Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 60

Why is the tax on a London mansion a tiny fraction of that in New York? | Simon Jenkins

While libraries and parks close and services for the vulnerable crumble, billionaires pay a pittance in council tax

Three of the most expensive homes in the world have been sold recently, and to one man. He is the American hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin. One will overlook Buckingham Palace at Hyde Park Corner and will cost £100m. Another is a new townhouse across the park at Carlton House Terrace, costing £95m. The third is a penthouse atop a “pencil block” at New York’s 220 Central Park S...

Nicolás Maduro must be praying for the US to intervene in Venezuela | Simon Jenkins

The only way the beleaguered Venezuelan president can shore up his position is if Trump blunders in

One thing alone could save the Maduro regime in Venezuela. That is western intervention. Nothing unites a country like a sovereign enemy on its borders. Venezuelans may hate their president, Nicolás Maduro, but they also hate the US. China may be exasperated, but it is Maduro’s ally, and would have to help him if the US attacked. So the US, and everyone else, should leave Venezuela alone. Uninte...

Brexiter MPs are not the problem – it’s the other 600 of them | Simon Jenkins

The fundamentalists are few in number, yet they got their way because the majority in parliament abandoned responsibility

I once wanted to be an MP, but a kind friend warned me off. He said I was far too interested in politics, and it would end in tears. I am sure he was right. Others I knew did enter parliament, and I admired their courage in opting for a tough and vital calling. But after this week’s Commons vote, I confess I have never held MPs in lower esteem. Never in my lifetime has the...

Stop ‘fighting’ cancer, and start treating it like any other illness | Simon Jenkins

People with cancer are fed up of the language of war. As I have experienced, using calmer terms helps us fear this illness less

Do you have a cancer? Or are you “a brave hero fighting against the demon foe”? Have you something in your body that needs removing, or are you a heroic victim in a war you may “win or lose”? A poll by Macmillan Cancer Support has found that many people with cancer are fed up with the language of war. They want to be treated like anyone else who is ill. They want to d...

Fake-history films like Vice and The Uncivil War are the new threat to truth | Simon Jenkins

The biopic about Dick Cheney is part of a disturbing fashion for film-makers to play fast and loose with historical facts

Is this the death of journalism – or just of history? This week sees the screening of Vice, a biopic of George W Bush’s vice-president, Dick Cheney, who is presented as the evil genius behind the Iraq war, torture and other misdemeanours. Its maker, Adam McKay, makes no bones about wishing to nail the misdeeds of a man “about to sail over the horizon”. His star, Christian B...

‘Brexit with an open border’ is a fantasy. Still Theresa May chases it | Simon Jenkins

Instead of returning to the Irish border, the prime minister should be opening up the debate beyond a minority of hardline Tories

Theresa May’s Irish backstop is Donald Trump’s wall. It is the howl of power thwarted by the implacable opposition of a democratic assembly. The prime minister today again sets her face against MPs who are now desperately searching for a parliamentary consensus on how to leave the EU.

She will plead with her Tory right wing – which is what it is – to support a suppos...

Theresa May must form a one-issue coalition to resolve this Brexit mess | Simon Jenkins

The Tories never forgave Robert Peel for seeking opposition support in 1846, but the episode provides a lesson for this prime minister

Of all human reflexes, jingoism is the most dangerous. It was evident in the hysteria of Tuesday’s Commons vote on Theresa May’s deal. Neither MPs nor the crowds outside had any alternative to offer, so they just shouted: “How does Brussels dare?” We have been in this mess before: I can just remember Suez. My father, who opposed the intervention and hated Antho...

MPs are lying to voters – there is no alternative to May’s Brexit deal | Simon Jenkins

MPs must vote for the deal on Tuesday. It’s the only way to move forward in a realistic fashion

Parliament is about to lie to those who elected it two years ago. It is about to pretend that there is a better way of leaving the EU than is outlined in Theresa May’s deal. It knows there is not. If it votes down May’s deal, it will lie.

Related: May makes last-ditch bid to win over Commons to Brexit deal

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Cutting tuition fees will turn universities into vassals of the state | Simon Jenkins

Lowering the cost of degrees will devastate university budgets. The state will bail them out – in exchange for more control

Meanwhile, back at the ranch – or in this case the campus – the mice are running riot. Ignored by Brexit, Britain’s universities are facing financial meltdown. I predict that within a decade they will become institutions wholly owned by the state, their academic autonomy unrecognisable.

A few weeks ago, three universities were reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Uni...

No more tribal politics: MPs must be allowed a free vote on Brexit | Simon Jenkins

With the clock ticking, the choice is clear: May’s deal or no deal. MPs should decide individually what is best for the nation

Has anything changed over the holiday? Yes: 29 March is two weeks nearer. Like the imminence of death, it concentrates the mind.

Related: ‘Managed no deal’? That’s just more Brexit snake oil | Anand Menon

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