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Simon JenkinsThe Guardian |
Almost everyone agrees the government’s Rwanda bill is a bad idea. Its effects on deterring immigration will be trivial. It fails to show that...
Just because Liz Truss and Boris Johnson – both opposed to the government’s proposed new smoking ban – hold a belief does not make it wrong....
Britain’s use of its air force to defend Israel against Iran at the weekend was an emphatic intervention in the war in Gaza. It was more than...
There should be a general election now. The agony of British politics is growing too much to bear. The morbidity of the Tory government is too...
Poor old Foreign Office. The imperial roar has become a squeak. All the wrong pictures adorn its walls, and the wrong attitudes its mindset. And now...
It is right that expressions of hatred against groups based on race and ethnicity are illegal. Whether these laws have ended hatred or merely driven...
Do clubs matter? Yes, to their members, and clearly yes to those they exclude. When Alexis de Tocqueville compared American democracy with British, he...
Once upon a time Britain would have sent a gunboat up the Yangtze River. That would teach those Chinese a lesson. To hear some MPs talk about...
The west’s derisive reporting of Vladimir Putin’s election victory this week was a mark of his success. It was described as an abuse of democracy,...
There are many good reasons for Rishi Sunak to postpone a general election. All are about reducing his party’s potential loss of seats. There is...
Guess which public service is hardly ever mentioned in stories about austerity? The answer is prisons. Last week, prison governors were told by the...
Not since Trotsky vanished from the Soviet politburo portrait has photo-editing caused such a storm. What dark secrets lie behind the daughter’s...
Donald Trump is certain to be the Republican candidate in this year’s election for US president. He is also currently favourite to win. To most...
The German armed forces are mad. The leaking by Moscow of a 38-minute discussion between the head of the Luftwaffe and senior officers on sending...
This article contains spoilers about the final episode of The Jury: Murder Trial Should juries be abolished? Last night’s Channel 4 docudrama of a...
Rishi Sunak’s high-profile announcement of projects to be apparently funded by killing the northern leg of HS2 is a gem of political cynicism. He...
The most exhilarating view in Britain is to be abolished. A high court judge this week brought a 30-year battle over Stonehenge to a conclusion by...
Every country walker knows the cry. Where the hell is the footpath? A right of way with no signpost is not a legal right at all. It is an invitation...
King Charles has cancer. Coverage of this story in the days since the announcement has been funereal. Daily bulletins are issued. Heads of state send...
Two years ago, the House of Lords looked into whether the Bank of England should issue digital pounds to be held in electronic wallets. Peers were...
Donald Trump is “appalling and unhinged”, says everyone. His invitation to Vladimir Putin at the weekend to invade Nato and “do what the hell he...
The Slab is to rise after all. What is clearly intended as the most prominent office block in central London will dominate the bend in the River...
I recently asked two wise doctors, senior in their profession, what was wrong with today’s NHS. Was it money? Was it recruitment, or pay, or...
Devolution is in disarray. A quarter of a century after its introduction by the Blair government, the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish constitutions...
At least twice as many school pupils smoke cannabis as smoke tobacco. Cannabis is illegal, tobacco is legal. If legality meant anything, the figures...
The ship goes down and the panic starts. As the Tory party lurches towards the electoral rocks, the bridge is losing control and the crew are taking...
The government is planning to increase the cost of doing business in Britain by a total of £330m a year. From the end of this month and again in...
Once upon a time, news that the heir to the throne may decline his “supreme governorship” of the Church of England would have caused an...
This year’s most alarming statistic so far is that one parent in four thinks it is fine for children to skip school. Persistent absenteeism in...
The abdication of Queen Margrethe of Denmark in favour of her son Frederik is a sign of a sensible constitutional monarchy. The 82-year-old queen felt...
Every review of Britain 2023 says the same. The country is not being well run. From policing to care homes, from postal services to sewage spills,...
The Michelle Mone affair stinks. It shows that, under Boris Johnson, the British government was unfit for purpose, and is scarcely better today. While...
Michael Gove is right. Essential to a true democracy is the idea that local communities should have some control over their surroundings. They must...
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. Future students of British politics may yet write theses on Rishi Sunak’s upcoming week. It starts...
The Parthenon marbles row is beyond silly. Rishi Sunak screeches “Mine, mine” like a child in a playground. He refuses a cup of tea with the Greek...
Next year’s general election in Britain could be the most toxic in decades. Two things, Reform UK and immigration, seem certain to plague debate on...
Many people will have been unaware that UK governments had chief medical officers and scientific advisers before the pandemic. This week’s testimony...
The Falkland Islands are the Parthenon marbles of Britain’s diplomacy. They bring out the silliest antics in what passes for its “role on the...
We’ve made a great movie. It’s called January 2021 and it shows how Donald Trump really was cheated out of the White House and Joe Biden really...