For 48 hours, Theresa May looked as if she was in control of her government. Last Friday, Britain’s embattled leader called all her ministers to the bucolic prime ministerial bolt hole at Chequers. The UK cabinet, almost two years to the day of the Brexit referendum, would finally agree a collective position on leaving the […]
Brexit’s Irish Problem – A Semi-Personal Reflection
It is inconceivable that a vote for Brexit would not have a negative impact on the (Irish) Border, bringing cost and disruption to trade and to people’s lives. Theresa May, June 2016 Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past. Theresa May, July 2016 Around three hundred roads bisect the circuitous three-hundred-and-ten-mile border […]
We Need to Talk About Towns
A week or before the US presidential election, I visited Youngstown in eastern Ohio. On a deserted street corner, across from a bail bondsman and a boarded up shop, an elderly white man explained why he was voting for Donald Trump. “This town used to be something. Now it’s nothing,” he told me. “You guys […]
Scotland bangs the drum for Europe
GLASGOW — As hundreds of people gathered outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh last week, there were flags of every European Union state, in a sea of Scottish Saltires. “Scotland loves Europe,” declared one placard. “Don’t EU want me baby,” read another. “We want to find a way to respect the democratic mandate for the people of Scotland to stay in […]