Beyond Brexit

February 20, 2020

Brexit and the danger of partisan divisions

The Australian lesson is that concentrating policy making power in political hands to “crash through” with a bold policy agenda might work for a while but ultimately becomes a zero-sum game, writes…

January 31, 2020

Brexit: Government of the people by the people for the people?

The health of democracy is a matter for growing concern but the responsibility for making it work better lies with the defeated as much as it does with those who have caused…

January 23, 2020

Is the United Kingdom safe in Boris Johnson’s hands?

Murray Ritchie suggests not. Here he lists the reasons why Brussels is now free to take sides in Britain’s domestic politics – and how Scotland’s European aspirations could benefit. When it comes…

December 13, 2019

The Dumb, the Democrat and the Expert

The people have spoken and the “Brexit Election” campaign of the Conservatives in the UK will go down as one of the most successful in recent history. The number crunching will go…

December 9, 2019

Voters to hold their collective nose and vote tactically

Britain’s current agony will not be ended by the general election, whatever the outcome, far less by Brexit if it ever happens. In all probability the worst will be just beginning and…

November 14, 2019

From Berlin to Brexit: A short history of European walls

When it should be holding the beacon higher and brighter, the UK is abandoning its important role as a promoter and defender of the system which has kept the peace and created…

October 29, 2019

An ‘economic competitor’ on the EU’s doorstep?

Any attempt to undercut long-established European standards would be an effective declaration of economic warfare, writes Geoff Kitney. Amid the raucous and sometimes ill-tempered hubbub that has characterised the Brexit debate one…

September 23, 2019

A fragmented future awaits a United Kingdom

Britain is being humiliated internationally because of Brexit – and there might be worse to come. There is now a clear possibility that Britain as we know it will cease to exist….

September 4, 2019

What dark forces lie behind the Brexit façade?

Boris Johnson last night turfed out 21 Tory rebels. Now he is preparing to put British democracy to one of its greatest tests, writes Geoff Kitney. A new breed of toxic conservatism…

July 31, 2019

Can Boris Johnson tame the Brexit monster?

Boris Johnson has set an impossible pre-condition which he knows must lead to a no-deal Brexit, writes Geoff Kitney. So far, so good for Boris Johnson. The decision he made to use…

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Russia pushes into Ukraine’s north
After launching a complex offensive on Friday, Russian troops have poured across Ukraine’s northeastern border. At least nine villages have been seized, and Russia has taken more square miles per day than at almost any other point in the war. Now, some Ukrainian troops are retreating, and some commanders have taken the unusual step of blaming each other. Thousands of civilians have fled to Kharkiv, about 20 miles from the border and the nearest big city to the villages. For now, it is safe - but approaching machine gun fire is increasingly audible, those on the ground say. General Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top military commander, conceded that the situation had “significantly worsened”. But he said that Russian attempts to break through Ukrainian defensive lines had been unsuccessful so far. New York Times, May 13

Fighting rages in northern Gaza
The Israeli military has stepped up pressure on the southern city of Rafah, describing it as Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza. But close-quarters ground combat between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops in Gaza City and nearby Jabaliya over the weekend was a reminder that the militants might remain a force for a long time to come. It has become a familiar scenario over the seven-month war: Israel declares an area clear of Hamas, only to return after the militants rebuild their forces. Military analysts said that Hamas has been able to reconstitute itself in some areas because Israel has declined to administer those territories itself, and has also declined to transfer them to non-Hamas Palestinian control. New York Times, May 13

Georgia protests: riot police face off against foreign influence bill demonstrators
Overnight protests in Georgia have continued into the morning in a last-ditch effort to prevent the passing of a controversial law. After a standoff with protesters outside parliament in Tbilisi, security forces pulled out from the main square on Monday morning. The protesters oppose a controversial foreign influence bill, described by critics as the “Russia law”. The final voting on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday. On Monday morning, governing Georgian Dream party lawmakers rushed it through a committee vote, approving it in just 67 seconds. The bill - now due to go for its third and final reading - targets civil society organisations and independent media that receive foreign funding. Protesters are concerned that the law would be used by the government to clamp down on dissent, and would harm Georgia’s hopes of joining the European Union. BBC news, May 13

Spain’s Socialists win Catalan vote, separatists lose majority
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists won a clear victory in Sunday’s Catalan regional election, in which Carles Puigdemont and fellow separatists lost their majority after 10 years in power. The vote came six years after Puigdemont led a botched 2017 independence bid that triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades. Led by Salvador Illa, Spain’s health minister during the pandemic, the Catalan Socialist party won 42 of the regional parliament's 135 seats - nine more than in the previous election in 2021. Hailing the result as “historic” in a posting on X, Sanchez said it would mark the start of “a new era in Catalonia”. “A new era for all Catalans, whatever they think,” said Illa as supporters cheered his victory. France 24, May 13

Obese people twice as likely to be off work
Obese people are up to twice as likely to take time off work, a study has revealed, fuelling a crisis that is stifling Britain’s economic growth. Analysis of data representing millions of workers across Europe found that people take more sick days the heavier they are, owing to complications including joint pain, diabetes, depression and heart disease. Severely obese adults were 2.5 times more likely to have had at least one week off with poor health in the past year, compared with those of a healthy weight, with absence rates 22 per cent higher among people who were overweight but not obese. The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice, is the first to provide a detailed breakdown of the toll of obesity on workplace absenteeism and productivity - with Britain “among the worst” of the 28 countries examined. The Times, May 12

Rise of drug-resistant superbugs could make Covid pandemic look ‘minor’, expert warns
The Covid-19 pandemic will “look minor” compared with what humanity faces from the growing number of superbugs resistant to current drugs, Prof Dame Sally Davies, England’s former chief medical officer, has warned. Davies, who is now the UK’s special envoy on antimicrobial resistance lost her goddaughter two years ago to an infection that could not be treated. She paints a bleak picture of what could happen if the world fails to tackle the problem within the next decade, warning that the issue is “more acute” than climate change. Drug-resistant infections already kill at least 1.2 million people a year. “It looks like a lot of people with untreatable infections, and we would have to move to isolating people who were untreatable in order not to infect their families and communities. So, it’s a really disastrous picture. It would make some of Covid look minor,” said Davies, who is also the first female master of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Guardian, May 13

Elon Musk’s X wins Australia court fight over censorship of church stabbing video
Elon Musk’s X has won a court reprieve in Australia after a judge refused to extend an injunction banning graphic videos of an attack on a Sydney church last month. Justice Geoffrey Kennett on Monday denied an application by Australia’s eSafety commissioner, the internet safety watchdog, to extend a ban on the videos, without immediately providing justification for his reasoning. A federal court had issued an interim injunction last month ordering the platform to hide all videos of the incident within 24 hours. The Australian government argued that videos of the attack - in which four people were injured and which authorities have ruled was a “terrorist incident” - should be removed for all X users. Musk countered that such an act would be tantamount to censoring the internet. X had blocked access to the video for its Australian users, but it remained accessible to users in the country who used a virtual private network, which the eSafety commissioner’s lawyers argued undermined efforts to block content that it had classified as “class 1”, or relating to high-impact violence or child abuse material. A further hearing on the case will be held on Wednesday, ahead of a final ruling on the issue at an unspecified future date. Financial Times, May 13

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