TO PUT IT mildly, Theresa May’s government is not fully in control of Britain’s separation from the EU. On December 4th MPs voted, for the first time ever, to hold the government in contempt of Parliament for refusing to publish legal advice about the withdrawal agreement from the attorney-general. Then they voted themselves a larger say in the whole process. On December 11th (unless the vote is postponed, which is unlikely), MPs seem sure to reject the deal that Mrs May has spent the past year and a half crafting. What then? Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. Defeat is likely because a group of hardline Eurosceptics in the Tory party loathe the deal—as does the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that props up the government. They fear that the “Irish backstop” (an arrangement crafted to avoid any risk of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland) could keep Britain locked in … [Read more...] about The consequences of saying no to Theresa May’s Brexit deal
Nothing much happens, yet there’s so much to watch: Roma reviewed
Deborah Ross 8 December 2018 9:00 AM 8 December 2018 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Roma15, Selected London Cinemas and Netflix, from 14 December Roma is the latest film from Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity,Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and you’ll probably already have heard that it’s wonderful, a masterpiece, magnificent, Oscar-worthy. But as I know you won’t believe it until you hear it from me (sigh, the responsibility is too much sometimes) I can confirm all of the above. At this point I should note that many cinephiles have complained that it deserves to be seen at the cinema, on a full-sized screen with full-sized sound, but as it’s a Netflix film (sneer, sneer) most won’t be able to watch it this way. I did see it at the cinema, at one of the very limited London showings (£18.50!), and can say that if you wish to recreate the experience at home all you have to do is pay … [Read more...] about Nothing much happens, yet there’s so much to watch: Roma reviewed
Elizabeth II: Queen of tact and diplomacy
William Shawcross 8 December 2018 9:00 AM 8 December 2018 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp Queen of the World Robert HardmanCentury, pp.592, £25 In her 66 years on the throne the Queen has represented Britain on official visits to at least 126 countries or territories, some of them many times. Robert Hardman has had the idea to write about her reign, and about Britain, through these myriad voyages. He is right to call his book Queen of the World. There is no other. He quotes Neil MacGregor, now the director of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum, pointing out that the Queen has officially entered the German language. The correct word for ‘queen’ used to be ‘die Konigin’; but now German grammar lists a new entry ‘die Queen’ and states: ‘There is no plural.’ Hardman argues that the meticulous care she has taken on all her overseas visits has done immeasurable good for the reputation of Britain … [Read more...] about Elizabeth II: Queen of tact and diplomacy
Family favourites: children’s books for Christmas reviewed
Melanie McDonagh 8 December 2018 9:00 AM 8 December 2018 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp There’s no shortage of magical rings in the children’s canon, the sort of things that usefully make you invisible or beautiful. But rings that can turn objects into a pile of excrement are something else. So one warms to Bianca Pitzorno’s Lavinia and the Magic Ring, translated from the Italian by Laura Watkinson (Catnip, £5.99) whose heroine, an orphaned match girl, is given one. Her subsequent adventures have more than a touch of Roald Dahl, being illustrated by Dahl’s co-creator, the ever fabulous Quentin Blake. The sublime Judith Kerr is 95 and razor-sharp with it. Her latest, Mummy Time (HarperCollins, £12.99), is about the wonderful adventures, real and imagined, of a little boy in a park while his mother is on her mobile phone to a friend. Spot on. The 30th anniversary of Dahl’s Matilda (Puffin, … [Read more...] about Family favourites: children’s books for Christmas reviewed
Lyric Theatre’s Dick Whittington is the opposite of festive garbage
Lloyd Evans 8 December 2018 9:00 AM 8 December 2018 9:00 AM Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Whatsapp An Honourable ManWhite Bear Theatre, until 8 DecemberDick WhittingtonLyric Hammersmith, until 6 January 2019 One of the biggest stars of the 1970s was the professional lard-bucket Mick McManus, who plied his trade as an all-in wrestler. The sport was televised to millions. The parents of the playwright Michael McManus must have calculated that by giving their child the same name as ‘The Dulwich Destroyer’ they would subtly galvanise his intellectual ambitions. Their ploy paid off. The young Michael McManus, lumbered with the identity of a potato-shaped pugilist, seems to have toiled night and day to distinguish himself from his pot-bellied namesake. He succeeded in establishing his intellectual credentials by working as a political diarist, a ministerial adviser, and by writing well-received biographies of Jo Grimond and Ted Heath. His new … [Read more...] about Lyric Theatre’s Dick Whittington is the opposite of festive garbage