Europe
David Cameron would be a winner in Ancient Greece
David Cameron is convinced he was right to call a referendum and to promise to enact it. Justifiably: there was…
Brexit has its risks. But staying in the EU is now unthinkable
This is one of the most crucial weeks in modern British history. We have a prime minister and cabinet who…
Letters: civil servants have ruined our trains
Travelling in discomfort Sir: I don’t agree with much of what Matthew Parris says these days, but he was spot…
Europeans have started to change their minds on Brexit
The conviction has been spreading among French people in recent days that les Britanniques have just elected Donald Trump. The…
Would no-deal Brexit be a disaster? Probably not – and here’s why
How bad would a no-deal Brexit really be? This is now perhaps the most important question in politics, and the…
The moment the European project first went wrong
At a time when the EU is at its least popular and, worse still, least respected, it is worth reflecting…
A lament for the UK and the US
New York Here’s a question for you: if your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, toy boy even, lied repeatedly to…
Dear Remainer parliament: you won. Now revoke Article 50 – if you dare
Dear Remainer parliament. Although we’re the voters who spurned the petition for this very course of action, we the undersigned…
If the EU refuses an extension, voters want a no-deal Brexit. MPs should listen
One of the many tragedies of Theresa May’s premiership is that, having come up with a coherent policy on how…
How to solve Europe’s Nato problem
There are four major power blocs in the world — the United States, Russia, China and the EU. Of these,…
Europe’s culture clash: Macron vs Salvini is a battle over a continent’s soul
Two weeks ago Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s vice-premier and Labour Minister and the top politician of the Five Star Movement…
Europe still thinks Britain will come out worse from Brexit. Bless
In Paris in December, I sat with a journalist friend in a café on the Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui and listened to…
Why 1919 wasn’t the year it’s cracked up to be
Gstaad The funny thing is that I was at school with a man called Ted Widmer, and I recently read…
Portrait of the week: Moment of truth for Theresa May’s Brexit deal
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, defended a 500-page technical draft of the agreement on withdrawal from the European Union.…
Elizabeth, the Eurosceptic queen
There has been much inconclusive speculation on the Queen’s views on Brexit. In 2016, the Sun asserted that she was…
Macron vs Salvini: the ideological battle for Europe’s future
The first sign that Matteo Salvini was destined to do battle with Emmanuel Macron came in June, a few days…
Brexit means Boris
A few months before he died in 2007, Bill Deedes asked if I would come to see him at his…
Bernard-Henri Lévy: ‘Brexit will not happen’
I meet Bernard-Henri Lévy in a colossally luxurious hotel on a tree-lined avenue just behind the Elysée Palace. The French…
Why British radio plays can’t compete with those from the Continent
To Herne Bay in Kent for the UK International Radio Drama Festival: 50 plays from 17 countries in 15 languages…
East vs West: the new battle for Europe
The occasion was a central European conference on the subversive disinformation campaigns of Putin’s Russia (which, incidentally, are real, subtle,…
Radio 3 offers a refreshing antidote to the current conversations about Europe
The season of Advent, for most children, means anticipation, gleeful waiting, the counting down of days. But after a certain…
Racism is a grey area
This book is an exercise in crying wolf that utterly fails to prove its main thesis: that Europe is abandoning…
Losing our religion
Sir James MacMillan’s European Requiem, performed at the Proms on Sunday, isn’t about Brexit. The composer had to make this…
Poor conduct
Last weekend Daniel Barenboim brought the Staatskapelle Berlin to perform at the BBC Proms for a cycle of Elgar’s symphonies.…
Continental drift
It is a long time since the term ‘sick man of Europe’ could be applied to Britain. France is now…
