Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
Spending my summer break pottering along the Baltic coast from Germany through Poland, Lithuania and Latvia is a reminder of how recently Europe saw horrific slaughters like those now on our television screens in Iraq and Syria. I write these words from Bialystok, where, seventy-five years ago, the Jewish community comprised almost two thirds of […]
Who should be the next President of the European Council? Beyond the headline talk of the political, geographical, gender and other balances to be found for top appointments, there’s the little matter of competence and ability to actually do the job. The European Council is the most difficult EU institution to chair. It can only […]
The world has looked on in horror at the events of the past few weeks in Gaza. The sight of, in particular, children being killed and schools bombed has shocked public opinion, even among those traditionally supportive of Israel. But even if the latest ceasefire holds, what then? A return to the previous status quo […]
The madness that saw millions of young people go out to slaughter each other on the battlefields of the First World War started 100 years ago today. Of course, on all sides, most were motivated by high ideals: to defend their country, to right a wrong, to do their duty. Killing people who had precisely […]
