the government if they are denied such a vote.
  
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• Ex-Scotland Yard police chief 'knew of Damian Green porn claims'

  12-11-2017 10:01
  Sir Paul Stephenson said alleged discovery of pornography on computer during 2008 investigation ‘wasn’t relevant’ to inquiryA former Metropolitan police commissioner has said he was aware of allegations that pornography had been found on Damian Green’s office computer during a police inquiry.Sir Paul Stephenson, Britain’s most senior police officer between 2009 and 2011, said he was briefed about the claims but regarded them as a “side issue” and regrett
  
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• David Miliband: ‘We’re sitting on a grenade with the pin pulled out’

  12-11-2017 10:00
  The Labour MP turned charity chief on his new book, the ongoing horrors of the refugee crisis and his brother’s podcastDavid Miliband is president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, the US-based global relief organisation he joined in 2013, following his resignation as the Labour MP for South Shields. Miliband, a former environment secretary and foreign secretary, had hoped to lead the Labour party but in 2010, his brother, Ed, beat him in the leadership election. He lives in N
  
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• Boris Johnson And Michael Gove ‘Penned Secret Brexit Instructions Letter To PM’

  12-11-2017 09:31
  A secret ‘hijack’ letter from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove giving Theresa May apparent instructions on how to run Brexit has emerged.Transition arrangements for Britain’s exit from the European Union must end on June 30 2021, the Cabinet ministers demanded, according to the Mail on Sunday.They also urged the Prime Minister to ensure members of her top team fall behind their Brexit plans by “clarifying their minds” and called for them to “internalise the logi
  
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• My great-grandparents died in the Holocaust but now I want German citizenship

  12-11-2017 09:30
  After the Brexit referendum, British writer Natasha Walter was urged by her mother to apply for German citizenship. In revisiting the wartime experiences of her family, the fragile state of present-day Britain became painfully clearAfter the 2016 referendum, something new popped on to my to-do list, usually appearing somewhere after Take back library books and before Book dentist appointment: Apply for German citizenship.My mother had been the first to bring up the idea. Because of the referendu
  
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• Rebel Wilson Accuses Unnamed Male Star Of 'Disgusting' Sexual Misconduct

  12-11-2017 09:28
  Rebel Wilson is the latest star to speak out about sexual misconduct in Hollywood, revealing she has also been a victim of it.The ‘Pitch Perfect’ star has accused an unnamed male star of repeatedly asking her to perform a sex act.In a series of tweets posted on Saturday, the actress also alleges that the star’s friends attempted to film the incident on their phones, before she managed to leave the room.She tweeted: “A male star, in a position of power asked me to go into
  
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• Rebel Wilson Accuses Male Star Of 'Disgusting' Sexual Misconduct

  12-11-2017 09:28
  Rebel Wilson is the latest star to speak out about sexual misconduct in Hollywood, revealing she has also been a victim of it.The ‘Pitch Perfect’ star has accused an unnamed male star of repeatedly asking her to perform a sex act.In a series of tweets posted on Saturday, the actress also alleges that the star’s friends attempted to film the incident on their phones, before she managed to leave the room.She tweeted: “A male star, in a position of power asked me to go into
  
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• 'Sacked For No Reason' - How Sexual Harassment Forced These Women Out Of Jobs

  12-11-2017 09:09
  From Hollywood and Westminster to the offices of estate agents and the kitchens of restaurant staff, stories of sexual harassment at work and beyond have been surfacing every day since the Weinstein scandal broke.But what happens to those women who feel there’s no one to turn to - and even finding themselves cast adrift by management if they do complain?HuffPost UK speaks to women whose experiences of sexual harassment forced them out of their jobs, and the experts who explain what yo
  
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• How Sexual Harassment Forced These Women Out Of Jobs

  12-11-2017 09:09
  From Hollywood and Westminster to the offices of estate agents and the kitchens of restaurant staff, stories of sexual harassment at work and beyond have been surfacing every day since the Weinstein scandal broke.But what happens to those women who feel there’s no one to turn to - and even finding themselves cast adrift by management if they do complain?HuffPost UK speaks to women whose experiences of sexual harassment forced them out of their jobs, and the experts who explain what yo
  
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• Michael Gove: from 'shy green' to 'full-throated environmentalist'

  12-11-2017 09:00
  Many feared what the MP would do when he became environment secretary this year – but he has pleasantly surprised his critics Michael Gove has transformed from a “shy green” into a “full-throated environmentalist”, according to close allies who have said the Conservative MP has been heavily affected by his latest ministerial brief.Howls of protest made by green groups, commentators and political opponents when Theresa May decided, in June this year, to elevate the h
  
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• ‘Star Trek’ Star George Takei Denies ‘Shocking And Bewildering’ Sexual Assault Allegations

  12-11-2017 08:56
  George Takei has responded to allegations that he sexually assaulted a model at his home in 1981.Scott R. Brunton alleges that the actor, who played Sulu in the ‘Star Trek’ TV series, groped him at his apartment when he was a 23-year-old aspiring model and actor.“This happened a long time ago, but I have never forgotten it,’ he told the Hollywood Reporter.Now the 80-year-old actor has responded, saying the events “simply did not occur” and denies even knowing
  
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• Michael Gove and Boris Johnson send secret Brexit letter to May

  12-11-2017 08:00
  Cabinet secretaries urge prime minister to ensure top team are united behind same Brexit goal, in letter that contains veiled threat about Philip HammondA secret letter from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove giving Theresa May apparent instructions on how to run Brexit has emerged.Related: How much more of this suffering can Theresa May take?Continue reading...
  
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• Feeling the pinch? The super-rich certainly aren’t

  12-11-2017 08:00
  Credit Suisse’s ‘wealth’ report will show how higher prices and rising inflation are hitting ordinary Brits – and makefast-growing differences in wealth even starkerWhile consumers may be able to tell from the cost of their weekly shop that the Brexit referendum has made life more expensive, this week we will get some indication of how the wealth of the nation as a whole has fared since the vote last year.Credit Suisse is due to release its annual global wealth report, co
  
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• Theresa May shies away from radical fixes for housing crisis

  12-11-2017 06:00
  Public sector unlikely to be handed bigger homebuilding role inBudget
  
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• Michael Gove plans new environment watchdog after Brexit

  12-11-2017 05:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Environment Secretary Michael Gove says the body will have "real bite" and ensure a "green Brexit".
  
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• Police chief 'was told of Damian Green pornography claims'

  12-11-2017 02:23 via bbc.co.uk
  Sir Paul Stephenson says he was told material was allegedly found on Damian Green's computer in 2008.
  
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• A different time

  12-11-2017 01:41 via bbc.co.uk
  Women in politics have been subject to unwanted attention and comments for decades.
  
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• Sack Boris Johnson for shaming our nation, Jeremy Corbyn tells PM

  12-11-2017 01:23
  The Labour leader has accused the foreign secretary of ‘undermining our country’Jeremy Corbyn has fired an extraordinary broadside against Boris Johnson, calling for him to be sacked immediately as foreign secretary for “undermining our country” and “putting our citizens at risk”.The blistering attack – and demand that Theresa May fire him – was delivered exclusively in a statement to the Observer on Saturday night, as pressure mounted on Johnson o
  
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• There’s a very nasty smell coming from the back of Mrs May’s fridge | Andrew Rawnsley

  12-11-2017 01:05
  All governments decay. The distinguishing feature of this one is the rapidity of the rotAll organic matter is rotted by time. Bread grows mouldy. Cheese becomes stinky. Bananas turn black. Leaders go the same way. Decay is a fact of power. Prime ministers run out of ideas and road. They become exhausted and voters weary of their governments. Broken promises, internal contradictions and accumulated enemies catch up with all but the very luckiest. Elements of a prime minister’s character tha
  
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• How to give parliament a say over EU withdrawal bill | Seema Malhotra

  12-11-2017 01:05
  An amendment to legislation calls for a road map – and a voteLast week’s Brexit select committee visit to Brussels served as a reality check. Europe is planning for life post-Brexit while the UK is stuck in an unreality of its own making. From the EU, the message came through strongly: no one wants no deal, but it could happen. Two weeks ago, in his evidence to the committee, David Davis admitted that if a deal isn’t done until March 2019, the vote of the UK parliament could co
  
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• Curiouser and curiouser in Mrs May's cabinet - cartoon

  12-11-2017 01:05
  David Simonds on the prime minister’s disintegrating hold over her ministers Continue reading...
  
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• As Trump fawns over Xi, global politics is now a ‘strong man’ game | Will Hutton

  12-11-2017 01:05
  Trade agreements are being torn up in a brutal exercise of economic force by the most powerfulIt was an extraordinary moment, so small wonder there was an audible intake of breath from the huge audience in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Here was Donald Trump, visibly flattered by the pomp and magnificence of the welcome mounted by the Chinese Communist party, saying in his big speech he did not blame his hosts for China’s enormous trade surplus with the US. What?!Trump made Chin
  
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• Is this Britain’s worst postwar government?

  12-11-2017 01:04
  Five commentators take a long look at the history books Continue reading...
  
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• How much more of this suffering can Theresa May take?

  12-11-2017 01:04
  It was another terrible week for the prime minister, who has now been forced to jettison two cabinet ministersDuring the 2015 general election campaign, Theresa May was holding a press conference in a basement in Ramsgate, Kent, when the lights suddenly blew and the room was cast into darkness.Henry Macrory, the Conservative party’s former head of press was with her, and remembers the way May, then home secretary, responded. “She just kept going,” he recalls. “Then she sa
  
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• Dismally led, adrift and isolated, how will Britain find a place in the world? | Fintan O’Toole

  12-11-2017 01:04
  The UK has fled Brussels, jilted the Commonwealth and, if the US recovers its sanity, it won’t offer comfort eitherIn his magisterial history of the Hundred Years War, Jonathan Sumption recounts a complaint by the 14th-century French chronicler Jean Froissart about the difficulty of negotiating with the English: “According to Froissart, it was a well-known trick of English diplomats to evade embarrassing questions by pretending not to understand them.”It would be unfair to make
  
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• EU: ‘Tories putting party before the interests of Northern Ireland’

  12-11-2017 01:03
  Peace process should transcend domestic party politics, warns top Brussels officialSenior EU officials have accused Theresa May’s government of putting its own survival ahead of the interests of the people of Northern Ireland, as they said they had lost all confidence in Downing Street’s capacity to navigate the Brexit negotiations successfully.The prime minister was accused of a lack of “care” for the peace process by one senior EU official, who suggested that it was onl
  
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