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Simon Jenkins

Simon Jenkins

The Guardian

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Construction is the world’s biggest carbon emitter, yet Labour still refuses to tackle it

You can damn oil companies, abuse cars, insult nimbys, kill cows, befoul art galleries. But you must never, ever criticise the worst offender of all....

previous day 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

What should Biden do with his remaining time? Get a peace deal done in Ukraine

First the good news. The US is talking to Russia. Then the bad. Vladimir Putin has been phoned not by the current US president, but by a known admirer...

12.11.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Yes, Trump is terrible. But if there’s a silver lining, it’s a chance for progressives to reflect on what they got wrong

Yes, we all know it looks terrible. We have heard what Donald Trump has promised. But could there be silver linings to these ominous clouds? The...

08.11.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

What to do after Grenfell? Stop building these family-unfriendly tower blocks for a start

The Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 was a tragedy. Preventing its repetition is a fiasco. The latest National Audit Office (NAO) report suggests that 60%...

05.11.2024 6

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

A huge, hideous Canary Wharf by Regent’s Park: this could be the result of Labour’s plan for HS2

The face said it all. As Rachel Reeves listed the infrastructure projects being funded by her first budget, she could not even say how much the...

01.11.2024 80

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

It’s easy for the British to insult Donald Trump – but here’s why it’s a very bad idea

Is it wise for Britons to heap abuse on Donald Trump? At present he is the marginal favourite to win next week’s US presidential election – with...

28.10.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

The Church of England is panicking about declining congregations – here’s what it should do instead

The Church of England is in a state of “panic and fear”, of “deep anxiety”, and should stop being obsessed with numbers and face the reality...

24.10.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Could we all be as positive as Chris Hoy facing death? Perhaps knowing when we will go changes everything

We can all sympathise with Chris Hoy for his terminal cancer, and admire the manner in which he revealed it. Dignity so rarely goes with celebrity. We...

21.10.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Pylons rule and rural beauty is up for sale. Why do those in power so hate the countryside?

Does Labour believe in beauty? The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, celebrated his arrival in office this summer by permitting three of the largest...

18.10.2024 40

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Starmer’s House of Lords reform only scratches the surface of its problems

Nothing reveals Britain’s aversion to change quite like its failure to reform the House of Lords. Since the turn of the 21st century, almost...

14.10.2024 9

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Sudan’s forgotten war is bloody and horrifying – but US bombs aren’t the way to stop it

It is the most sickening league table on Earth. Which of the world’s three current major wars has resulted in the most deaths? On the latest...

11.10.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Britain needs to abandon its delusions of empire – giving up the Chagos Islands is a good start

The British empire still sends governments mad. Labour’s Foreign Office minister in charge of its lasting shreds, Stephen Doughty, has granted the...

08.10.2024 40

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Former PMs have a wealth of experience. Why not put some on the Tory leadership ballot?

Why is William Hague not standing as Tory leader rather than mere chancellor of Oxford? He is hale and hearty at 63. Is David Cameron also over the...

01.10.2024 70

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Britain’s prehistoric attitude to drugs isn’t working. Why not learn from Texas?

What can a German do but a Briton cannot? What can a New Yorker, a Chicagoan and a San Franciscan do, but a Londoner cannot? What can Canadians,...

29.09.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Working from home is the great social experiment of our age – it’s too soon for the state to wade in

What’s not to like about working from home? No commuting. More flexibility. Wear jeans. The boss can’t pester you. It’s a social revolution and...

23.09.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Sue Gray’s salary isn’t the problem – it’s the backstage power struggle Starmer cannot afford

The most remarkable feature of the Sue Gray saga is not how much the Downing Street chief of staff earns, but how little Britain’s prime minister...

19.09.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Keir Starmer’s missile bravado could jeapordise Nato’s careful balancing act in Ukraine

The greatest disaster to emerge from the war in Ukraine would be a collapsed Nato. For the prime minister, Keir Starmer, to be signalling confusion...

16.09.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Bankrupt and ravaged by student mental illness, Britain’s universities are badly in need of reform

Forget the NHS for a minute – and look to Britain’s universities, another institution in urgent need of fixing. A number are on the brink of...

13.09.2024 70

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

This winter fuel fiasco will save Labour £1.3bn this year. But it will cost Starmer more

Should the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance be cut? For most people it’s a simple question, though most people’s opinion is of no account. For...

09.09.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Want justice for the victims of Grenfell? It’s now clearer than ever that public inquiries are not the answer

What is justice for Grenfell? After seven years of public inquiry we have a 1,700-page report and a cost of more than £200m. We have had...

05.09.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

What Blair can teach Starmer: pick your battles early, and surround yourself with experts

What can Keir Starmer learn from Tony Blair? He hit the ground running in handling last month’s rightwing riots over immigration. He rolled the...

02.09.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Kemi Badenoch wants to drag the Tories further right. That is a huge mistake

Politics never ends. Today the selection begins of the leader of the opposition and thus possibly the next British prime minister. The pollsters’...

29.07.2024 7

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Keir Starmer, please – scrap the distasteful weekly brawl that is PMQs

Boring. That was the universal response to Wednesday’s first prime minister’s questions of the new parliament. Where was the screaming, yelling,...

25.07.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Kamala Harris is no dominating leader – but that may be her biggest strength

Kamala Harris is now the frontrunner to be the Democratic party’s candidate for the most powerful job in the world. She appears sorely...

22.07.2024 8

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

David Cameron failed to foist new houses on rural areas. Why does Keir Starmer think he’ll succeed?

Outside Glastonbury last month, festivalgoers might have caught sight of David Cameron’s- policy of planning de-regulation in action, sprawling...

18.07.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

It’s worrying to see the prime minister cheerleading for war. Will Ukraine turn into Starmer’s Iraq?

When Keir Starmer entered Downing Street, a few foreign events were arranged to glamorise his arrival. He visited a Nato summit and promised to spend...

15.07.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

He’s beaten and humiliated, but Rishi Sunak has one final job to do – for party and country

You can grieve over the bodies, the coffins, the funeral rites, but the worst aftermath of death is the autopsy. Who, or what, was to blame? Focus...

05.07.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Labour to win, Tories to lose: but what Britain really needs is MPs free to speak their mind

For the next two years, the best job in British politics will be leader of the opposition. The first two years is usually the honeymoon period for an...

01.07.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Message to Labour: don’t tax school fees. Make private schools work for the public good

To tax or not to tax? Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private schools seemed a good idea at the time. Its programme was bereft of leftist clout. The...

27.06.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Farage’s Ukraine comments were hardly offensive – other party leaders could use a history lesson

Is Nigel Farage guilty as charged? An appeaser, a disgrace, an apologist for Putin, an insult to Ukraine, says a chorus of British party leaders on...

24.06.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Come 5 July, an almighty fight looms. Keir Starmer, take on the countryside at your peril

What do Britons most love about Britain? At the last count it was still the NHS. After that it was not the royal family, the army or democracy....

20.06.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Now we know Farage and Reform’s so-called policies. The worst thing Sunak can do is copy them

Smash him. Go for the jugular. Take the gloves off and hit him with the big one. We have nothing to lose. A sure sign of political panic is when the...

17.06.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

A Tokyo developer will demolish a building for spoiling the view. Why doesn’t Britain care about beauty?

A Japanese developer has announced it will demolish a new tower of luxury flats in Tokyo it was weeks from completing. The reason? The 10-storey...

14.06.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Cut Rishi Sunak some slack – his D-Day blunder is hardly the worst thing he’s done

Attacks on Rishi Sunak for cutting short his attendance at the D-day commemoration have been overblown. His early return home was a presentational...

10.06.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

I’m a floating voter. Wes Streeting has my attention, but who else has bold, radical ideas?

This is the wail of the floating voter. I start every election a deliberate floater. An open mind staves off tedium. The only alternative is going on...

08.06.2024 40

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Crowing about the Trump verdict will only hurt Biden – populists thrive on claims of persecution

“Guilty”, screamed the one-word headline in the New York Times last week, dripping with undisguised glee. Howls of contempt descended on Donald...

03.06.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

So it’s goodbye to London’s Standard, my old paper – and to the heart of democracy, local news

They could as well have felled Big Ben, drained the Serpentine or butchered the ravens in the Tower. No more daily print edition of the Evening...

30.05.2024 60

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Our schools don’t prepare young people for life. National service could change that

Rishi Sunak’s reinvention of national service is a desperate, last-minute election gimmick. But that does not make it a bad idea. If there is one...

28.05.2024 90

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Keir Starmer offers ‘change’, ‘change’ and even more ‘change’. But that’s not the same as governing

We are told the focus groups are clear as a bell. No, Labour’s Keir Starmer is not exhilarating. No, the economy is not screaming for new...

23.05.2024 70

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Julian Assange has paid a heavy price for his leaks – the US should let him go home

The Julian Assange farce has run its time. He should be left to return to his homeland of Australia. Yet another appeal against successive British...

21.05.2024 70

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

For a bird’s eye view of British conservatism, look at sport. No wonder VAR in football is in trouble

There is one test of a true radical. It is not a quest for revolution in politics, philosophy, art or religion. The challenge lies in the realm of...

16.05.2024 40

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Britain’s ‘most dangerous’ years lie ahead, warns Sunak. It’s cheap politics from a floundering PM

Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish to win votes. He warns today that the next few years will be among the most terrifying and “transformative” the...

13.05.2024 40

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

It’s as if misogyny was the vice that dared not speak its name at the Garrick. That cloud has now lifted

The Garrick Club’s vote this week in favour of admitting women as members mattered. It mattered – and was the subject of widespread public debate...

09.05.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

England’s metro mayors make a farce of local democracy. They must be scrapped

England’s 12 “metro mayors” should be abolished. Metro mayorships are artificial creations whose regional geography rarely reflects any civic...

06.05.2024 50

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Schools should bond communities: faith schools divide them. Why are ministers making that worse?

To gain admission to the local church school near my home, parents were always advised to attend church. Otherwise, they were told, they should try...

02.05.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

After years of inquiries, why are victims of gross errors by public bodies still waiting for proper compensation?

How much money should go to those given infected blood in the 1970s and 80s? And how much to the wronged subpost office operators? Such questions...

30.04.2024 40

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Venice is leading the way with a tourist tax. Other great European cities should follow suit

Venice has had enough. It is sinking beneath the twin assaults of tourism and the sea and believes the answer lies in fending off visitors by charging...

25.04.2024 20

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

No matter how bad the Rwanda bill is, a bunch of unelected peers shouldn’t decide its fate

Almost everyone agrees the government’s Rwanda bill is a bad idea. Its effects on deterring immigration will be trivial. It fails to show that...

22.04.2024 10

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Trump’s latest drama: is it a case of true crime?

20.04.2024 80

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

Guardian Opinion cartoon Martin Rowson on the temptation of Benjamin Netanyahu and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – cartoon

19.04.2024 30

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins

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