Merkel and Macron demand release of Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia in November December 28, 2018 Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have demanded Russia release the 24 Ukrainian sailors captured last month in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea with the Azov Sea. Moscow said the sailors, who were captured along with their ships, were crossing the Russian border illegally. Ukraine, on the other hand, said Russia’s capture of [...]
MPs demand ‘meaningful’ vote on all trade deals after Brexit December 28, 2018 MPs have called for the power to veto any trade deals negotiated by the government after Britain leaves the EU. In a move likely to be rejected by a government which has already pushed the so-called meaningful vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal back a month to mid-January, the influential International Trade Committee has demanded [...]
Top EU official: MPs could still approve May’s deal in vote next month December 27, 2018 The likelihood of Britain abandoning Brexit altogether and staying in the European Union has increased slightly in recent months, but there is no public support for a second referendum, one of the bloc’s top officials has said. European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told the Funke Media Group that there is still a chance MPs will vote for [...]
Italy wins Senate approval for 2019 budget December 23, 2018 The Italian government has won a vote of confidence in its budget for next year in the upper house this morning, racing to gain approval before the year-end deadline. The budget will now pass to the lower house of parliament for a vote by 31 December, so that it can take effect before the start [...]
Former Liberal Democrats leader Paddy Ashdown dies aged 77 December 23, 2018 British politician and former leader of the Liberal Democrats Lord Paddy Ashdown has passed away after being treated for cancer, aged 77. Once a marine commando and diplomat, Ashdown was the Liberal Democrats' longest-serving leader for 11 years between 1988 and 1999, also serving as an MP for Yeovil. He died last night after a battle with [...]
Jeremy Corbyn: Brexit will go ahead if Labour win a snap election December 22, 2018 Leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn has said that Brexit would go ahead if Labour won a snap election in the New Year. Corbyn has insisted he would try and secure a better deal with Brussels should Labour take power but refused to rule out a second EU referendum. "My proposal at this moment is [...]
China rebuffs accusations of major cyber hacks on UK and US December 21, 2018 China has said it strongly opposes "slanderous" accusations made by foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, the US and other nations, which criticised the country for utilising cyber hacks for "economic espionage". The UK government yesterday said a group known as APT 10 acted on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security to carry out a "malicious" cyber [...]
Don’t ruin Christmas by bringing Brexit to the dinner table December 21, 2018 The build up to Christmas has almost reached its agonising conclusion. Since November, when the first few flinching bars of Slade seeped from the radio, we’ve crawled through endless reels of TV adverts and Christmas lights. It’s nearly over, though; the bonus has been frittered on tat for loathed relatives, the out-of-office message is on, [...]
Here are all the predictions I got wrong in 2018 December 21, 2018 I should have given up making predictions in June 2017. Three months earlier, I had spoken at a conference on Brexit and suggested that the best way forward for Theresa May would be to call a snap election and strengthen her negotiating hand. I don’t know how the Prime Minister got word of my advice, [...]
DEBATE: As the year draws to a close, do we still have reasons to be cheerful? December 21, 2018 As the year draws to a close, do we still have reasons to be cheerful? Viscount Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, says YES. Yes, we do. A lot went wrong in 2018 for a lot of people; but a lot more went right. Levels of absolute poverty, rates of infant mortality, age-adjusted death rates [...]