Diplomacy is the smartest form of military spending, yet the president is slashing soft-power budgets in order to pay for ego-boosting new hardware

Published by: The Guardian

Let’s remind ourselves what’s at stake. Unchecked, Theresa May and her government are leading Britain through the narrowest, harshest exit from the European Union, taking the country out of not only the EU but also the single market, and in all probability, the customs union too.

Published by: The Guardian

Donald Trump is driving liberals crazy, says Jonathan Freedland, but how worried should they really be? He claims that norms of democracy – such as a free press and the rule of law – have already been undermined by the new president. And, he says, the idea of democracy is falling out of favour with young people across the globe

Published by: The Guardian

What kind of government breaks a promise to give shelter to 3,000 of the most desperate people on Earth, children fleeing war and devastation? What kind of government sneaks out an announcement that the 3,000 places it had reserved for child refugees will be shrunk to 350 and, after that, the doors to this peaceful and prosperous country will be slammed shut?

Published by: The Guardian

Think of it as a meeting of the world’s smallest club: the Donald Trump Appreciation Society (world leaders’ branch). Two of its leading lights met today in Downing Street, as Theresa May greeted Benjamin Netanyahu for a round of talks, before the Israeli prime minister flies to Washington to meet the man himself. If May had invited Vladimir Putin to join them, they’d nearly have had the club’s full membership.

Published by: The Guardian

Donald Trump doesn’t read books. He leaves that to his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, the man rapidly emerging as the true power behind the gaudy Trump throne. Given Bannon’s influence – he is the innermost member of the president’s inner circle and will have a permanent seat on the National Security Council, a privilege Trump has denied the head of the US military – it’s worth taking a good look at the books on his bedside table.

Published by: The Guardian

Now that Donald Trump has made his pick for the supreme court, Democrats in the US Senate have a whole battery of questions to wrestle with – but there’s one that should loom larger than all the rest.

Published by: The Guardian