Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Sunday

Catherine Ellis

How Trump helped Venezuela’s Maduro bounce back

For someone widely believed to have lost a presidential election just a year ago, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro is looking remarkably defiant – and still firmly in power. Maduro has just pulled off another patriotic spectacle – a choreographed homecoming of Venezuelan migrants with flags, cameras, and emotional reunions. This followed a deal with the Donald Trump administration that secured the return of 252 Venezuelans from CECOT, El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison. Trump has breathed fresh political oxygen into a regime many thought was on the brink Maduro cast himself as a protector, bringing his people home from what he called ‘concentration camps,’ with the regime launching an investigation into alleged abuses. For

Saturday

David Abulafia

Is Angela Davis's keffiyeh appropriate for a Cambridge University ceremony?

Cambridge University’s decision to honour the rap artist Stormzy with an honorary doctorate seemed odd. New universities, rather than our ancient ones, like to parade icons of popular culture. When the decision was announced a few months ago, I was asked by a national newspaper to write a piece questioning his nomination. I demurred, because Stormzy was being rewarded for generous benefactions that aimed to bring disadvantaged black schoolchildren to Cambridge University – despite my doubts about reserving scholarships for particular ethnic groups. Stormzy’s honorary doctorate dominated the headlines – and so, none of us really noticed who else was on the list. Looking back, it is almost as if

Mat Whatley

Why Zelensky reversed his anti-corruption overhaul

On Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a law to gut Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies. On Thursday he backtracked, and said he would put forward new legislation to restore their independence. The original legislation would have stripped both the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) of their independence, bringing them under direct executive control. The official reason for the legislation was to cleanse Ukraine’s investigative bodies of Russian influence. A spy, apparently, was suspected in their ranks. But treason has become the calling card for the consolidation of power in Ukraine. Earlier this year, Petro Poroshenko – President Zelensky’s main declared challenger in the next election – was sanctioned for

Robert Taylor

How middle-class shoplifting swept Britain

Middle-class shoplifting is pushing up high street prices, according to Dame Diana Johnson, the policing and crime minister. Can she be right? If my own middle-class acquaintances are anything to go on, the answer is clear: yes. Many of those pilfering from our shops look just like you and me OK, we know shop theft is on a steep upward trajectory. There are nearly 17,000 incidents every day in corner shops alone, costing £316 million each year. Shoplifting across the whole retail sector costs billions. The reality is that many of those pilfering from our shops look just like you and me. My own experience is that many reasonably well-off

Alex Klaushofer

Is this CS Lewis' most prescient work?

It’s been 80 years since CS Lewis’ remarkably prescient, That Hideous Strength, was published. The final book in a sci-fi trilogy, the novel recounts the battle for the soul of humanity in the heart of England. Even in 1945, George Orwell saw that: ‘Plenty of people in our age do entertain the monstrous dreams of power that Mr Lewis attributes to his characters [the NICE scientists], and we are within sight of the time when such dreams will be realisable.’ Little did he realise how soon his fears would play out. Little did Lewis realise how soon his fears set out in That Hideous Strength would play out That Hideous Strength focuses

Gavin Mortimer

Lawfare is the SAS's most dangerous enemy

It might at first glance appear odd that this deeply unpopular government is determined to repeal the Northern Ireland Legacy and Reconciliation Act. Britain’s armed forces are one of the last institutions of which the nation is overwhelmingly proud. Why pursue its veterans at the risk of making itself even more unpopular? ‘We want to be recruiting into the Armed Forces and we have a government who are about to reopen lawfare against our veterans,’ remarked shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge. ‘It is crazy.’ The government say that they will repeal the Act, which was passed by the Tories in 2023, because it is incompatible with human rights legislation. Their other

Friday

Stephen Daisley

The problems with a state of Palestine

France intends to recognise a state of Palestine at the United Nations, which I’m sure will be followed by UK recognition of the same. We can be sure of this because the UK does not have an independent foreign policy when it comes to the Middle East. Inside or outside of the European Union, London’s stance on Israel and the Palestinians has become indistinguishable from the position of the European Commission. The European Commission simps for the Palestinians and Britain simps for the European Commission. I take the somewhat contentious view that Britain should simp for itself, which is why in my occasional (read: incessant) Coffee House posts recommending, beseeching,

Ross Clark

The BMA should be careful what it wishes for

Just a few weeks ago the trade union movement seemed to be on a high. It has got rid of its hated Tory government. Legislation which made it harder to call strikes had been hastily abolished by the incoming Starmer government. There were generous public sector pay rises all around. If you were a trade union leader, you had every right to feel pleased with yourself. How things can change. As a trade union leader, you really don’t want a Labour health secretary calling your actions ‘unconscionable’, and suggesting that your members must ‘feel pain’ in order to discourage other unions from striking too. A Conservative health secretary, sure, but

Tim Shipman

Can the left get its act together?

Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have finally launched their new party, but it’s off to a bumpy start. They unveiled ‘Your Party’, but had to quickly clarify that was not in fact the new party’s name, and that will be decided on by a member’s vote. He also had to play down claims of a split already. However, if the so-called Gaza independents join forced with Sultana and Corbyn, the organisation that’s not called Your Party could have enough MPs to outnumber Reform UK. What does it mean for the left – and can they get their act together? Elsewhere, Tim discusses the slightly more organised Reform UK, the subject

James Heale

Will Starmer recognise a Palestinian state?

Keir Starmer is facing mounting international and domestic pressure to formally recognise a Palestinian state. Dozens of MPs are expected to publish a cross-party letter this afternoon, urging Starmer to follow the lead of Emmanuel Macron. The French president last night declared that his country will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the UN General Assembly meets in New York this September. A report this morning by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has also called for immediate recognition, a position that would put the UK at odds with the US. Labour’s manifesto contains a commitment to recognise a Palestinian sovereignty. But the lack of a timeline has irritated parts of

Stephen Pollard

The BBC has finally done something right

This isn’t a sentiment you’ll have read much in recent weeks, given the BBC’s series of appalling misjudgements and editorial disasters. But here goes: Three cheers for the BBC. Its critics are completely wrong and its decision making is spot on. The BBC is quite right. The party conferences don’t need the broadcast army of hacks they’ve always had To be clear, I’m not referring to its coverage of Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, the Gaza documentary narrated by the son of a Hamas minister or the BBC’s sacking of the two Masterchef presenters. I’m talking about something it has actually got right – but for which it is nonetheless being lambasted:

James Heale

The Tories face trouble in London

Friday morning brings with it the usual raft of council by-election results. It has been another good night for Reform UK, who polled a very strong second in the centre of Cardiff, despite only running a limited campaign. But the most striking result was in Bromley, where Nigel Farage’s party won their first London ward with 34 per cent of the vote. That is despite the Tories fielding a strong candidate and canvassing the area hard, with Kemi Badenoch out door-knocking on polling day. Reform ran a good campaign here, with their candidate Alan Cook, well-versed on the issues and the party’s messaging. But the party believe that something more

Alexander Larman

Why are the Macrons suing Candace Owens?

As bizarre conspiracy theories go, the rumours about France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron take some beating. The stories that have been circulating about her in the murkier corners of the internet generally suggest that she was born a man under the name of Jean-Michel Trogneux, that she and the French President Emmanuel Macron are related in some way, that Brigitte’s first marriage (to André-Louis Auzière) was non-existent and, for good measure, that Macron is a CIA plant who was installed into the Élysée Palace through nefarious means. Up until now, the rumours have largely remained both shadowy and obscure, with few other than the most credulous basement-dwellers attaching either veracity

Iain Macwhirter

Scotland's 'Stop Trump' movement is not what it was

Donald Trump touches down in Scotland today on what is ostensibly a private visit to open an 18-hole golf course dedicated to his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born on the Isle of Lewis. The State Visit isn’t until September. But Police Scotland aren’t taking any chances. Trump will be pursued by a ragged coalition of Scottish Green Party activists, Pro-Palestinian groups and trades unionists Around six thousand officers, including many drafted in from across the UK, will be on duty as the US president perambulates around his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and the Menie Estate near Aberdeen, pursued by a ragged coalition of Scottish Green Party activists,

Gavin Mortimer

France's decision to recognise Palestine is a mistake

Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognise Palestinian statehood. The French president will make his historic proclamation, the first among G7 countries, at the UN General Assembly in September. In a statement on X, Macron said that ‘there is no alternative’, adding that ‘the French people want peace in the Middle East’. The rhetoric is inflammatory, and honest, but it’s not what Emmanuel Macron wants to hear Many French people, however, do not want their country to recognise Palestine in the manner Macron intends. A poll last month found that only 22 per cent were in favour of immediate and unconditional recognition; 31 per cent were opposed and 47

Svitlana Morenets

Can Ukraine forgive president Zelensky?

For six years in office, Volodymyr Zelensky never experienced the raging crowd beneath his window. But Ukraine’s wartime president grew too powerful, too confident, bathing in the unwavering support of Ukrainians in the face of a greater evil. He overstepped. When Zelensky signed the bill stripping the anti-corruption institutions of their independence, he assumed Ukrainians would look the other way. They didn’t. Protests against the law swept through the country. He did well to listen – and back down. But the damage to his image in Ukraine – and abroad – may now be beyond repair. The damage to Zelensky’s image in Ukraine – and abroad – may now be

Rod Liddle

Is Bella Sankey sorry for calling the police on me?

The grotesque halfwit who tried to have me prosecuted for ‘incitement’ was on Newsnight on Wednesday night, spouting the usual gibberish. This is Labour’s Bella Sankey, who runs Brighton council, although her presence on the BBC was more a consequence of her past directorship of Detention Action, an organisation that appears to campaign against everything her government is trying to do regarding illegal asylum seekers. Sankey is one of the causes of the enormous trouble in which we now find ourselves, then. Seeing this besom jabbering, her eyebrows so high up they seemed to be behind her ears, reminded me of when she dobbed me in Seeing this besom jabbering,

Liz Walsh

Why one US diplomat thinks Ireland has 'fallen into a vat of Guinness'

US diplomat Mike Huckabee was dead right to question whether Ireland had ‘fallen into a vat of Guinness.’ Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, played into stereotypical tropes on the Irish and alcohol when he made that comment last week. But it is, he reckoned, the only possible explanation for Ireland’s looming ban on Israeli settlement goods, despite ominous soundings from the US over the potentially ruinous consequences. This bill is so stupid it amounts to ‘diplomatic intoxication’, he concluded. This bill is so stupid it amounts to ‘diplomatic intoxication’, Mike Huckabee concluded To answer his question, Ireland is not drunk. More’s the pity. It is preparing to commit

Kristina Murkett

Teachers deserve their long summer holidays

What’s the best thing about teaching? July and August! Or so the old joke goes. The long school holidays are an easy riposte to teachers’ complaints about the profession. Below inflation pay rises? At least you get the school holidays. Lack of flexible working opportunities? Six weeks off over summer. Disruptive behaviour? At least you don’t have to see the rugrats over Christmas and Easter. Teaching is clearly a labour of love, but it is not an inexhaustible one. Shortening the summer holidays would be a disaster No-one really wants to hear it, but most teachers still feel a knee-jerk need to justify their summer holidays: to explain how hard