• OPINION

  How the Catalonia vote threatens the EU

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 06/11/2017

  » The struggles for and against independence in the Spanish province of Catalonia are emblematic of the European Union's present strength and its future weakness. They also display the weaknesses, present and future, of the two leaders of the contending parties: Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister and Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia.

• OPINION

  Trump tweets show disturbing side of social media

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 06/02/2017

  » Last March, three months before Britons voted to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union, then Prime Minister David Cameron asked Daily Mail proprietor Lord Rothermere to fire the newspaper's editor, Paul Dacre. The press baron, descendant of the family which did more than any other to create the British tabloid press, refused, and did not even tell Dacre of the request until after the result of the referendum. The incident, reported by the BBC, has not been denied by any of the parties involved.

• OPINION

  The driving force behind the modern Christian revival

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 24/12/2018

  » Christmas is invariably the time for a grouch that neither Christ nor mas(s) feature much in a festival meant to rededicate Christian believers to the worship of the son of God. Materialism, especially for children, swamps, on this view, any reflection on the meaning of a Christian -- or religious -- life.

• OPINION

  Britain's current mess extends well beyond Brexit

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 13/11/2017

  » Britain -- ever-ready to boast stable politics and a faultless, often-called "Rolls-Royce" civil service -- is in a mess. Between scandals over sex, secret meetings, political donors and the royal family, the government is melting down.

• OPINION

  Anti-Trump op-ed boosts democracy

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 10/09/2018

  » The good news was well disguised in the anonymous cry of warning against the "amorality" of Donald Trump. A senior administration official, writing as an unnamed columnist in The New York Times, described how he and like-minded colleagues "are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of (the US president's) agenda and his worst inclinations." The message is that democratic habits -- and, crucially, civic decency and responsibility -- can, in step with free journalism, win out over degraded administrations.

• OPINION

  Europe struggles over Trump plan

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 07/08/2017

  » 'We have to understand, that we Europeans must fight for our own future and destiny," said Angela Merkel. This was the German chancellor speaking to a crowd of supporters in May, after a testy few days of a G7 summit that included reports in German news media that Donald Trump had called her country "very bad" for selling so many cars to the United States -- and which saw the US president emerge as the only G7 dissenter on combating climate change.

• OPINION

  Trump's Iran nuclear decision strains US-Europe ties

  Oped, John Lloyd, Published on 14/05/2018

  » Does Europe still have a partner, a big brother across the water? One which can be a scold, a nag, an annoyance, a puzzle -- but which has always been there for it? A partner that is also a protector, with a military and security network of unrivalled power and reach? Is the United States still that partner?

• OPINION

  France finds it tough to rid itself of political corruption

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 09/03/2017

  » Political corruption in France is common, and usually -- if the politician is at or near the top of the political game -- unpunished by law. Yet the 2017 presidential election may mark something of a revolt against a semi-aristocratic disdain for the public whose tax euros have long been plundered for private or party use.

• OPINION

  Despite Brexit turmoil, I'm proud to be a Brit

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 21/01/2019

  » This is a fine time to be British. Indeed, to be proud to be British.

• OPINION

  Another Brexit vote is a bad idea

  News, John Lloyd, Published on 10/12/2018

  » In the "careful what you wish for" stakes, few issues rank higher than the plan for a second referendum by those in the UK hoping for a reversal of the country's June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (the "Remainers"). If secured, the outcome could be a fast track to a phenomenon the UK has so far avoided -- the creation of a large, angry populist party, probably of the right and perhaps also of the left.

1 2 3 4 Next Last