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Simon Jenkins lifts the lid on BBC chief’s ‘dinner circle wailing’ over Brexit

From our UK edition

This week Nick Robinson set the cat among the pigeons when he claimed that the BBC no longer has a duty to ‘broadly balance’ the views of Remain and Leave in its Brexit reports now that the EU referendum is over. However, many have questioned Robinson's so-called  'due impartiality' -- with 70 Eurosceptic MPs previously signing a letter accusing the BBC of a biased and ‘pessimistic’ view. But could the gloomy tone really be down to a sense of Brexit guilt? Mr S only asks after coming across Simon Jenkins' column in the Guardian on the monoculture at the BBC.

In defence of Ken Livingstone

From our UK edition

Listen to Douglas Murray and James Forsyth debating Ken Livingstone's non-expulsion: We never loved each other, Ken Livingstone and I. We first clashed in public more than a decade ago, and have enjoyed castigating each other ever since. But, now that he has been suspended from the Labour party for a second year in a row, I come not to bury him but to praise him. For there is something valorous, even glorious, about his downfall. It was the MP for Bradford West who triggered his demise. In April last year Naz Shah was exposed for sharing anti-Semitic content on social media. Among these posts was a graphic advising the deportation of all Israeli Jews to the USA.

Brexit is exposing the cowardice of conservatism

From our UK edition

The decision by Conservative MPs to walk away from the Commons Committee on Exiting the EU is one of the most unintentionally revealing abdications of duty I have seen. The report they refused to endorse was polite to the point of blandness. The necessity of securing cross-party approval meant that its restrained language bore little relation to the chaos in Whitehall the committee’s hearings had uncovered. In March, the committee’s chair, Hilary Benn, showed its extent when he submitted David Davis to a tough cross-examination which the Brexit Secretary was lamentably unable to withstand.

The short path from censorship to violence

From our UK edition

The news that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has cancelled her speaking tour of Australia due to 'security concerns' should concern anyone who believes in freedom. It is a dark day when a woman who fled to the West to escape the Islamist suffocations of Somalia, and precisely so that she might think and speak freely, feels she cannot say certain things in certain places. That even a Western, liberal, democratic nation like Australia cannot guarantee Hirsi Ali the freedom to speak her mind without suffering censorship or harm is deeply worrying. It points to the mainstreaming of intolerance, to the adoption by certain people in the West of the illiberalism that makes up the very Islamist outlook that Hirsi Ali and others have sought to escape.

Sunday political interviews round-up: ‘Show resolve’ over Gibraltar

From our UK edition

Michael Howard – ‘Show resolve’ over Gibraltar Former Conservative leader Michael Howard caused a stir on social media after his appearance on the Sunday Politics regarding his comments about Spain and Gibraltar. Interviewed by Andrew Neil, Howard stated that the British government should respond ‘as it has responded, by making it absolutely clear that we will stand by Gibraltar.’ He then continued: ‘35 years ago this week Andrew, another woman Prime Minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to protect another small group of British people against another Spanish speaking country, and I'm absolutely clear that our current woman Prime Minister will show the same resolve in relation to Gibraltar as her predecessor did.

The EU’s Gibraltar mistake

From our UK edition

It was quite right for Theresa May to not mention Gibraltar in her Article 50 letter – why should the future of its people be in question in our negotiations? To do so would be to introduce a dangerous notion: that Gibraltar and its people were somehow a bargaining chip. Of course, the press will have fun with the idea that the Prime Minister forgot Gibraltar but far more plausible is Tim Shipman's story in the Sunday Times today that the idea of mentioning it in the Brexit letter was raised several times - and rejected. That the EU has brought Gibraltar up as part of the Brexit deals right now is strange and shows a worrying naivety on its part.

Watch: Len McCluskey’s polling claims backfire on Question Time

From our UK edition

On last night's Question Time, David Dimbleby chaired a panel -- comprised of Ruth Davidson, Lisa Nandy, Paul Nuttall, Len McCluskey and the IEA's Kate Andrews -- from Carlisle. With the Unite election underway, McCluskey -- who is standing for re-election -- tried to use his appearance to defend Labour's bad polling under Jeremy Corbyn, Explaining why his comrade had such bad popularity ratings, Red Len criticised the MSM (aka Mainstream Media) for creating a 'horrible horrible media barrier'. But the bigger problem, according to Len, is the PLP.

A great day for British democracy

From our UK edition

Today is a great day for British democracy. One of the greatest ever, in fact. Tune out Project Fear, with its overblown claims that Brexit will cause economic collapse and possibly revive fascism, and just think about what is happening today. The largest democratic mandate in the history of this nation, the loudest, clearest, most populous democratic cry Britons have ever made, is finally being acted upon. The political class is starting the process of severing Britain’s ties with the EU not because it wants to — it desperately doesn’t want to — but because a great swarm of its people have told it that it must. This is amazing. This is wonderful. This is democracy. This is what generations of Britons fought for.

The golden rule for Daily Mail hysteria

From our UK edition

Here’s a cast-iron law of the media in 21st-century Britain: the hysteria about a Daily Mail article will always be worse than the Daily Mail article itself. It will be more silly, shrill, over-the-top, reactionary and potentially harmful to public life than the polemic or editorial or sidebar shot of a half-dressed celeb it is raging and spluttering against. You can hold me to this. Go through the archives of Twitterstorms about the Daily Mail — they number in the gazillions — and you will see it’s the same every time: every bad thing the Mail has said or done has paled into insignificance in comparison with the hot, mad 24-hour fury of the Twits it has generated. Consider ‘Legs-it’.

The Daily Mail is pulling your leg

From our UK edition

The top half of the front cover of the Daily Mail today is of course trivial: the big story of the meeting between Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon is, obviously, the plummeting relations between Westminster and Holyrood and whether we will still have a United Kingdom in five years’ time. The big story is not the quality of two middle-aged women's legs. But it is also really rather brilliant in how it has worked as a bait for the Left – which by reacting in an absurdly overblown way has merely revealed its own obsession with trivia.

James Brokenshire is out of his depth as Northern Ireland Secretary

From our UK edition

There is a saying that whoever the Prime Minister hates, they appoint as Northern Ireland Secretary. James Brokenshire, Theresa May's unlucky pick for the job, had three options yesterday: a new election, direct rule, or a fudge. When the clock struck 4pm, three weeks after Northern Ireland's election, there was only one option: it was always going to be the Irish fudge.  James Brokenshire had tried valiantly to maintain the fiction, which no one believed, that at 4:01pm yesterday he was prepared to fire the starting pistol of Northern Ireland's third assembly election in a year. It wasn't a credible threat, and people in Northern Ireland have a way of telling the one from the other.

What the papers say: The perks – and pitfalls – of Brexit

From our UK edition

The clock is ticking. At 12.30pm tomorrow, Theresa May will be on her feet in the Commons declaring that Article 50 has been triggered. Finally, nine months after the referendum, Britain will be heading out of the EU. The moment itself is likely to be underwhelming and we’re unlikely to find out much more of the Government’s actual Brexit plan. But already the Daily Telegraph has some suggestions. This is the perfect moment for asking: ‘What type of country do we wish to be at the end of that journey?’, the paper says. Yes, Brexit is about ‘reclaiming sovereignty’.

David Cameron’s larynx joins the Labour party

From our UK edition

Given that Owen Jones, Glenda Jackson and Derek Hatton are just a handful of the figures to recently turn on Jeremy Corbyn, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Labour leader is turning people off Labour. So, Mr S was surprised to learn of Labour's latest recruit, in today's issue of the Times. Step forward Clare Foges. Yes, David Cameron's former SpAd and speechwriter -- who earned the affectionate nickname ‘the Prime Minister’s Larynx’ -- has joined... the Labour party. Writing in the Times, Foges says that she is as surprised as anyone by her decision: 'I tapped out the words somewhat guiltily, late at night.

The reports of Angela Merkel’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated

From our UK edition

Once again, the pollsters got it wrong. Yesterday’s election in Saarland was supposed to be the beginning of the end for Angela Merkel, and the start of the SPD revival under their new leader Martin Schulz. And yet, against the odds, Merkel’s conservative CDU has beaten the left-leaning SPD by more than ten per cent, a result which bodes well for her election campaign this autumn, and her bid to win a record-breaking fourth term as Chancellor. Last week, the signs for Merkel’s CDU seemed pretty bleak. Saarland’s CDU leader, so-called ‘Mini Merkel’ Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, went into this election with just one more seat than the resurgent SPD.

No 10’s Scotland gaffe

From our UK edition

Today Theresa May travelled to Scotland to give a speech in which she claimed that Brexit will make the UK more united. In an attempt to counter calls from the SNP for 'IndyRef2', May said Britain's exit from the EU creates an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the nations of the United Kingdom. All very well. Only there's a problem. According to the press release of the event, May gave the speech in 'East Kilbridge': In truth, no such place exists. Instead May was speaking from East Kilbride. Mr S recommends that No 10 endeavour to make sure they spell Scottish place-names correctly in future -- otherwise the Prime Minister could be accused of being out of touch north of the border...

Of course we’re not cowed by terrorism – what other choice do we have?

From our UK edition

Stay safe, London. Stay safe, everyone. It’s nice, isn’t it, as a sentiment, which is just as well because it is the motto du jour of every celebrity who has added his or her mite to what passes as debate on the terrorist attack last Wednesday. And, my goodness, they all piled in: JK Rowling, Katy Perry, James Corden, Neil Gaiman; every man and woman of them, you’ll be pleased to hear, against this sort of thing, and urging us all – especially those not actually resident in London – to 'stay safe'. The other trope is that 'nothing will divide us', that this is what terrorists want – Stella McCartney et al. This is presumably for the benefit of those people whose reaction to the man from Tunbridge Wells is to go out and punch a Muslim.

‘Unite for Europe’ march turns sour

From our UK edition

With Theresa May on track to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday and thereby begin Britain's formal exit from the European Union, Remainers took to the streets of London on Saturday for one final hurrah. Tens of thousands of people joined the Unite for Europe march -- calling on Britain to remain in the EU. Leading the protests was Tim Farron, who said it was important Leavers and Remainers unite for a final say on the Brexit deal. The Lib Dem leader received applause as he claimed that neither Theresa May not David Davis have a clue what the final Brexit deal will look like: 'We do not believe for one minute they signed up to that narrow world view Theresa May has chosen. She does not speak for the 52 per cent - she barely speaks for the five per cent.