At a first cut, the 23 June referendum result has been the clearest possible vindication of the many years of concerted action by British Eurosceptics: on a high turnout, a majority of people voted to leave the EU, even if many of them wouldn’t have particularly described themselves as Eurosceptics.
Why have thousands of people seemingly have vested their political hopes in a single figurehead?
Corbyn speaks to the crowd at a rally. Photo: Rick Findler / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.There are two narratives about the current turmoil surrounding the Labour Party leadership. While it would be beyond naïve to rule out the possibility that there is some intentional misrepresentation going on, it is nonetheless important to recognise that some actors at least are genuinely at cross purposes in how they understand the terrain. This matters because this debate touches upon underlying questions about democracy, sovereignty and citizenship, which we ignore at our peril.
There’s silver lining in Brexit for the EU’s climate and energy plans
Populist nationalisms are replacing social democracy and Christian democracy across Europe. But we cannot, and should not, attempt to resuscitate these traditional models of governance.
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias in the Spanish parliament. Photo: Francisco Seco / AP/Press Association Images.
Some international observers are amused, but others regard Britain’s top diplomat as a new and unnecessary problem
International reaction to the appointment of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary has been overwhelmingly negative. The news prompted incredulity in stunned global capitals, with few finding anything good to say about Britain’s new top diplomat. Some even wondered whether the story was a joke.
The BBC rounds up some of Boris Johnson’s on-the-record “gaffes” (which is to say, unforgivable racist garbage), from calling African people “piccaninnies” to praising Bashar Al-Assad.
Foreign diplomats and politicians seem to be going through different “stages of grief” in dealing with the appointment of Boris Johnson as U.K. foreign minister — laughter, incredulity and now rage.
Afterbrexit: Chief xenophobe Boris Johnson now Foreign Secretary; Goldman-Sachs hires Barroso
Boris Johnson led the Brexit campaign with a lot of dog-whistles about dirty foreign muck stealing our jobs and clogging up our NHS, before being stabbed in the back by Michael Gove and bowing out of politics, until, today, he was made Foreign Secretary by Theresa May, the UK’s new Pry Minister.
Britain was rocked on Wednesday by the shocking appointment of former London mayor and prominent Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson to the role of foreign secretary.
From likening Hillary Clinton to ‘a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital’ to writing a poem in which the president of Turkey has sex with a goat, Johnson has made a name for himself around the world
Jeremy Corbyn has been variously described in the British press as unelectable, comic and highly dangerous. How should a healthy democracy respond to politicians pursuing a different kind of democracy?
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