Theresa May’s sequence of strategic errors has rendered impossible a soft Brexit. By adopting red lines consistent solely with a hard Brexit, while denying herself the option of walking out without a deal, the Prime Minister engineered the current stalemate. Now, Mrs May is about to bequeath a poisoned chalice to her successor. The next […]
Brexit
Should Jeremy Corbyn commit to a second referendum? The Independent
Should Jeremy Corbyn adopt an unequivocal commitment to holding a second referendum? Under normal circumstances, it should be an easy question to answer: democrats who think of referendums as a useful injection of direct democracy into our system of representative government, should be in favour. And those who are sceptical of referendums should be against. […]
DiEM25 and the European Parliament election in the UK: A proposal
DiEM25 members are currently debating our collective stance viz. the European Parliament elections in the UK (that, remarkably, may or may not take place). Since 2016, DiEM25 has been on the right side of history regarding Brexit. Our position was the result of a boisterous internal dialogue and a series of all-member votes that have […]
FT Alphachat 28 MAR 2019: On Democracy, Europe, the UK and Greece
Alphaville’s Jemima Kelly and Izabella Kaminska sat down with Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece and current organiser of a trans-European group, DiEM25, of what he calls “radical Europeanists” — in favour of union, without deflation or austerity. Mr Varoufakis answers criticism from the left, pointing out that even if the euro or the […]
Brexit: On May’s mistakes and the best road ahead – Financial Times video
Sharing a taxi with the FT to give my view on how Prime Minister Theresa May undermined herself – and on the steps that must be taken next. https://www.ft.com/video/01aef2cb-81b9-4dbb-9f8b-85a0c9559097
BBC Question Time, Sheffield 27th March 2019
“Britain needs a People’s Debate on its business model and its Constitution independently of how Brexit pans out… The most sensible way would be for the UK to exit the EU but stay in both a Custom’s Union and the Single Market for an indefinite period (though not forever). After the People’s Debate is complete, […]
Why Norway plus gives Britain the time it needs to get out of its Brexit mess – op-ed in The Telegraph
Brexit is, undeniably, important. The Prime Minister’s faulty negotiations have now turned what the majority of the British people considered an opportunity into a national crisis. However, now is perhaps the moment to reflect that, in an era of trade wars, geopolitical realignment and existential threats to our nations’ democracies, Brexit is not as important as we […]
Britain needs to choose its dominant Brexit strategy – The Telegraph
Imagine that we knew the day of our death. Our lives would change drastically. Though we know we shall surely die, not knowing precisely when the mortal coil will be shuffled off makes all the difference, allowing us to live life productively on a day-by-day basis. For exactly the same reason, the fixed deadline embedded […]
Jeremy Corbyn’s necessary next step: A Speech of Hope for Britain – The Independent
Britain’s prime minister has been remarkable in resolutely following a ruinous path that she keeps insisting remains the least perilous road to Brexit. Theresa May’s first crime against logic was to trigger Article 50 without a plan of what to do on 29 March 2019 if no deal had been struck with Brussels. Her second was to forfeit […]
Britain needs a People’s Debate, not a second Brexit referendum
Britain is teetering on a knife’s edge: about to crash out of, or back into, the European Union. Either outcome would represent a defeat for democracy in the UK and in the EU. Crashing out would inflict substantial economic hardship on the weakest in Britain. It would boost jingoism and parochialism, drive England further apart […]
The Brexit clock must be run down, not re-set – op-ed
The overwhelming defeat that Britain’s Parliament inflicted upon Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan was fresh confirmation that there is no substitute for democracy. Members of Parliament deserve congratulations for keeping their cool in the face of a made-up deadline. That deadline is the reason why Brexit is proving so hard and potentially so damaging. […]
Turning Brexit Into a Celebration of Democracy – Project Syndicate op-ed, 26 DEC 2018
Paradoxically, while the current Brexit impasse is pregnant with risk, the British should welcome it. Their discontent with the choices before them is an opportunity, not a curse, and more democracy is the antidote, not the disease. ATHENS – Discontent without end looms over Britain. Leavers and Remainers are equally despondent. Her Majesty’s Government and […]
At the Edinburgh Festival, in conversation with Jeremy Corbyn on reviving socialism, with Maria Alyokhina (Pussy Riot) on despotism, and with Shami Chakrabarti on liberty
In 2018, the good people behind the Edinburgh Festival kindly invited me to host a series of discussions under the title KILLING DEMOCRACY? My remit was: Further to explore the question of whether the current form of financialised capitalism is devouring democracy, reflecting on my work with the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25). In a series […]
Talking Brexit, Bernie and Left Internationalism with Yanis Varoufakis – VICE
Varoufakis talks to us about what he’s planning with the veteran US politician, why Jeremy Corbyn has been slow to support his campaigning efforts in Europe, and whether it’s possible for the UK to “remain and reform” inside the EU. VICE: Can you start by telling me about your trip over to the US. What […]