At 5am on Saturday morning, I found myself jogging across a field with a few hundred strangers, on my way to block a highway. We were just outside the east German city of Erfurt, one of several groups setting up roadblocks to try to stop delegates from reaching the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party … Read more
Some foreign takeover swoops on UK listed companies are easier to swallow than others. Sometimes it is hard to mount an argument that shareholders should stick to the virtuous path of independence and say no to an offer of hard cash at a fat premium. The current £10bn bid for Intertek, the FTSE 100 product … Read more
The EU has rejected calls by airports and airlines to suspend the implementation of new fingerprinting and facial recognition border controls even though it admits there are “20 difficult spots” with queue chaos. With only a week to go before the peak summer holiday season starts, EU officials said the new entry/exit system (EES) was … Read more
I recently asked a senior Labour figure what Andy Burnham’s defence agenda might look like. “He doesn’t really have one,” came the reply – offered not so much as a criticism of the UK’s prime minister in waiting, as a statement of fact. Given that Keir Starmer’s resignation came after a mutiny within his own … Read more
When storm after storm battered the Mediterranean at the start of the year, drowning fields and sending water spurting from plug sockets, few people were fretting about fires. But just four months later, the murky brown floods that swamped towns and fouled homes across western Europe have given way to angry red blazes and choking … Read more
Cut the Alien Jokes, These Mysterious Spheres Are Likely Space Debris
There are growing concerns in Europe that the US defence industrial base is no longer providing the weapons pledged to Nato allies with US stockpiles depleted owing to the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, leaving allies to consider new avenues to arm and defend themselves. As Nato leaders including the US president, Donald Trump, convene … Read more
British teenagers living in the EU could be priced out of UK universities in two years’ time as a Brexit rule change means they face the double whammy of paying costlier international fees, while losing access to student finance. British passport holders living in the EU still qualify for “home fee” status at UK universities. … Read more
Another surge of heat spread across western Europe at the weekend, with Spain, Portugal and France already sweltering and southern parts of the UK joining them on Monday. Temperatures are once again forecast to climb to 10-15C above average, with highs approaching 40C (104F) in the hottest parts of France and Spain, while the UK … Read more
The rise of Nigel Farage has prompted political leaders across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to game the unthinkable: the breakup of the United Kingdom. Unionists who wish to save the union and nationalists who wish to end it are bracing for constitutional turmoil if Reform UK emerges triumphant – with Farage as prime … Read more