Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 63

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....

Make mine a glass of cannabis wine, thank you | Simon Jenkins

As Canada becomes the first country in the G7 to legalise marijuana, Sajid Javid wants a clampdown on UK users

Are you an interpener, a budtender or just a cannasseur? Do you go for indica or ruderalis? How do like your trichomes? Would you give Dad a cannador, or marry a weed sommelier? Do you read Weed Spectator? The jargon of America’s now-booming marijuana industry took a boost this week as Canada became the first G7 nation to legalise cannabis nationwide. Shops opened their doors and inve...

Don’t let Johnson and Rees-Mogg hold the UK to ransom | Simon Jenkins

Post-Brexit Britain will be better off if it continues to trade with the EU. To claim otherwise puts tens of thousands of jobs at risk

Brinkmanship needs a brink. Britain’s EU brink comes as border gates slam shut at Dover, the M20 jams and the French visa office is besieged. That prospect may delight Boris Johnson, David Davis and Jacob Rees-Mogg, but even the deepest cynic must assume those elected to lead the country will not let it happen.

Related: Theresa May’s reward for a Brexit deal? P...

London remains a safe haven for the world’s dirty cash | Simon Jenkins

The government’s new unexplained wealth orders are a hopelessly weak weapon against money laundering

Britain’s denial that it launders money is like Russia’s denial that it poisons spies. No one believes a word of it. If I walked into my bank and tried to deposit £55m, I would be asked to see the manager, if not the police. But if I were to shift such sums through a Belgravia flat or a West End jeweller or an offshore tax haven, I would be offered a tier 1 golden visa and honoured status as an...

Why you shouldn’t believe that ‘police aren’t investigating half of crimes’ | Simon Jenkins

Police forces are under huge pressure, but their crime reports require a pinch of salt – including this latest scare story

The Home Office is trying to scare the public, so it can squeeze more money out of the Treasury. Hardly a day passes without “news” of soaring knife crime, rampant sex offences, computer fraud and, on tonight’s Channel 4 Dispatches, the revelation that there are too few police to follow up half of all offences.

West Yorkshire reported an 11% crime rise last year, yet it has...

Banging your head over Brexit? Despite all the fury, we have to stay engaged | Simon Jenkins

If we really have to leave the EU, voters must force MPs to come together on the things that matter

Dear Mariella, I have a problem.

I can’t stand any more Brexit. I tear up newspapers. I scream and dive for the TV off button. I have already smashed one radio. I crouch in a foetal position, banging my head against the wall. I fear my wife will leave me. And politics is my business. What can I do?

Related: The Tories lack any vision – they can see nothing but Brexit | Rafael Behr

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Hysterical, alcoholic and cut-throat: party conferences should be banned | Simon Jenkins

These events are utterly detached from reality. To draw any conclusions from what happens at them is pointless

Don’t go to party conferences. Ignore them. They should be banned. When blind loyalty meets crazed dissent fuelled by personal ambition, the result is a disease, a ghastly rash on the body politic. The overheated, hysterical, alcoholic, distorting atmosphere of these events leads to misjudgment – not least by journalists disoriented by being corralled for weeks far from London.

After l...