As the judge read out the verdict in Marine Le Pen’s appeal trial for embezzlement, the same conversation was playing out in living rooms and WhatsApp groups across France. What? Does this mean she can run for the Élysée after all? But what about the prison sentence? And the electronic tag (which Le Pen had … Read more
Marine Le Pen’s decision to run for French president in 2027, despite her legal woes, has drawn comparisons from her opponents to Donald Trump. Just as the US president felt his voter base cared little about legal investigations against him, the French far-right leader shrugged off the leftwing protesters who shouted “criminal!” as she launched … Read more
Back in 2013, when a Socialist minister was accused (and eventually convicted) of tax fraud, the righteous fury of Marine Le Pen knew no bounds. Any politician found guilty of financial misconduct, she fulminated, should be ineligible for office for the rest of their lives. That was very much then. Although a court of appeal on … Read more
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