https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/news/comment Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voice en-gb Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017 Mon, 11 Dec 2017 02:30:39 GMT 2017-12-11T02:30:39Z en-gb Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017 https://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.png https://www.theguardian.com https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/observer-for-the-record This week’s corrections<p>Contrary to a Comment piece headlined <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/03/durham-university-snobbery-elitism-miners-strike" title="">“Sneering at miners reflects a deep malaise in our universities”</a> (last week, page 38), 61.5% of UK students at Durham University in the 2016 intake were from state schools, not 42.8%. The article also claimed that catering staff were “not paid the living wage”. The university makes it clear that all staff are paid rates above the government’s national living wage. We apologise for these errors.</p><p>The first line of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/03/britain-first-factionalised-rabble-heavy-drinking-plotting-anti-muslim-violence" title="">“Inside Britain First: ex-member tells of petty rivalries, racism and violent anti-Muslim plots”</a> (In Focus, last week, page 27) said: “Britain First may have been thrust into the epicentre of global politics by Donald Trump…” Our style guide says of the word epicentre: “Point on the Earth’s surface directly above the focus of an earthquake or underground explosion; frequently misused to mean the centre or focus itself and is also not a synonym for ‘dead centre’.” Another piece on Britain First (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/03/jayda-fransen-tried-to-stop-sex-assault-complaint" title="">“Far-right leader ‘tried to stop sex assault complaint’ ”</a>, News, last week, page 12) described the anti-Muslim group as a party but (as noted in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/03/john-naughton-the-networker-trump-twitter-distortion-public-sphere-britain-first" title="">“Trumps retweets and the value of a scandal”</a>, New Review, last week, page&nbsp;21) the group has been de-registered by the Electoral Commission.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/observer-for-the-record">Continue reading...</a> UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/observer-for-the-record Guardian Staff 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/roma-again-scapegoats-for-ills-of-society <p>Lurid claims of child sexual abuse have emerged just as they are becoming free of the grip of predatory landlords</p><p>In Govanhill, a little network of streets and avenues on Glasgow’s South Side, the besmirching of another immigrant community is in full spate. A century ago, it was the poor Irish, fleeing famine and persecution by the British government, who were being demonised. Now it’s the turn of the Roma people. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-37180037">Britain’s largest concentration of Roma families resides in Glasgow,</a> where they began to settle in numbers following the 2004 expansion of the EU.</p><p>The Roma community, mainly from Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, were among those who took advantage of free movement. They are a travelling people and are among the world’s most persecuted minorities. They have always provided an easy target for the hard right in any country where they settle. When widespread social inequality prevails, the presence of any minority provides an opportunity for reactionaries to camouflage its real causes.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/roma-again-scapegoats-for-ills-of-society">Continue reading...</a> Roma, Gypsies and Travellers World news Glasgow Scotland UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/roma-again-scapegoats-for-ills-of-society Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian Kevin McKenna 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/who-is-going-to-learn-the-lords-prayer-again-pope-francis <p>Mistranslation or not, the pope should reconsider</p><p>Pope Francis has signalled his approval of moves already under way in the Catholic church to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/08/lead-us-not-into-mistranslation-pope-wants-lords-prayer-changed" title="">change the line in the English version</a> of the Lord’s Prayer, from “Lead us not into temptation” to “Don’t let me fall into temptation”. Noting that it was a bad translation, Pope Francis said: “It’s Satan who leads us into temptation”, adding, as though studying a health-and-safety leaflet, “that’s his department.”</p><p>There have been controversial changes to the Scriptures before. In 1631, printers left a crucial “not” out of the Ten Commandments and people were solemnly instructed to commit adultery and this was even before the emergence of the holy churches of Ashley Madison and Tinder.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/who-is-going-to-learn-the-lords-prayer-again-pope-francis">Continue reading...</a> Pope Francis The papacy Religion Catholicism Christianity World news UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/who-is-going-to-learn-the-lords-prayer-again-pope-francis Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Barbara Ellen 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/we-like-you-angelina-jolie-but-dont-push-it What’s wrong if she really was just a fame-hungry Hollywood teenager? Thousands of others have been too<p>Angelina Jolie has spoken about how she fell into acting to help her l<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5159831/Angelina-Jolie-fell-acting-pay-bills.html" title="">ate mother, Marcheline Bertrand, pay household bills. </a>Really? That pungent odour tells me that my truckload of celebrity horse manure has arrived.</p><p>There’s plenty to like about Jolie – she may have her ludicrous moments, but she’s talented, gorgeous, seems to put real effort into her humanitarian work, and, frankly, I can’t work up vitriol for someone who’s had to face a preventative double mastectomy and hysterectomy.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/we-like-you-angelina-jolie-but-dont-push-it">Continue reading...</a> Angelina Jolie Film UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/we-like-you-angelina-jolie-but-dont-push-it Photograph: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Photograph: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Barbara Ellen 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/from-the-observer-archive-1956 Pygmalion is taken off the British stage ahead of the musical version, My Fair Lady<p>The Society of Authors has a long record of honourable service to the writing profession and its many admirers were therefore distressed to hear that as Bernard Shaw’s literary executor it had agreed to ban performances of “Pygmalion” in this country in order to leave a clear field for “My Fair Lady”, an American musical version of Shaw’s play, which is to be presented here at some later date. This action, though legally unassailable, is hard to justify on any other ground. Shaw himself would never have consented to stop people seeing “Pygmalion” in order to prevent it from competing with a musical version which he would probably have disliked on principle – as he certainly did “The Chocolate Soldier,” based on his “Arms and the Man”.</p><p>The Society of Authors says that the ban is simply a normal form of “traffic control,” used to prevent clashes between simultaneous performances of the same play. But this can hardly be a reason for having imposed restrictions on performances of “Pygmalion” in this country months ago, when “My Fair Lady” is not expected to be seen here for quite a long time. Moreover, “My Fair Lady” is a great success in New York and is said to be a brilliantly devised entertainment in its own way. Competition will not harm it – but the theatre could be greatly harmed by the kind of restrictive mentality evident in these proceedings.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/from-the-observer-archive-1956">Continue reading...</a> Society of Authors George Bernard Shaw Theatre UK news Culture Books Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/from-the-observer-archive-1956 Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Feature Photograph: Everett Collection / Rex Feature Guardian Staff 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/corporate-goliaths-grow-ever-larger-britain-increasingly-exposed A handful of companies now wields massive global power. Outside the EU, we will be their prey<p>We live in a world of corporate goliaths and the trend to gigantism is accelerating. The new era of hi-tech data capitalism has an embedded proclivity to monopoly. The bigger the network, whether Facebook or Google, the more valuable it is to be connected. Big is good in the digital universe, while even bigger is better.</p><p>Meanwhile, analogue capitalism, confronted by the challenge of the new, is reacting by consolidating and merging into ever larger entities. Unless they do, comes the reply to any challenge from national competition authorities, they won’t have the heft and scale to meet the new competition. Increasingly, we are surrounded by the most awesome concentration of corporate power in the history of capitalism. In every industry, reported the Obama administration last year, the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-01/america-s-superstar-companies-are-a-drag-on-growth" title="">market power of the biggest companies has been growing</a> and mark-ups and profit margins with them. America’s era of the robber barons in the late 19th century had nothing on this.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/corporate-goliaths-grow-ever-larger-britain-increasingly-exposed">Continue reading...</a> Brexit International trade Global economy Economics Business Google Facebook Amazon E-commerce Internet UK news European Union Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/corporate-goliaths-grow-ever-larger-britain-increasingly-exposed Will Hutton 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/ladydata-could-help-solve-gender-inequalities <p>There must be independent assessments of the impact of budget cuts on different groups</p><p>Benjamin Franklin once argued nothing was certain except death and taxes. Certain they may be, but experience of both is very unequal. While women tend to live longer than men, their pockets are hit much harder when it comes to public revenues. And if one is a matter of physiology, the other is a question of politics. Without data to identify how and why, neither can be addressed.</p><p>It is now devastatingly clear that seven years of austerity budgets have hindered equality in Britain. Raising the personal tax allowance and the higher rate threshold to £50,000 may be popular, but it helps older white men most of all. <a href="https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/taxation-pre-Budget-nov-2017-final.pdf">More than 43% of adults do not earn above</a> this allowance in the first place and, of these, 66% are women and 41% have dependent children. Seventy-three per cent of those who can expect to gain from raising the higher rate threshold are men.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/10/gender-pay-gap-widening-for-women-in-their-20s-data-shows">Gender pay gap widening for women in their 20s, data shows</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/05/sweden-gender-equality-uk-government">Gender equality should be at the heart of all policy | Jane Dudman</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/ladydata-could-help-solve-gender-inequalities">Continue reading...</a> Inequality Women UK news Poverty Society Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/ladydata-could-help-solve-gender-inequalities Photograph: Stan Meagher/Getty Images Photograph: Stan Meagher/Getty Images Stella Creasy 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/donald-trump-diplomacy-israel-jerusalem-palestine <p>US foreign diplomacy driven by ego in pursuit of the ultimate deal is no plan for Middle East peace</p><p>One of the first principles of international relations is that effective diplomacy is always prosecuted in pursuit of clear foreign policy objectives, which makes Donald Trump’s theatrical and ego-driven <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/06/donald-trump-us-jerusalem-israel-capital">speech recognising Jerusalem</a> as the capital of Israel and his plan to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv not only dangerous but baffling.</p><p>Trump’s foreign policy aim on the Israel-Palestine question, as far as it has been articulated, is to secure a peace deal that none of his predecessors in the White House could achieve; the “ultimate deal”, according to his boast.</p><p></p><p>The Observer is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, founded in 1791. It is published by Guardian News &amp; Media and is editorially independent.<br></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/donald-trump-diplomacy-israel-jerusalem-palestine">Continue reading...</a> Israel Donald Trump US news Middle East and North Africa World news Benjamin Netanyahu Jared Kushner Saudi Arabia Iran Paris climate agreement UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/donald-trump-diplomacy-israel-jerusalem-palestine Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters Observer editorial 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital-may-incite-intifada <p>In recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the US president has hindered the prospect of peace in the region</p><p>The relish with which Donald Trump signed the declaration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/06/donald-trump-us-jerusalem-israel-capital">recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel </a>left me with a sense of cold resignation at the obduracy of the man. He was almost gleeful; the power he now wields enables him with the stroke of a pen to bring about historical changes to our suffering world. But I was neither surprised nor angry – those emotions having long since been spent.</p><p>I have lived under Israel’s occupation for 50 years and listened to many empty declarations while witnessing the Jewish settlements expand, destroying our beautiful landscape and rendering us Palestinians strangers in our own land. Israel has never had to be concerned about the formal positions that the US observed, which considered it an occupier of the territories, including East Jerusalem, it has held since 1967, nor by the oft-repeated position that the Israeli settlements are illegal. This was because these formal positions were never followed by any implementation on the part of the US.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/08/palestinian-shot-dead-in-gaza-as-protesters-clash-with-israeli-troops-in-west-bank">Two Palestinians shot dead and one critical in riots after Trump speech</a> </p><p>With this decision the US, Israel’s closest ally, loses the clout it could have employed in service of furthering peace</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital-may-incite-intifada">Continue reading...</a> Israel Palestinian territories Donald Trump World news UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital-may-incite-intifada Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Raja Shehadeh 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/the-more-they-say-they-are-all-happy-the-more-sceptical-you-should-be <p>The hard Brexiters in the cabinet are acclaiming Mrs May for a deal that they would once have called a betrayal</p><p>Everyone is happy. Well, everyone except Nigel Farage with his <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/25/great-brexit-betrayal-has-begun-tories-have-sold-british-people/" title="">shouts of “betrayal”</a>. The EU says it is happy with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/08/sufficient-progress-in-brexit-talks-announced-after-mays-dash-to-brussels" title="">the deal struck with Theresa May</a> on Friday morning. Mrs May says she is happy. Truth to tell, the prime minister and her aides are gasping with stunned relief. Even more remarkably, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/08/michael-gove-hails-theresa-may-brexit-deal" title="">Boris Johnson and Michael Gove</a>, standard bearers of the hard Brexiters in the cabinet, claim to be happy. When he is in sycophancy mode rather than treachery mode, Mr Gove could give tutorials in how to be oleaginous to Uriah Heep. “The prime minister has won,” he oiled during his tour of the studios to sell the settlement to Tory Brexiters as “a significant achievement”.</p><p>Cabinet members who want a soft Brexit say they are, yes, happy. Nicky Morgan, speaking for pro-European Tory backbenchers, acclaims “great progress”. Business groups are happy. Even the Labour party says it is sort of happy. The Irish government is happy. Northern Ireland’s Unionists are not exactly happy – they don’t do smiley faces – but at least they are not as snarly as they were earlier, when their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2017/dec/04/theresa-may-heads-to-brussels-hoping-to-conclude-phase-one-of-brexit-talks-politics-live" title="">objections threatened to derail</a> the deal.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/the-more-they-say-they-are-all-happy-the-more-sceptical-you-should-be">Continue reading...</a> Brexit Article 50 UK news European Union Foreign policy Politics Theresa May Michael Gove Boris Johnson Nigel Farage Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/the-more-they-say-they-are-all-happy-the-more-sceptical-you-should-be Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Andrew Rawnsley 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/observer-view-on-ofsted-and-deprived-children The education watchdog continues to offer an invaluable service<p>Under the leadership of its former chief inspector, Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted’s annual reports became an important vehicle for airing difficult truths about our education system. It seems his successor, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/amanda-spiel-man">Amanda Spielman</a>, remains committed to that tradition.</p><p>On Wednesday, Spielman will use her first annual report to highlight how our education system is, perversely, most failing the most disadvantaged groups of young people. Some schools manipulate admissions to keep out children with learning difficulties in the first place; others move them “off roll” by excluding them so their results do not count towards a school’s position in the league tables. These children often end up shunted into underperforming pupil referral units or being home-schooled by parents unfairly pressurised into doing so, despite being ill-equipped. Young people in juvenile offender institutions are similarly consigned to some of the poorest-quality education provision in the system. With enough political will, there are fixes. But these marginalised groups of children have long gone ignored by the system.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/observer-view-on-ofsted-and-deprived-children">Continue reading...</a> Ofsted Education UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/observer-view-on-ofsted-and-deprived-children Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian Observer editorial 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/averil-hart-death-anorexia-mental-illness-treat-it-like-one <p>Averil Hart’s death has underlined how victims of food disorders aren’t treated with the respect they deserve</p><p>So much sadness attends the case of 19-year-old <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-42267778" title="">Averil Hart</a>, who died from anorexia in 2012. It’s only now, finally, after a five-year wait, full of stalling, buck-passing and evasions, that her family has managed to get clear answers, and apologies, for how she came to be failed so comprehensively by an array of doctors, hospitals and specialist units.</p><p>As an “adult anorexic”, studying at university, Hart slipped through the net so many times, it could no longer even be described as a net – just a few broken strings flapping uselessly over an abyss. It comes as a small comfort to the Harts that since Averil’s death, and others like it, £150m has been invested in NHS eating disorder services, including introducing the first-ever eating disorder waiting time standards.&nbsp;However, it seems that changes need to&nbsp;go even beyond that; into wider society, where anorexia (I’m employing it as a blanket term for all food disorders) needs to be respected for what it is – a deadly psychiatric condition, where rejection of food is merely a symptom.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/averil-hart-death-anorexia-mental-illness-treat-it-like-one">Continue reading...</a> Anorexia Eating disorders Society UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/averil-hart-death-anorexia-mental-illness-treat-it-like-one Photograph: Family handout/PA Photograph: Family handout/PA Barbara Ellen 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2017/dec/10/letters-ireland-border-issues-brexit The Leavers don’t seem concerned about problems over Ireland<p>The logical contradictions in the implications of Brexit for the Irish border have been obvious throughout to anyone prepared to attach real significance&nbsp;to them, but I recall a conversation before the referendum with an intending Leave voter who, when asked what would happen as regards Ireland, informed me that the matter was “a mere detail”.</p><p>Brexit is an irrational charge into the valley of international obscurity and such behaviour is unlikely to be influenced by problems in Ireland. There is no evidence that the Brexit ultras are in the least bit concerned about the damage caused to our friends and neighbours. The sheeple have spoken and the charge must continue!<br><strong>Philip Morgan</strong><br>Gorslas, Llanelli</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2017/dec/10/letters-ireland-border-issues-brexit">Continue reading...</a> Brexit Swansea Isle of Man Tax havens Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2017/dec/10/letters-ireland-border-issues-brexit Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images Guardian Staff 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/surely-pornography-has-no-place-at-work Some politicians simply don’t see the problem with a bit of recreational browsing while running the country<p>What with the unsocial hours and media persecution, on top of prime minister’s questions, in-party factionalism and the prevailing incompatibility between political advancement and any discernible ability, there is already justifiable concern about the recruitment of talented MPs. To these standard deterrents we must now add the very real danger that promising young multitaskers, hoping to fit a parliamentary career around a demanding pornography habit, will no longer think it worthwhile.</p><p>How, it is being asked, will we ever again attract leaders of Churchill’s calibre if they are not allowed to lighten the burden with regular sexual stimulation? Thanks to Harvey Weinstein, after all, they are already barred from workplace knee-touching. How can Westminster possibly tempt the finest minds without guaranteed office access to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-free-online-porn-warped-the-mind-s-of-today-s-twentysomethings-9f70l99zc" title="">Pornhub?</a></p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/28/hugh-hefner-pimp-sue-playboy-mansion">I called Hugh Hefner a pimp, he threatened to sue. But that’s what he was | Suzanne Moore</a> </p><p>Anyone disturbed by the sight of a porn star’s penis should just think of it as, say, a pot of low-fat yoghurt</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/surely-pornography-has-no-place-at-work">Continue reading...</a> Pornography Internet Damian Green UK news Culture Politics Technology Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/surely-pornography-has-no-place-at-work Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy Catherine Bennett 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/how-many-more-cities-of-culture-do-we-really-need-coventry Coventry is the latest city to have the title bestowed on it, but the benefits it brings are questionable<p>Presenting a jubilant Coventry with the next <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/08/coventry-from-ghost-town-to-city-of-culture" title="">UK city of culture title</a> on Thursday was, it turns out, also an early Christmas gift to many a sardonic wag.</p><p>Twitter and all the other online social notice boards were soon vibrating with witty comments pointing out just how un-fun being sent to Coventry really is and just how undeserving a place must be if it is historically notable only for its bombed-out cathedral and a dubious legend about a nude lady on a horse.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/how-many-more-cities-of-culture-do-we-really-need-coventry">Continue reading...</a> Coventry Culture UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/how-many-more-cities-of-culture-do-we-really-need-coventry Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Vanessa Thorpe 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/readers-editor-on-repressive-regimes-and-press-freedom-egypt As human rights abuses in Egypt increase, the government is labelling the journalists who try to tell the truth as terrorists<p>News is not merely a daily record of events – it is the narrative of our lives. It defines who we are and where separate nations fit into the story of one wider, shared world. Take away that narrative, as happens so often in repressive regimes, and a nation and its people start to lose their identity.</p><p>Any regime that stifles a functioning press is not only depriving its citizens of the fresh air of news, it is denying the world the opportunity to understand that nation and risks natural curiosity being replaced with wariness and suspicion, which, in turn, can lead to hatred, even conflict.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/readers-editor-on-repressive-regimes-and-press-freedom-egypt">Continue reading...</a> Egypt The Observer Newspapers National newspapers Newspapers & magazines Media Press freedom UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/readers-editor-on-repressive-regimes-and-press-freedom-egypt Photograph: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images Stephen Pritchard 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/ed-sheeran-versus-the-super-idiots <p>Attacking the singer’s charity efforts takes a rare type of stupidity. But guess what...</p><p>According to a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42221376">Dropbox survey </a>published last week, most people believe that “only 68% of their work colleagues” are capable of the job.</p><p>This is a staggering figure. Why so high? Nobody’s capable of the job. Nobody’s capable of anything.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/dec/04/ed-sheeran-comic-relief-film-poverty-porn-aid-watchdog-tom-hardy-eddie-redmayne">Ed Sheeran Comic Relief film branded 'poverty porn' by aid watchdog</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/ed-sheeran-versus-the-super-idiots">Continue reading...</a> Ed Sheeran Internet Charities UK news Society Donald Trump Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:05:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/10/ed-sheeran-versus-the-super-idiots Photograph: Freddie Claire/Comic Relief/PA Photograph: Freddie Claire/Comic Relief/PA Victoria Coren Mitchell 2017-12-10T00:05:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/the-big-issue-momentum-ousting-those-who-rebuilt-labour Readers respond to Roy Hattersley’s Observer article on the party’s future<p>It is very significant that, when Roy Hattersley compares the growth of Momentum to past “crises” of the Labour party, he doesn’t mention&nbsp;the rightwing treachery and deceit of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/mar/18/sdp-social-democratic-party-proportional-representation" title="">the Social Democratic Party,</a> when, at the beginning&nbsp; of the 1980s, 28 MPs who had stood as Labour candidates formed an anti-Labour parliamentary party (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/02/labours-great-crisis-time-to-fight-back-momentum-jeremy-corbyn" title="">“This is Labour’s greatest crisis. Time to fight back”</a>, Comment).</p><p>So it is not surprising that he is threatened by a group loyal to the Labour party’s manifesto and elected leader, both of which came as a shock to the “New Labour” right that thought it owned the party now (and which, ironically, was too right wing for Roy Hattersley when he was still active).</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/the-big-issue-momentum-ousting-those-who-rebuilt-labour">Continue reading...</a> Momentum Labour Jeremy Corbyn Politics UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:04:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/10/the-big-issue-momentum-ousting-those-who-rebuilt-labour Photograph: Dinendra Haria/REX/Shutterstock Photograph: Dinendra Haria/REX/Shutterstock Guardian Staff 2017-12-10T00:04:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/10/observer-profile-roy-moore-gun-toting-judge-with-god-by-his-side He’s become the darling of the alt-right and evangelicals whose candidacy for the Senate has intensified US culture wars. Will the voters overlook allegations of sexual harassment against him?<p>Perhaps only in the deeply Republican state of Alabama could a pistol-packing, stetson-wearing ex-judge accused of sexual misconduct become a formidable political candidate.</p><p>That candidate, the former chief justice of the Alabama supreme court, Roy Moore, a 70-year-old evangelical Christian who was recently accused of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/roy-moore-allegations-alabama-high-school-student" title="">sexually coercing teenagers</a> in the 1970s, stands this week in a special election for the Senate seat vacated by President Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/10/observer-profile-roy-moore-gun-toting-judge-with-god-by-his-side">Continue reading...</a> Roy Moore US news US Senate Sexual harassment Donald Trump Steve Bannon UK news Sun, 10 Dec 2017 00:04:21 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/10/observer-profile-roy-moore-gun-toting-judge-with-god-by-his-side Photograph: Ander/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock Photograph: Ander/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock Edward Helmore 2017-12-10T00:04:21Z https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/09/observer-view-eu-talks-soft-brexit Brexit deal hints at a new realism. Now reasonable voices most speak in unison<p>Breaking up is hard; breaking up and building a new relationship is even harder. That was the warning from Donald Tusk, president of the European council, in the wake of the deal struck in the early hours of Friday: the most difficult challenges in negotiating Brexit lie ahead.</p><p>He’s right. Theresa May did indeed manage to snatch what at many points last week looked an unlikely result, reaching an agreement that allows both sides to declare “sufficient progress” made on Britain’s Brexit bill, EU citizens’ rights and the Irish border in order to move on to the next stage of talks.</p><p></p><p>The Observer is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, founded in 1791. It is published by Guardian News &amp; Media and is editorially independent.<br></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/09/observer-view-eu-talks-soft-brexit">Continue reading...</a> Brexit European Union Politics UK news Sat, 09 Dec 2017 21:30:18 GMT http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/09/observer-view-eu-talks-soft-brexit Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA Observer editorial 2017-12-09T21:30:18Z