Donald Trump wants a Europe in chaos – a sure sign for Britain to shore up its democracy | Polly Toynbee

The new threat is so dizzyingly bizarre that Europe, and especially Britain, is slow to believe it. The US declares itself our enemy. Europe emerges as its main adversary in the US national security strategy. Russia is its friend, not us. Everything that looked solid since the second world war is turned upside down; the … Read more

If the US forces me to choose between my two nationalities, I choose France – and Europe | Alexander Hurst

Last week, a Republican senator from my home state of Ohio, Bernie Moreno, introduced the Exclusive Citizenship Act. The proposed legislation would strip me of my American citizenship, because I chose to be French too. Just as Moreno seeks to bully me into choosing citizenship, the US is bullying Europe, trying to force it to … Read more

Asked about The Donald’s national security strategy, the Commons was remarkable for its absences | John Crace

Twas the fortnight before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Apart from a few exceptions. Labour backbencher Matt Western had managed to secure an urgent question on President Trump’s new national security strategy and the Commons itself was remarkable for its absences. A roll-call of dishonour. … Read more

No 10 publishes list of 34 new political peerages including 25 Labour, five Liberal Democrats and three Conservatives – as it happened | Politics

No 10 publishes list of 34 new political peerages – including 25 Labour, 5 Lib Dems and 3 Tories Downing Street has published a list of political peerages. There are 25 new Labour peers on the list, five new Lib Dem peers, three new Tory ones. Three of the peers on the list are hereditary … Read more

Labour seeks to reform human rights laws in order to save them | European court of human rights

The sight of David Lammy and the barrister Richard Hermer arriving in Strasbourg together to demand new constraints on human rights law would have been unthinkable a year ago. But as one ally says, quoting Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s seminal 1860s novel The Leopard: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will … Read more

An EU-UK mobility scheme work won’t erase the ‘violent indifference’ against young people. But it’s a start | Zoe Williams

Announcing her new Youth Matters plan – £500m to “boost resilience and teach skills” – the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, spoke of a “violent indifference” from the political establishment towards young people that had been going on “for decades”. She’s not wrong. We can look at all of the ways in which young people have … Read more

Davey claims ‘historic victory’ for Lib Dems after tokenistic vote in favour of customs union with EU – as it happened | Politics

Ed Davey claims ‘historic victory’ for Lib Dems after tokenistic vote in favour of customs union with EU Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has issued this statement about his party’s narrow victory in the 10-minute rule bill vote on joining a customs union with the EU. Today was a historic victory for the Liberal … Read more