Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 62

Britain will go back into the European club. History proves it | Simon Jenkins

We’ve been in an on/off relationship for centuries. Even if we leave now, it won’t be forever

Sometimes, when politics screams and tears its hair out, history can rush forward with a comfort blanket to wrap round its shoulders. It’s all right, it says, calm down, we have been here before. Britain has left Europe in a huff, and been drawn back in again. It has turned its back on Europe, and turned it back again almost as often. Today is just one of those times.

The ancient province of Britannia...

What May should have said to business: where have all the remainers gone? | Simon Jenkins

Hard Brexit has been making all the running while businesses that were supposed to be united against cutting ties with Europe have been silent

It’s been the silence of the lambs. Theresa May took her case today to the Confederation of British Industry and was unnecessarily polite. Where have all you remainers, you Brexit sceptics, been these two years, she should have cried? We were told the massed ranks of British capital and commerce, of the City, agriculture, the professions and academia, w...

Theresa May’s Brexit deal demands a free vote by MPs | Simon Jenkins

With the parties divided, MPs should be able to vote in the national interest for a deal that avoids chaos

For Theresa May, Brexit does not mean Brexit. It means exit. There is nothing more exhilarating to the House of Commons than a prime minister on the run. There is a smell of blood in the water. Sharks cruise the corridors. British politicians set aside the nation’s interest. They default to raw ambition.

But it is not exit yet. May has nine lives, even if she is on her last one. For two ye...

May’s Brexiter anarchists are deserting her – but they don’t have a plan | Simon Jenkins

The prime minster is trying to find a way through a political nightmare, but party discipline is disintegrating around her

Members of Theresa May’s cabinet apparently have “significant reservations” about her Brexit transition plan. That is hardly news: all policies involve reservations. But to describe a customs union fall-back as vassalage, bondage and enslavement insults both language and history. May’s colleagues are at this critical moment seeking to undermine her attempt to find a way th...

We now know it’s folly to rage against Trump | Simon Jenkins

The president will never be out-ranted. These elections show that his supporters still want to be heard

In the spat between Donald Trump and a CNN reporter on Wednesday, I would bet most Americans sided with the president. Who was this rude man refusing to sit down before his head of state? No leader lost votes insulting the media.

The fact is, being rude to Trump hasn’t worked. Hurling abuse for two solid years was supposed to humiliate him and shame him, or at least turn his supporters agains...

Trump’s sanctions against Iran help the US’s enemies and weaken its friends | Simon Jenkins

Economic sanctions never work – they are a blunt tool that will destabilise the Middle East and embolden hardliners

Economic sanctions are state aggression. As of today, those imposed by the US against Iran are broadened to embrace any country, company or individual dealing with Tehran. A few lucky “friends” of Donald Trump – China, India, Iraq, Turkey, Korea – may escape. The EU has also promised to help companies that resist, but that may not count for much. Almost every international corpor...

Luvvies are not enough: the north needs more than Channel 4 | Simon Jenkins

The broadcaster’s relocation to Leeds will go only a little way towards easing a London-centric bias

And the winning destination of the year is … Leeds! Well done to its boss, council leader Judith Blake. Well done, Yorkshire. The fairy godmothers of Whitehall have sent Channel 4 kicking and screaming north of Potters Bar. Its executives must now wander the steps of the Headrow and the banks of the Aire, like Ovid in exile. No one can begrudge Yorkshire a PR victory over the titans of Manchest...

Fear and anger won the election in Brazil. It’s a wake-up call to the world | Simon Jenkins

Liberal democracy is proving no match for the lies and hatred spread by social media

As goes Brazil, so goes democracy? It is no good outsiders pouring contempt on Jair Bolsonaro, victor in Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election. He is the choice of his people. For non-Brazilians, it is what he represents, not what he says, that matters.

Brazil has been one of the world’s most exciting emergent nations, yet its evolution over 30 years from dictatorship to hesitant democracy seems to have stal...

A Gradgrind ethos is destroying the school system | Simon Jenkins

Children with special educational needs are being excluded to boost exam results. That’s not a healthy approach

There was a boy in my rural primary school who we used to tease as the village idiot. He was popular though, and we fiercely defended him if anyone bullied him. Our two teachers worked hard to fit him into the school and thus the community, and in this they succeeded. I think he was a happy boy. Yet today that school would risk penalties for lowering its test score; and accommodating...

May’s vitriolic Brexit enemies want to hurt her – even when it harms the UK | Simon Jenkins

It’s vital that we get a workable EU transition – and shocking that many are more focused on attacking the prime minister

The prime minister has two oppositions, her majesty’s loyal opposition, aka the Labour party, and her own disloyal one, some 40 Tory MPs. The latter have become vicious, destructive and without scruple. They are openly campaigning to dislodge their leader, peddling the absurd thesis that “deals with the rest of the world” can serve Britain better than the EU customs union....