Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 58

Rat or stitch-up victim: how will history judge Gavin Williamson? | Simon Jenkins

The former defence secretary protests his innocence. But a sweary put-down of Theresa May can’t have helped his case

Is Gavin Williamson a disloyal rat, or is he a Tory Julian Assange, a valiant champion of open government in an age of secrecy? Is he a menace to national security, or is he the innocent victim of a toffs’ stitch-up? For an answer we may have to await a future memoir from one of the participants in this episode. But even then, the essence of a leak is deniability. The wink, the...

Some sort of Scottish independence is inevitable. May needs to face up to it | Simon Jenkins

Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have never been in a stronger position. The future of the United Kingdom is in the balance

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, yesterday reiterated her promise to give her country another referendum on independence within the next two years. After all, if there’s an argument for Britons having another Brexit referendum just three years after the last, Scotland can surely have another on independence after five years. Besides, Sturgeon must be thinking, was t...

To rage against Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK is simply childish | Simon Jenkins

No conceivable purpose is served by 200,000 people coming to London to shout insults at the US president

What is the matter with us? A US president has been invited to Britain on a state visit, and is coming in June. It is a state courtesy, between one democracy and another, on the occasion of a wartime anniversary. No conceivable purpose is served by 200,000 people coming to London to shout insults at him.

I cannot think what possessed Theresa May to invite Donald Trump in the first place, but...

What makes a great place to live? Answer: it’s not a shopping plaza | Simon Jenkins

Hipster watering holes in formerly run-down neighbourhoods are the new cathedrals

The best place to live in Britain today is Salisbury. So says the Sunday Times. The Office for National Statistics disagrees. It says the best place is Farnborough. No, says the Royal Mail, it is Winchester. The Provident says it is Worcester. The Halifax says it is Stornaway. And so it goes. This is listicle season, and not a magazine is without some daft “survey” of topographical superlatives. Each year groups...

This is a final chance to scrap HS2. What the north really needs is ‘HS3’ | Simon Jenkins

David Cameron’s vanity rail project should be ditched in the upcoming review. It’s commuter journeys that need investment

Britain’s great vanity project is hanging by a thread. Reports that the treasury secretary, Liz Truss, has made HS2 a candidate for the autumn’s public spending review have rung alarm bells across Whitehall. The railway was previously thought a done deal; but last month, ministers quietly postponed the HS2 company’s “authority to proceed” with construction contracts by six...

‘No-fault’ eviction of tenants must end. But beware unintended consequences | Simon Jenkins

The government is right to curtail landlords’ powers. But too much regulation could end up hurting the poorest

Theresa May’s government can get some things right. The curtailment of landlords’ power to evict tenants for no reason with only eight weeks’ notice has been rejected by Labour and Tory ministers for decades. Now the proposed abolition of “section 21” evictions should free landlords from being seen as heartless exploiters, and tenants as worthless transients, endlessly complaining.

Eur...

Julian Assange’s cyber-sins seem quaint in comparison to those of big tech | Simon Jenkins

Forces more dangerous to public liberty than WikiLeaks are intruding on our lives. We need proper protection

The eviction of Julian Assange from London’s Ecuadorian embassy is a strange irony. He saw himself as a warrior for truth across the boundless paradise of the web, where people could make their own rules. Now he finds himself badly in need of a secure border, a friendly judge and legal protections.

Related: Zuckerberg’s proposals to regulate Facebook are self-serving and cynical | Roger...

Brexit is delayed, so what needs to happen now? Our panel responds | Simon Jenkins and others

The EU has given Britain until 31 October to find a way out of the current crisis, after Theresa May met leaders in Brussels

Related: Brexit: May to address Commons after EU sets October deadline – live news

Related: This vital Brexit delay must not be wasted on Tory leadership squabbling | Polly Toynbee

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A Brexit compromise is in view. A customs union is the only solution | Simon Jenkins

The extremists are out of touch. With Labour support, Theresa May can deliver a smooth UK exit from the EU

The gates are sliding shut. The options are closing. The extremists are refusing to budge, and the centre cannot agree. The only god is time and she is ticking ever louder.

Within the next two days, Theresa May must manoeuvre herself a Commons majority behind a deal that will win another Brexit extension from the EU on Wednesday. That majority deal is now in full view – it would mean the U...

Prisons do damage. Is the British government finally waking up to this? | Simon Jenkins

We’ve been promised reform before. The scrapping of short sentences gives me hope that it may actually be happening

At least some MPs are doing their day job. This week the Commons justice committee demanded that all prison sentences of less than a year be scrapped, in a drastic measure apparently to slash the prison population in England and Wales, and because short sentences do not work. Assuming it does not just mean longer sentences, this is good news.

Jailing people is dumb because it trea...