Section: CapX (The United Kingdom)
The EU has already lost the UK – it could lose Italy too
When Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency last year, his victory was heralded as the deathblow to the rise of populism in Europe. “European relief as pro-EU centre ground beats far-right” wrote the FT on its front page. “France votes for Europe” opined the Spanish daily La Vanguardia. Macron’s victory was seen as proof that the...
Klopp, the Kop and how integration really works
I was just seven when Liverpool last played Real Madrid in the European Cup Final. I remember it well because, as a young Evertonian, I supported Real Madrid. Being an Evertonian is a lifelong allegiance that I acquired by chance. I did not inherit a football team from my cricket-mad Indian Dad. Growing up in the Wirral, in Ellesmere Port,...
Time for a trailblazing approach to Britain’s cultural heritage
Last year, I found myself at two very different cultural events, just a few weeks apart. One was held in the awe-inspiring surroundings of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. There, I found myself surrounded by the great and the good of the British cultural establishment, attending the launch of a new government report, “Culture Is...
Britain has lots to gain and little to fear from an association agreement
With a dishonest and distracting debate over a customs union dominating the headlines, there was precious little attention given to a significant development in the Brexit process this week. That was the first sign that Prime Minister Theresa May and Brexit Secretary David Davis are willing to consider an association agreement to frame their...
This isn’t ‘information warfare’. It’s a battle between truth and falsehood
The British government is responsible for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, then falsely accusing the Kremlin of the crime and killing two guinea pigs in order to cover up the damning evidence. Meanwhile, a purported chemical attack on civilians in the Syrian city of Douma was a hoax concocted by British agents in order to...
Assad is in a weaker position than most think
For all the furore about last week’s missile strikes on Syria, they were were strikingly limited in scope. Far from the “big price” boasted about by Donald Trump, the attacks focused very narrowly on three sites linked to the Assad regime’s chemical weapons programme. Targets were chosen both to avoid collateral damage and, more...
Syria’s humanitarian disaster is fast becoming a global crisis
The world is becoming a more dangerous place. The bad-tempered row between the West and the Kremlin over the Skripals’ poisoning is being significantly compounded thanks to the latest chemical weapon attack by Syrian leader President Bashar Al-Assad on his own people. President Trump has warned of a “big price to pay” for this...
The Irish border and the limits to taking back control
While Theresa May’s Cabinet colleagues now seem supportive of her approach to Brexit, the same cannot be said of her European counterparts. Instead, their guidelines issued last week for the future partnership outline a trading relationship that would necessitate a special status for Northern Ireland, indicating that the parties are on a...
Economic sanctions hurt us all
How should we deal with governments that act in a bad way, for example by attacking their neighbours? Today an increasingly popular tool that governments turn to is economic sanctions. This makes some sense: it is an easy choice and shows that politicians are doing something. The problem is that sanctions often have the opposite effect. They...
The hawks have landed
As the revolving door at the White House spins ever faster, this week saw an expected arrival, an unsurprising departure, and then a somewhat unexpected arrival. First in, on Tuesday, was Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Then on Thursday, President Trump’s national security advisor H.R. McMaster left his position. On his...
