Opinion

"I wouldn't trust you running a bath, let alone a fucking restaurant!" Gordon Ramsay once yelled at a restaurant manager on Kitchen Nightmares. With a matter of months left until Britain exits the European Union it is hard not to think of the Brexit process in the same light. If this was a restaurant it would be in dire straits. The previous owners have run away, the expensive ad campaigns have been widely discredited and staff and owners are constantly...

HOPE not hate has been exposing the coordinated attempt by far-right activists to hijack the Brexit debate to spread hate and division.   MPs such as Anna Soubry and journalists such as Kay Burley from Sky News as well as Guardian columnist Owen Jones have been targeted for harassment, intimidation and abuse by a hardcore element of far-right ‘yellow vest’ protesters outside Parliament, frequently using terms such as ‘traitor’ (echoing language used by Jo Cox’s killer Thomas Mair). Based on messages shared...

Sadiq Khan has faced a backlash from Brexiteers who accused him of 'politicising' London's New Year's fireworks display after the London Eye was lit up to look like an EU flag. As over 100,000 revellers watched the capital’s New Year’s Eve firework celebrations the London Mayor said the theme was “London is open” as the phrase was uttered in different European languages. He said it should "send a message of support to more than one million EU citizens who call London...

There is now a realistic possibility that the UK will not leave the European Union. Talks are already under way to extend the Article 50 deadline. An extension can only mean one thing: a second referendum. EU leaders will not extend the deadline to allow for renegotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement. There will be no new agreement, despite what hard line Brexiteers claim. Polling shows a decisive shift in public opinion away from Brexit. The reality of this act of...

The Conservatives have been accused of framing a migrant crisis in order to “whip up fear” before the Brexit vote after Sajid Javid declared a “major incident” in response to a handful of small channel crossings this Christmas. The Home Secretary was said to have borrowed moves straight from Donald Trump’s playbook as news cameras turned their attention to the desperate struggles of refugees in order to create the illusion of an emergency situation. “Make no mistake”, Labour MP David...

This Christmas a collective truce seems to have been put in place by friends and family across the country. Like the troops around the Western Front of World War I it was agreed that for one day only we would put our weapons down and not mention the B word. After years of conflict there is clearly an appetite to indulge in the things that connect us rather than those which divide. And so true to my word I feel...

Sajid Javid can lay claim to the biggest Brexit faux pas of the year this week after he unveiled his post-Brexit immigration policy. In a year when the government has been found to be in contempt of parliament and the country is taking a course ruled by all experts as being the most torturous it was the Home Secretary that takes the spoils for delivering the most absurd clanger yet. Citing his parents as an example of immigration’s positives he introduced a...

A few weeks ago we all witnessed Donald Trump using the US army as part of a shameless political stunt as the mid-term elections loomed. He sent thousands of troops to border areas claiming they were there to prevent a marauding ‘caravan’ of migrants breaching the US border. Most people with more than the half dozen brain cells bouncing around under Trump’s orchestrated coiffeur knew what the game was. There was no imminent danger to the US, but flashing around...

Coming at the end of a dire year for UK retailers, the severe profit warning issued by ASOS a week before Christmas, on downgrading its sales growth target from 25 to 15%, has shocked the market. Could this be the end of consumerism? Despite the cash-flow troubles experienced by many high-street retailers, including big players such as House of Fraser and Debenhams, many market analysts thought that online-only retailers would fare better. Avoiding the costs associated with owning and managing...