Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 30

Britain’s economic war against Putin is a mess – and it may be pointless | Simon Jenkins

Ordinary people are likely to feel the pain, and none of the oligarchs directly targeted can influence Russia’s tyrant anyway

Boris Johnson is getting serious about Ukraine. He may not admit many Ukrainian refugees lest they endanger the Conservatives’ claim to being the party of low migration. But he is slamming sanctions on seven more London oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich, Igor Sechin and Oleg Deripaska. The high-profile trio, with four other oligarchs, are eerily accused of “enabling th...

Ukrainian refugees, meet Britain’s ‘hostile environment’. We should be ashamed | Simon Jenkins

You could hardly imagine a frostier welcome for these desperate people. The comparison with Europe tells you everything

One and a half million desperate Ukrainian refugees. Fifty British visas. It beggars belief.

In time of war we should keep emotional responses in proportion, but sometimes the hypocrisy is intolerable. Boris Johnson is frantically – and blatantly – traipsing his Churchill act through the capitals of Europe. He hurls abuse at Vladimir Putin and promises Ukraine guns and missiles, ...

Cleaning London of dirty Russian money would be great – but won’t topple Putin | Simon Jenkins

The UK government is directing its impotent fury at the oligarchs it has courted for 20 years. It will achieve little

We yearn to help. Wrong must be put right. Something must be done. The agony was plain on Boris Johnson’s face as a Ukrainian berated him for refusing to impose a no-fly zone on Russia. When an outrage is being perpetrated and untold numbers of people are dying hourly on our screens, impotence is misery. So we loudly voice our support of Ukraine. We hate Vladimir Putin, hate oliga...

Sanctions don’t work – serious diplomacy is the only way to stop Putin | Simon Jenkins

When the fighting stops, Britain must help Russia and Ukraine live as neighbours again

We now know that Ukrainians mean to fight the Russian invasion with determination and bravery. In that fight they must have support. We cannot fail to admire fellow Europeans as they take up weapons to defend their country against meaningless aggression.

But what does support mean? The British government disagrees with many Ukrainians that it shares the same threat and should join the same fight. With Vladimir P...

Who can prevail on Putin now war in Ukraine has started? Peace depends on it | Simon Jenkins

The Russian leader listens to China’s Xi Jinping and a circle of rich cronies. Only they may be able to prevent huge bloodshed

All Europe must have awoken this morning and heard the news with horror. Sometimes history refuses to die. The fate of 44 million Ukrainians at the mercy of Russia and its vast army is appalling to contemplate. Indeed, so wild and mendacious are the utterances of Vladimir Putin in the past 24 hours that they suggest a dictator deranged and out of control. It is precisely ...

Johnson’s decision is political, but it’s right to end Covid restrictions in England | Simon Jenkins

The cost of lockdown has been appalling, but the crisis is over. Now the prime minister can get back to his other demons

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Boris Johnson’s use of apocalyptic demons to aid his survival in office knows no limit. Since his near-death experience of “partygate”, he has shamelessly exploited war, floods and pestilence. All have responded. Pestilence is now his greatest ally. The decision announced today to end all remaining pandemic restriction...

The evidence is all around us: life outside the single market is an utter disaster | Simon Jenkins

An island nation must trade with its nearest mainland, whatever our new Brexit opportunities minister claims

A massacre is occurring. More than 35,000 healthy British pigs have been slaughtered and buried on farms since September, with an estimated 200,000 languishing in a backlog.

The reason is that abattoirs lack the staff to process them, largely due to Britain’s exit from the pan-European labour market. In October, the environment department offered 800 six-month visas for foreign butchers. Bu...

Whisper it, but the time is right for the Queen to abdicate | Simon Jenkins

After 70 years, retiring in good health to hand over to Prince Charles would be good for the monarchy and the nation

This May, the Queen will celebrate 70 years in office, her platinum jubilee. She is already the longest-serving British ruler and, by then, will be second only to Louis XIV among European monarchs. Such longevity in office is phenomenal and will merit national congratulation and celebration.

The Queen has performed her duty of symbolising the British nation over an extraordinary era...

Wasteful, costly and cruel: it’s time to bin GCSEs for good | Simon Jenkins

The pandemic gave us the chance to rethink our education system, so why do we persist with this pointless ritual?

Two years ago, I prayed that the government might make permanent the cancelling of GCSE exams because of Covid. This wasteful, costly, cruel and pointless ritual of teenage evaluation could at last be binned; schools could revert from being testing machines to actually educating children.

No such luck. This week, thousands of young people will start their “mocks”, driving through to ex...

The Tories won’t ‘level up’ the north while they’re in thrall to London | Simon Jenkins

The capital drains the UK of its young people. Michael Gove must put re-establishing local pride at the centre of his agenda

Michael Gove should be a bishop, not a politician. He smiles. He nods. He declares “missions” and blesses all and sundry. His current diocese is Britain’s northern cities, which are suffering the worst regional disparity of any OECD country and said to be crippling the British economy. Boris Johnson has acknowledged this in his “levelling up” agenda. But to govern is to gov...