Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 29

Boris Johnson’s guilt is beyond doubt. There is no way back from this | Simon Jenkins

The failure to block the motion to refer the prime minister to the Commons privileges committee is a watershed moment

Boris Johnson is in serious trouble. He faces danger on all fronts. His capitulation to the Commons privileges committee leaves him open to the risk of being found lying to parliament. Resignation would have to follow. Beyond that, he has the May elections and further penalty notices ahead. Even his talents as a political Houdini will be tested.

The issue is not what he did. No one...

The Rwanda plan for refugees is shocking, but we don’t need to bring God into it | Simon Jenkins

Justin Welby’s invocation of the Almighty only confuses the forces that need mustering against Boris Johnson’s cruel policy

Boris Johnson’s government’s proposal to deport asylum seekers of whatever origin who arrive on unauthorised routes, such as by crossing the Channel, to Rwanda in east Africa is beyond callous. It is understandable that the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, should want to add his voice to the protests. But invoking God’s judgment in the matter leaves him vulnerable to ...

Heed the events in France – populism is gaining ground and only a revolution can stop it | Simon Jenkins

A new wave raises questions about identity, elections and how we live. Conventional politics must answer them or die

If today’s democracy teaches any lesson it is don’t underestimate populism. Insult it, deride it, excuse it, no-platform it, but it is a serious force in electoral politics. In France, Marine Le Pen has surged into contention for the presidency.

Earlier this month, Hungary’s authoritarian Viktor Orbán swept the board. In Russia, albeit in vexed circumstances, Vladimir Putin retains ...

British sovereignty over the Falklands is an absurd imperial hangover that must end | Simon Jenkins

Forty years after the war in the South Atlantic, common sense demands a negotiated settlement with Argentina

This April is the 40th anniversary of the start of the Falklands war. Less well known is that it is the 41st anniversary of a final attempt by the British government to concede sovereignty over the islands to the enemy in that war, Argentina. Negotiations in New York were in progress, aimed at securing self-government for the islands under a long lease from Argentina. Had they succeeded, i...

Will Putin ever be held responsible for the atrocities we’re seeing in Bucha? | Simon Jenkins

History has shown that international justice can be difficult to achieve, but that doesn’t mean Zelenskiy shouldn’t try

The evidence of atrocities by Russian troops as they retreat from central Ukraine is appalling. Denials and claims of fabrication out of Moscow are worthless. The alleged massacres in Bucha and elsewhere cannot be put down to the indiscipline of war. After a month of targeted destruction of homes, hospitals and schools, they indicate a systematic campaign of terror against an en...

Biden is a diplomatic liability. He’s playing into Putin’s hands | Simon Jenkins

Zelenskiy is a master of mobilising his nation’s defence. But his plight must not become a plaything of western politics

An iron maxim of war is to imagine what your enemy most wants you to do, and not to do it. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is floundering. He has lied to the Russian people to justify it. He has told them it is not Ukraine but Nato and the west that seek their defeat and his overthrow. That is why they must support him in his fight. To a large extent they have done so.

Nat...

Two years ago I said I was taking Covid ‘with a pinch of salt’ – perhaps I was wrong | Simon Jenkins

March 2020 was a nightmare month in the game of prediction. But I stand firm that some of my scepticism about the UK’s pandemic response may be borne out

Scientists must long to travel back two years and revisit their Covid predictions. So too must commentators who relied on them. That March of 2020 was a nightmare month for the great game of prediction.

Boris Johnson’s press conference on 3 March was a cautious occasion. He had just received wild reports from Whitehall’s scaremongers declaring th...

Beware, Boris Johnson: in war, drawing historical parallels is a dangerous game | Simon Jenkins

As enticing as comparisons with the past can be, it’s geography that holds the key to understanding the war in Ukraine

No, the war in Ukraine is not like Brexit. No, the Russians are not Nazis, nor are the Ukrainians. No, Boris Johnson is not Churchill or Pericles, and the third world war has not begun, unless we choose to begin it. Such comparisons are odious. As a guide to the present, let alone the future, history is for smart alecks and podcasts. It is bunk.

The only quarrel I have with Ukrain...

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s ordeal shows the uselessness of economic sanctions | Simon Jenkins

This vacuous foreign policy weapon exacts a human price while failing to achieve any objective

Joy at the release of two Britons from an Iranian jail should not conceal the squalid diplomacy revealed by their ordeal. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have been victims of the latest weapon of western coercion, on display in all its impotence.

The essence of the case isn’t disputed. Britain owed Iran £400m for undelivered military equipment. Britain found the Tehran regime distasteful. ...

Opposition to Putin must not lead the UK to appease equally repellent dictators | Simon Jenkins

The war in Ukraine is showing up the inconsistency and moral sloppiness of how Britain deals with regimes

War is a good time to bury scruples. We may hate Vladimir Putin, but one dictator at a time appears all we can handle. So Britain’s Boris Johnson is to make a humiliating dash to plead with Saudi Arabia’s ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to lower the price of oil. What will he offer in return? Will it be a blind eye to the state murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the continued de...