Current Affairs

Theresa May and the shaping of the Brexit process With the provisional entry into force of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the dust is far from settled on the Brexit process. And yet the culmination of the formal stages of talks on the terms of withdrawal and the future relationship – however ‘thin’ […]

For our weekly “Ideas on Europe” editorial by UACES, the University Association for European Studies, we welcome Prof Paul James Cardwell, from City, University of London, in England.         euradio · The UK’s Turing Scheme: replacing Erasmus+ ? – Ideas on Europe     We have heard a lot this year about […]

After several systemic crises in a decade, emergency politics has taken hold in Europe. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and later the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have responded with exceptional measures. Along the way, they have accumulated extraordinary powers. We might be tempted to think that this form of politics is the natural […]

As we’ve noted previously in this blog, Brexit is a process, not an event. With the drawing in of the year, we might usefully revisit this notion, since there’s more of the process heading our way. You’ll recall that one side-effect of the very speedy conclusion of the Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was that […]

For our weekly “Ideas on Europe” editorial by UACES, the University Association for European Studies, we welcome Simon Usherwood, from the Open University, in England.             euradio · What is Brexit for? Good question! – Ideas on Europe   Today you are wondering why the British government seems to find […]

A while back I wrote about the UK’s approach to the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA), arguing that this was driven by a lack of strategic intent, resulting in constant efforts to keep things up in the air. In so doing, the UK aims to avoid falling into any settled pattern […]

Brexit used to sit on the far side lines of politics. Indeed, the word ‘Brexit’ was only invented in 2012, and until the referendum, most people didn’t know what it meant. (Now it’s in the Oxford English dictionary.) Prior to 2011, tabloids such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express were more fixated on false […]

As part of this blog’s ongoing monitoring of the two treaties, we regularly produce a tracker of meetings of the various bodies that they have set up. These trackers are useful at a number of levels. Firstly, the level of overall activity provides an indication of the vibrancy of the treaty and the extent to […]

They want to see the end of the EU altogether. That’s been the aim of prominent Brexiters from the start. And it’s certainly the aim of the guy who started Brexit: former UKIP leader and MEP, and now President of the Reform Party, previously the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage. In September 2017, Mr Farage received […]

Only the Tories can now save Britain from the Tories. That may seem a strange thing to say, but even Tories know when things have gone too far. The Conservatives have dominated the 19th, 20th and, so far, the 21st centuries. Since the 1830s, the Conservatives have been in the business of winning. They are […]