The news horizon

From mangled visas to delayed driving licences, public service cuts are ruining what’s left of the essential services we all use

At Globe House, the London Passport Office, I want to see where rightwing anarchy leads. The queues outside are a publicly visible sign of the dilapidated state, people indignantly eager to tell stories that seem to signal the collapse of public services, things once solid crumbling away.

The first person I meet is a father from Chichester with his small son, on a last try for the boy’s passport for a family holiday to Greece that was booked three years ago. “It’s lost if we don’t go tomorrow.” A renewal applied for in February was “lost in the post” despite proof of postage. Then they were told a Passport Office IT “systems upgrade” in March had lost it. “Then they wanted another copy of our marriage certificate. My wife spent hours on the phone daily to get an appointment.”

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

The right wing press believes Katharine Birbalsingh has done something magical by creating a safe learning environment in a state school. But that just betrays their ignorance

The documentary Britain’s Strictest Headmistress hit the small screen on Sunday. It continues to do the diligent work of Katharine Birbalsingh, in mythologising herself so furiously that, if you didn’t have a memory or know any better, you would think she invented the phrases “please” and “thank you”.

Birbalsingh is not a bad figurehead for the age we are living through, that of asymmetric polarisation. She can come out with any idea she likes – girls don’t like maths or liberals don’t like Shakespeare - but express any hint of dissent, ask even the mildest question about the evidence base, and you might be referred to by her defenders as the hysterical mob. It’s generally safer to just leave her be, which is fine, because more interesting than her didactic method is the response to it from rightwing commentary.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

This astute analysis examines the toxic lottery of Britain’s housing crisis and the devastating outcomes of having no fixed abode

If the government of one of the richest countries in the world can’t adequately house the people who live in it, then what exactly is its point? The journalist Vicky Spratt doesn’t make this case directly in her first book, but she does lay bare our state’s lack of fitness for purpose in its current condition, showing how scarce, unsafe, cramped, unaffordable and, above all, insecure housing lies at the root of Britain’s ongoing public health crisis.

How did we get here? To put it bluntly, we allowed ourselves to be bought off. Instead of investing in skills, industry and people, voters were consistently told that if they bought a house they’d be set for life, and if they didn’t, it was their own fault if they ended up poor and voiceless. Everyone knows it’s a busted flush: even Michael Gove, now housing and “levelling up” minister, has belatedly recognised the urgent necessity for more social housing if he’s going to live up to his job title.

Former senior officer Brian Paddick asks what more evidence the police needed to issue PM another fine

The new photos from the Partygate saga have left police facing questions about the credibility of their investigation and a former police chief demanding that they explain themselves urgently.

Last week, the Metropolitan police ended its investigation into a string of Downing Street and Whitehall parties having issued Boris Johnson with only one fine. Westminster insiders say the prime minister had been a willing participant at several social gatherings that breached lockdown rules, yet the police decision appeared to suggest he had broken no rules.

Sources reveal frustration at likely delay of package to help households hit by squeeze on budgets

Cabinet ministers are frustrated that a “mano a mano” standoff between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak is holding up measures to help people through the cost of living crisis.

Downing Street denied there was a rift between No 10 and No 11, with one source insisting that the prime minister and the chancellor were on the same page but simply taking time to find the right way to “target help at the most vulnerable”.

This book is one of the most important ever written on Britain’s tortuous relationship with Europe in the last 50 years. It has been dismissed as a book written by a haut fonctionnaire, what in English would be called a Whitehall Mandarin. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason Barnier comprehensively out-negotiated his [...]

The post Barnier’s Secret Brexit Diary – A British perspective appeared first on The Federal Trust.

What is it about England’s right-wing journalism and France? The obsessive hate against France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, in papers like the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Spectator is without precedent. As news arrived of the death of 27 refugees drowned in the Straits of Dover, the Daily Mail summed up the style and language of the Francophobe press. It blasted the “Tantrum [...]

The post The Macron Obsession – a Very English Virus appeared first on The Federal Trust.

The extraordinarily tight outcome of the German elections has created the danger for the European Union of prolonged negotiations before the next federal government can be formed, lasting even as long as until Christmas. However, it also contains a most significant opportunity. This is not merely due to the defection of voters from the anti-European [...]

The post The German elections and the future of the euro appeared first on The Federal Trust.

This essay was commissioned by Léo Keller on behalf of the Blogazoi blog, as part of a collection to be published following the German election.   It is over 21 years since Angela Merkel took over from Wolfgang Schäuble as leader of the CDU, Germany’s most consistently successful political party. Schäuble, the heir apparent to the long-serving [...]

The post Angela Merkel, Britain and Europe: a view from offshore appeared first on The Federal Trust.

From Unidentified Political Object to European Democracy Thirty years after the foundation of the European Union by virtue of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty the nature of the Union has been established at last. At the time of its creation as successor of the European Communities the EU used to be described by the then President [...]

The post The Identity of the EU appeared first on The Federal Trust.

European Commission Speech Brussels, 23 May 2022 Good afternoon and let me start by praising Minister Bek for skilfully chairing today's General Affairs Council – stepping in today for the French Presidency, a...

European Commission Speech Brussels, 23 May 2022 Remarks by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis 
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine continues to shock the world. Europe's ...

European Commission Questions and answers Brussels, 23 May 2022 What is included in this year's European Semester Spring Package?
The 2022 European Semester Spring Package includes:

a Communication on the main elements of t...

European Commission Press release Brussels, 23 May 2022 The European Commission's 2022 European Semester Spring Package provides Member States with support and guidance two years on from the first impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

EIOPA assesses European insurers’ exposure to physical climate change risks<div class="field field-label-hidden field-name-field-eiopa-body field-type-text-long item-list">

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The report presents the first results based on a large data collection exercise from the industry. It focuses on property, content and business interruption insurance against windstorm, wildfire, river flood and coastal flood risks. These risks have been identified as the most relevant and... </div>

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