'Brutal, Packed with Untruths, Uninspiring': European Press on UK Election

THE GUARDIAN: Socialism or Brexit? Britain is divided in two in a ‘Hamlet-like dilemma’, write Europe’s newspapers

France

France’s media have been following the UK election campaign closely and did not take long to draw their conclusions. “Boris Johnson: the liar weakening Europe,” was the splash in Le Parisien, a popular tabloid, last month.

The paper called the prime minister “Europe’s bogeyman”, a politician for whom “pretty much everything is either an empty promise, economical with the truth or a downright lie.” » | Jon Henley, Philip Oltermann, Sam Jones, Andrew Roth and Angela Giuffrida | Thursday, December 12, 2019

"I'm Angry and Worried": Hugh Grant's Concern If Tories Win Election

Hugh Grant told James O'Brien that the prospect of the Conservatives winning the general election is "very dark and very scary". The ‘Love Actually’ star has been campaigning over the last few weeks to encourage people to vote tactically and ignore their tribal loyalties.

Speaking to James O'Brien, he said he's never really got involved in elections before, but he is extremely concerned about a Tory win. He said: "I feel like a Coke can that's been rolling around the bottom of the car for too long and someone needs to pull the ring. "I'm just angry. I'm angry and worried."

Can Boris Johnson Lie His Way Back Into Office?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Britons face a miserable set of choices.

LONDON — This is the dejection election. Not in my lifetime has Britain faced such a miserable choice. Two vain, incompetent, mediocre charlatans are competing to become prime minister. For the Conservatives, we have the blustering, lying, oafish puffball Boris Johnson. In the Labour corner is the querulous, wooden, sanctimonious Jeremy Corbyn.

The two candidates are so alarming that, in an unprecedented intervention, former prime ministers from each of their parties have pleaded with voters to block them. Tony Blair and John Major have urged tactical votes against Mr. Corbyn and Mr. Johnson. Everywhere, exhausted, disillusioned, skeptical voters debate who is worse. British politics has never known anything like it.

These very different men share remarkable, unflattering similarities. Each is ill briefed, hazy on the facts and implications of his policy proposals, uneasy under scrutiny and belligerent when challenged. » | Jenni Russell, Contributing Opinion Writer | Wednesday, December 11, 2019

’Politically We Don’t Count’: EU Citizens Fear for Future in UK

THE GUARDIAN: Most EU nationals living in the UK cannot vote – leaving many feeling like pawns in a political game

In a threadbare youth centre in Bradford, Vie Clerc, who got off a Eurostar from Paris 19 years ago with £50 in her pocket and never left, laments the irony. “It’s the first one I’ll actually be able to vote in,” she said. “Shame I’ve never felt less British.”

In a bright mezzanine office in Bristol, Denny Pencheva, who landed in 2013 from Bulgaria via Copenhagen and now teaches at the university, bemoans politicians “who use us to score their political points, but don’t actually have to consider us – because politically, we don’t count”. » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent | Thursday, December 12, 2019

This Is a Brexit Election. But Boris Johnson Will Not Get Brexit Done

THE GUARDIAN: The Tories’ central campaign theme is unachievable: they created this mess and can deliver only division and destabilisation

There is only one reason why today’s election is happening: Brexit. Six weeks on, the 2019 election is still a Brexit election. You may want it to be about other things. You may be fed up and distressed with the whole Brexit argument. All this, though, is escapism. What is primarily at stake today is whether Britain leaves the EU on the Conservatives’ terms, or whether it doesn’t. Today, the nation’s votes will decide which it shall be.

The leitmotif of Boris Johnson’s campaign has been Brexit. For someone who loves to speechify as much as he does, Johnson’s message discipline has been awesome. “Get Brexit done” has been the “strong and stable” of the 2019 campaign. The slogan is brilliantly succinct and well chosen. But it is a fraud.

Johnson did not call the election because he lacked a parliamentary majority for Brexit. A Commons vote on 22 October showed that there was such a majority. But there was no majority for the unconditional departure from Europe that Johnson stands for, and which the rightwing of his party demands. This election is intended to create that majority and to weaponise the Conservatives as the leave party, on Johnson’s terms. All Tory MPs who are elected today will be bound to a manifesto that asserts “we will get Brexit done in January”, and “we will not extend the implementation period beyond December 2020”. » | Martin Kettle | Thursday, December 12, 2019

How the US Obstructs the World Trade Organisation | DW News

The World Trade Organization is facing its biggest crisis since it was founded a quarter century ago. WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo had hoped to resolve an impasse in the trade body. But instead, the organization can no longer deliver rulings on trade disputes, because Washington has blocked the appointment of new judges to its appelate panel. Critics fear world trade is now facing "the law of the jungle."

Royaume-Uni : des élections inquiétantes pour l’Europe

LE MONDE: Editorial. Jeremy Corbyn et Boris Johnson, les deux hommes susceptibles de diriger le pays après les élections législatives du 12 décembre, portent des projets problématiques pour l’UE.

Editorial du « Monde ». Qui aurait cru, au moment du référendum de juin 2016 sur le Brexit, qu’à l’orée de 2020 les Britanniques seraient encore occupés à chercher le moyen de mettre en œuvre leur décision de quitter l’Union européenne ? Tel est pourtant, l’enjeu des élections législatives de jeudi 12 décembre, les troisièmes organisées en quatre ans dans ce pays divisé plus que jamais sur la question de l’Europe et dont les gouvernements successifs, paralysés, ne font plus grand-chose d’autre que de tenter de sortir du bourbier du Brexit. » | Éditorial | lundi 09 décembre 1919

Impeachment by Christmas: Democrats Limits Charges to Ensure Swift Vote

Too much or too little? Democrats in the U-S House of Representatives drafting two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. Less is more they say in the hopes of a swift vote that would send charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress to a trial by the Republican-controlled Senate and a vote before the first January presidential primaries.

Former Saudi Consul-General Accused in Khashoggi Murder Case

The State Department has just announced that Mohammed Al-Otaibi - the former consul-general of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul - is accused of gross human rights violations in the murder case of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane has more from Washington, DC.

Luca Guadagnino on the Power of First Love in ‘Call Me By Your Name’

Based on a novel of the same name by André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name tells the story of two young men who fall in love in Italy in 1983. Director Luca Guadagnino discusses the film's dreamlike aesthetic and the power of first love.

House Democrats Unveil Articles of Impeachment Against Trump

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Democratic leaders announced they would move to charge President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress when the Judiciary Committee meets to consider articles of impeachment

WASHINGTON — House Democrats announced on Tuesday that they would move ahead this week with two articles of impeachment charging President Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, as they accused him of violating the Constitution by pressuring Ukraine for help in the 2020 election.

Speaking from a wood-paneled reception room just off the floor of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and leaders of six key committees said that Mr. Trump’s actions toward Ukraine, and his efforts to block Congress’s attempt to investigate, had left them no choice but to pursue one of the Constitution’s gravest remedies. The move will bring a sitting president to the brink of impeachment for only the fourth time in American history.

“Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution, and to our country, the House Committee on Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment charging the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors,” said Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the panel’s chairman. He stood before four American flags and a portrait of George Washington. » | Nicholas Fandos | Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Republicans Heckle and Disrupt as Bitter Impeachment Divide Laid Bare

THE GUARDIAN: Monday saw Congress begin arguments on what the witness testimony on Trump meant – and it did not go smoothly

Having heard all the witness testimony in the impeachment case against Donald Trump, Congress began arguments on Monday on what that testimony meant. It did not go smoothly.

Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chair of the House judiciary committee, had barely begun introducing the session when a bearded young man got up from the public seats at the back of the chamber and started yelling.

“Americans are sick of your impeachment scam! Trump is innocent!” he shouted. “You’re the one committing treason. America is done with this!”

As uniformed Capitol policeman began ushering him from the chamber, he declared: “You can kick me out, but he’s the one committing crimes.” » | Julian Borger in Washington | Monday, December 9, 2019

André Aciman: The Meaning and Message of 'Call Me By Your Name'

Author André Aciman discusses what inspired him to write his novel, 'Call Me By Your Name', how readers have responded to the book, and his reaction to the novel being made into an Academy Award-winning film.

The Observer View on Who to Vote For in the General Election

THE OBSERVER: After a tawdry campaign of lies and racism, the choice is clear – anyone but Johnson

This is a historic election, the most important choice voters have faced in decades. The result will determine whether Britain as we know it exists in a generation or whether the union will have splintered beyond repair. It will shape the nation’s economic wellbeing: whether we make countless lives harder by cutting ourselves off from our biggest trading partner or maintain our close relationship with the EU. It will influence the type of society we are: whether the number of children who grow up in abject poverty and the number of people sleeping rough – stains on our collective conscience– will continue to rise. It will decide the sustainability of the world we bequeath to our children and grandchildren.

Yet there is no disguising that this is an election of last resort, the product of an unedifying journey through months of parliamentary gridlock. None of the options inspires enthusiasm; the campaign has been underwhelming and uninspiring. But the gloomy sense it leaves – that our politics is unequal to the tests that lie ahead – must not obscure the momentous nature of the decision voters must make on Thursday. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, December 8, 2019

German Chancellor Merkel Pays Tribute to Holocaust Victims at Auschwitz Death Camp | DW News

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making her first official visit to the former Auschwitz death camp. The site was the Nazis' largest death camp during the Second World War. Merkel's visit marks the 10th anniversary of the foundation in charge of preserving the memorial there. In a speech Merkel payed tribute to the victims of the camp. Almost 75 years have passed since Auschwitz was liberated. Germany is now providing another 60 million euros so that the memorial site can continue and the horrors of the Holocaust can be viewed up close.

Angela Merkel Speaks of 'Deep Shame' on First Visit to Auschwitz

THE GUARDIAN: German chancellor says crimes at Nazi death camp will always be part of country’s history

Angela Merkel has expressed “deep shame” during her first visit as German chancellor to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust memorial and vowed to fight rising racism and antisemitism in Germany and Europe.

Dressed in black, Merkel said the crimes committed at the site in southern Poland where the Nazis ran their largest death camp would always be part of German history.

“This site obliges us to keep the memory alive. We must remember the crimes that were committed here and name them clearly,” Merkel said during a ceremony also attended by the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.

“I feel deep shame given the barbaric crimes that were committed here by Germans,” she added. » | Kate Connolly and agencies | Friday, December 6, 2019

Edward Snowden: If I Came Back to the US, I Would Likely Die in Prison for Telling the Truth

The Right Livelihood Awards celebrated their 40th anniversary Wednesday at the historic Cirkus Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, where more than a thousand people gathered to celebrate this year’s four laureates: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg; Chinese women’s rights lawyer Guo Jianmei, Brazilian indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa and the organization he co-founded, the Yanomami Hutukara Association; and Sahrawi human rights leader Aminatou Haidar, who has challenged the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara for decades. The Right Livelihood Award is known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” Over the past four decades, it’s been given to grassroots leaders and activists around the globe — among them the world-famous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. At Wednesday’s gala, Amy Goodman interviewed Snowden in front of the award ceremony’s live audience via video link from Moscow, where he has lived in exile since leaking a trove of secret documents revealing the U.S. government’s had built an unprecedented mass surveillance system to spy on Americans and people around the world. After sharing the documents with reporters in 2013, Snowden was charged in the U.S. for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. As he attempted to flee from Hong Kong to Latin America, Snowden was stranded in Russia after the U.S. revoked his passport, and he has lived there ever since. Edward Snowden won the Right Livelihood Award in 2014, and accepted the award from Moscow.

Brexit Is One of Most Spectacular Mistakes in EU History, Says Tusk

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Donald Tusk says it would still be better for both sides if UK stayed in EU

Brexit has been “one of the most spectacular mistakes” in the history of the EU and followed a campaign marked by “an unprecedented readiness to lie”, Donald Tusk has said.

In his first interview since standing down as European council president last week, Tusk said Brexit was “the most painful and saddest experience” of his five years in office, a tumultuous period marked by the Greek eurozone crisis, bitter rows over migration and the election of Donald Trump.

He also criticised the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for branding Nato “brain-dead” and refusing to open EU membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Thursday, December 5, 2019

'It Is Not Too Late': Andrew Neil Challenges Johnson to Commit to Interview

Andrew Neil has urged Boris Johnson to commit to an interview with him to face questions on why people have 'deemed him to be untrustworthy'. Neil ended his interview with Brexit party leader Nigel Farage with a direct challenge to the prime minister – the only leader of a major party not to have been interviewed by the veteran broadcaster during the campaign: 'It is not too late. We have an interview prepared. Oven-ready, as Mr Johnson likes to say.'

BBC's Andrew Neil lays down gauntlet to Boris Johnson over interview »

Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines — December 5, 2019

'No Choice but to Act': Pelosi Asks Congress to Proceed with Trump Impeachment

The US Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has announced the House will proceed with articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. 'The president leaves us no choice but to act,' she said. 'Sadly but with confidence and humility, with allegiance to our founders and a heart full of love for America, today I am asking our chairman to proceed with articles of impeachment' Nancy Pelosi on impeachment: Trump 'leaves us no choice but to act'

Pelosi asks committee to proceed with articles of impeachment against Trump »

Mocked Abroad and Assailed at Home, Trump Returns to Face Impeachment

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two days in London on the world stage provided him no respite.

WASHINGTON — When times turn tough, presidents can hop on Air Force One to escape the country for a while and stride purposefully across the world stage. But the world stage was not so friendly this week for President Trump, who landed back in Washington on Wednesday night to confront a grim couple of weeks ahead.

Mocked by peers behind his back at a NATO meeting in London, Mr. Trump abruptly canceled a news conference and bolted early, only to fly home to a capital in the throes of judging whether he is fit for office. After hobnobbing with the queen, the president now faces the daunting likelihood that by Christmas he will become the third president impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. » | Peter Baker | Wednesday, December 4, 2019

The Guardian View on Trump and Johnson: A Toxic Alliance

THE GUARDIAN: The prime minister kept a calculated distance from the US president at the Nato summit because he knows their similarities play badly with voters

AUS president’s low-key exit from a Nato summit, skipping the traditional press conference, would once have been perceived as a snub to the host government. But Donald Trump’s departure from London will come as a relief to Boris Johnson. Mr Trump is a fan of Brexit and praises the prime minister as the man to deliver it, but his presence in the country was an electoral hazard for the Conservatives.

Some British voters admire Mr Trump, or find him entertaining, but more do not. It is no recommendation for the Tory leader to be liked by a man notorious for dishonesty, ignorance, narcissism and chauvinism.

The US president did one favour for his British counterpart. He claimed no interest in the NHS as a subject of post-Brexit trade talks. That helped rebut a Labour campaign attack, although the veracity of the denial is as doubtful as everything else Mr Trump says. » | Editorial | Wednesday, December 4, 2019

BoJo, Billy Bunter's posh brother, is going to turn this country into a vassal state of Trump's America. Voters should avoid him like the plague. – Mark

Biden Lays Into Trump

He May Be a Clown, But the Threat Boris Johnson Poses Is Deadly Serious

THE GUARDIAN: His plans would be called autocracy anywhere else – don’t be distracted by his buffoonery

Constantly inconstant, Boris Johnson is faithful in at least one area: generating outrage. That he does as naturally as a dog cocks its leg at a lamppost.

This week, he has used the bodies of those murdered at London Bridge as props for his election campaign. Last week the 55-year-old dodged a Channel 4 debate on climate change, sending instead his dad and his wingman, Michael Gove. And then there are his many columns, spitting at gay men (“tank-topped bumboys”), single mums (“uppity and irresponsible”) and black people (“smiling piccaninnies”).

I would go on, but equally so might you – and we both know what typically comes next. The performative pearl-clutching, the saucer-eyed wailing: “How could he?” The sound and rote fury on social media and rolling news, followed by a satisfied, full-bellied silence as grateful journalists wait for their next steaming dollop of Boris buffoonery. » | Aditya Chakrabortty | Thursday, December 5, 2019

Trump Calls Trudeau ‘Two-faced’ after NATO ‘Gossiping’ Video

Today the Nato summit for the first time discussed a potential threat from China - and declared outer space a new operational domain. But planning for the future was overshadowed by tensions in the present. Donald Trump cancelled his press conference and went home early, calling the Canadian Prime Minister two-faced, after Mr Trudeau and other NATO leaders were caught on camera apparently mocking him. Our Foreign Affairs correspondent Jonathan Rugman reports.

What's the joke? Mugged off Trump sulks his way through Nato summit »

The Guardian View on Boris Johnson’s Poverty Plan: Spread It Widely?

THE GUARDIAN: Mr Johnson once thought ‘destitution on a Victorian scale’ might be a good thing. With Tory policies he may yet deliver such a dystopia

Did Boris Johnson watch Channel 4’s documentary Growing Up Poor? He should have. The film is a seminal moment in television which has made people talk about the crisis of destitution that is hiding in plain sight in the UK, and how dreadful it is. In the programme, childhood dreams of being an actor or a solicitor jarred with tales of chronic poverty. There were bleak scenes of Dickensian hardship, as families living in squalor or with hungry children at a food bank explained how these situations had been precipitated by everyday catastrophes of bereavement, domestic violence and mental breakdown. The damaging trade-offs being made – of whether to eat or heat – are a shameful indictment of a country as wealthy as ours. » | Editorial | Tuesday, November 3, 2019

Author André Aciman: 'I Wrote about Gay Love, Not Realising I Was Taking On the Taboo'

André Aciman is an author and academic, renowned for his novel 'Call Me by Your Name', which was turned into a hugely successful film in 2017 and has been hailed as a modern gay classic.

UK Election: Halt US Trade Talks until NHS Off Table, Corbyn Tells Johnson

THE GUARDIAN: Labour leader calls for break in talks unless pharmaceuticals excluded from negotiations

Jeremy Corbyn has urged the prime minister to break off trade talks with Donald Trump until any reference to pharmaceuticals is struck out of Washington’s negotiating objectives.

As the US president prepared to fly in on Monday evening to attend the Nato summit alongside other world leaders, Corbyn wrote to Boris Johnson to urge him to give fresh reassurances about NHS privatisation.

The Labour leader has repeatedly accused the prime minister of preparing to sell off the NHS, and Labour activists at recent rallies have taken up a chorus of “Not for sale! Not for sale!” » | Heather Stewart, Political editor | Monday, December 2, 2019

Holocaust Survivors : The Families Who Were Not Meant to Live

Allowing Predatory Private Insurance to Exist Is Insanity

Why should the healthcare industry allow for predatory private insurance companies to put a price on American lives?

Can Angela Merkel Save Her Grand Coalition? | Inside Story

Germany's Social Democrats elect new leaders, putting at risk Angela Merkel's coalition government.

Germany's Social Democrats, or SPD, have chosen two leaders who want to leave Angela Merkel's grand coalition. Many of their party members say they want to focus on rebuilding support in the opposition.

The coalition between Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the SPD was formed last year. The SPD's new leaders ran on a joint ticket with a promise to re-negotiate the partnership deal on issues of spending and climate policies. Its party congress is expected to decide by next week - on whether it will continue to support Merkel. But should the SPD decide to leave, the Chancellor has the option of leading a minority government or forming a new coalition with smaller opposition parties. A snap election is also in the cards.

So, where does this leave Germany and Europe?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan | Guests: Thorsten Benner - Director of Global Public Policy Institute;. Julien Hoez - Managing Director of Vocal Europe; Matt Kvortrup - Author, 'Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader'

The Queen’s Mother in Law – Documentary

America Is Not the Land of the Free But One of Monopolies So Predatory They Imperil the Nation

THE GUARDIAN: Its growing economic crisis is in contrast to a thriving and newly innovative Europe

Tomorrow, President Trump arrives in London for the annual Nato summit. Despite the boasting and the trappings of superpower status, he is an emissary from a country whose economy and society are in increasing difficulty, and whose global leadership is under challenge not just from the usual suspect, China, but from Europe. With the unerring capacity to be wrong that defines the Brexit right, Britain is about to decouple itself from a continental economy beginning to get things right, and hook up with one that is palpably beginning to fail.

This is not the conventional wisdom. The EU is sclerotic, undynamic, stifled by quasi-socialist red tape, and hostile to insurgent startups. It is so degenerate it cannot even defend itself – as Trump will undoubtedly remind its leaders over the next two days. The US is the mirror opposite. A free trade agreement post 31 January with the US is the number one strategic policy aim for Brexit Britain – unshackling the UK from the declining old, and embracing the English-speaking, dynamic new. Best be nice to “the Donald”.

Except the latest research demonstrates the reverse is true. Britain is about to make a vast mistake. In the recently published The Great Reversal, leading economist Thomas Philippon of New York University and member of the advisory panel of the New York Federal Reserve, mounts a devastating attackon the conventional wisdom, so perfectly embodied by the witless Boris Johnson. The news is that over the last 20 years per capita EU incomes have grown by 25% while the US’s have grown 21%, with the US growth rate decelerating while Europe’s has held steady – indeed accelerating in parts of Europe. What is going on? » | Will Hutton | Sunday, December 1, 2019

How Princess Alice Saved an Entire Family from the Nazis

THE OBSERVER: Prince Philip’s mother remembered for sheltering Jews in wartime Athens

At the foot of the Mount of Olives, opposite the eastern wall of the old city of Jerusalem, lies the grave of one of the most eccentric – if sometimes overlooked – British royals.

Princess Alice, Prince Philip’s mother, and also a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, is remembered for many things. Born deaf at Windsor Castle, she lived a life of regal glamour – married to a Greek prince – but also extreme frugality, and spent two years at a Swiss asylum after a schizophrenia diagnosis. Later in her life, the “Princess of Battenberg” established an order of nuns, giving away all her possessions before dying on 5 December 1969.

The 50th anniversary of that date will come on Thursday amid a resurgence in interest thanks to Netflix’s The Crown. In the third series, the royal is seen during her final years as a chain-smoking nun seeking funds for the poor. But a key episode of her life, for which she is lovingly remembered in Israel and among many Jewish people, is overlooked by the TV drama. During the second world war, Princess Alice sheltered the persecuted Cohen family from the Nazis and their sympathisers, including some of her own children. » | Oliver Holmes | Sunday, December 1, 2019

Dominic Raab in Danger of Losing Seat to Lib Dems, Poll Suggests

THE OBSERVER: Tactical voting could lead to big upsets at constituency level, according to study by Deltapoll

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, is in danger of providing this election’s “Portillo moment”, after a poll in his constituency suggested that he was at risk of losing his seat.

The Deltapoll survey of Raab’s Esher and Walton constituency indicates he now only holds a five-point lead over the Liberal Democrats with less than two weeks before voting. Yet Raab had a massive 23,298 majority at the last election. The fact the foreign secretary faces a close race shows there could be big swings in some seats, and means Raab is vulnerable to a so-called “Portillo moment” – a reference to the shock defeat suffered by Michael Portillo in the Labour landslide of 1997. » | Michael Savage, Political editor | Saturday, November 30, 2019

Brexit: Johnson ‘Will Have to Call Second Referendum If He Fails to Win Majority’

THE OBSERVER: With Opinium poll showing his lead narrowing, academics warn PM could need support of minority parties for Brexit deal

Boris Johnson could be forced into holding a second referendum on Brexit next summer if he fails to win a majority in the House of Commons but remains as prime minister, according to a new report by academics at University College London.

The detailed analysis of how a referendum could be triggered, how long it would take, and how it would work concludes that a second public vote – in which the options would most likely be Johnson’s deal versus remaining in the EU – would be very much on the cards if the Conservatives are denied a majority, or are returned with only a very slender one, on 12 December. » | Toby Helm and Michael Savage | Sunday, December 1, 2019

Donald Trump: Is There Anything Sadder Than a Chump Who Thinks He’s a Champ?

THE GUARDIAN: The president’s Rocky fantasy doesn’t project power – it just reveals his insecurities

Oh dear. Was President Trump’s tweet of his head digitally added on to the body of Rocky Balboa/Sylvester Stallone rather too psychologically revealing? The image seemed to say everything you needed to know about Trump’s delusional self-image. Well, I say “needed”. How much does anyone need to know about any man – world leader or regular Joe – who mistakes male heft and musculature for true power?

Before we begin, a minor quibble: the tan of Rocky’s body isn’t an exact match for Trump’s face. The former says “Italian-American”; the latter whispers: “Overzealously applied mortuary makeup that does little to dispel the question marks over Trump’s health sparked by his recent unscheduled ‘medical check’.” But I digress – it’s the internal monologue that counts. The Trump/Rocky hybrid is saying: “Behold my might! This is the real Trump – not that old guy, so flaccid and orange he’s starting to resemble a morally corrupted Winnie the Pooh. NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO! This toned boxing-gloved Adonis is the true Trump: buff, invincible and intriguingly homoerotic.” » | Barbara Ellen | Saturday, November 30, 2019

The Changing Face of the USA Today: Young People Gravitate to Socialism as Capitalism Keeps Failing Them

According to a new round of Gallup polling, Socialism is now as popular among Millennial voters as Capitalism. The main reason for this, which the poll did not get into, is that this age group has seen nothing but failures from capitalism for most of their lives, and they want a better system. Capitalism, in its current form, is not working for any age group, but older voters are still able to look back fondly at what once was. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.

Suisse : les fumeurs discriminés à l'embauche

LE POINT: En toute légalité, certaines entreprises suisses privilégient le recrutement d'employés qui ne fument pas. Une pratique interdite en France, souligne LCI.

La fumée n'est plus vraiment en odeur de sainteté de l'autre côté du lac Léman. Les entreprises suisses n'hésitent pas à pratiquer une discrimination à l'embauche entre les fumeurs et les non-fumeurs. Un critère de recrutement qui s'affiche dès les annonces d'embauche, explique LCI.

En 2017, 27,1 % des Suisses de plus de 15 ans fumaient, selon l'office fédéral de la santé publique, soit près d'un quart de la population helvète qui pourrait avoir des difficultés à trouver un emploi. … » |Par LePoint.fr | vendredi 29 novembre 2019

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s Lighter Moments

As Jean-Claude Juncker prepares to step down as European Commission president after five years at the helm of the EU executive, the BBC looks back at the lighter moments of his tenure.

North Korea Threatens Japan with 'Real Ballistic Missile'

BBC: North Korea has branded Japan's PM Shinzo Abe an "imbecile" and "political dwarf", and accused him of mislabelling its latest weapons test.

Mr Abe condemned the North for "repeated launches of ballistic missiles" after two projectiles were fired on Thursday.

But the North insisted it was testing a "super-large multiple-rocket launcher".

On Saturday, state media said Japan "may see what a real ballistic missile is in the not distant future".

North Korea is banned from firing ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions. » | Saturday, November 30, 2019

How Donald Trump Betrayed America (w/ Mark Pocan)

How Poor People Survive in the USA | DW Documentary

Homelessness, hunger and shame: poverty is rampant in the richest country in the world. Over 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line, twice as many as it was fifty years ago. It can happen very quickly.

Many people in the United States fall through the social safety net. In the structurally weak mining region of the Appalachians, it has become almost normal for people to go shopping with food stamps. And those who lose their home often have no choice but to live in a car. There are so many homeless people in Los Angeles that relief organizations have started to build small wooden huts to provide them with a roof over their heads. The number of homeless children has also risen dramatically, reaching 1.5 million, three times more than during the Great Depression the 1930s. A documentary about the fate of the poor in the United States today.

Opinion: Britain’s Dirty Election

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A serial liar. A campaign of online disinformation. The risk of foreign meddling. Sound familiar?

LONDON — Pity British voters. Not because they face a choice between two historically unpopular candidates for prime minister — Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn — on Dec. 12. Nor that they are being forced to trudge to polling stations for the third general election in five years, this time in the depths of the miserable British winter.

Pity British voters because they are being subjected to a barrage of distortion, dissembling and disinformation without precedent in the country’s history. Long sentimentalized as the home of “fair play,” Britain is now host to the virus of lies, deception and digital skulduggery that afflicts many other countries across the world.

In this as in other respects, Prime Minister Boris Johnson — a serial liar who lost his first job as a journalist for inventing quotes — resembles President Trump. And Britain, whose election is breaking down under the pressure of manipulation, increasingly looks like the United States. Truth and falsehood have become malleable concepts. Anything goes. » | Peter Geoghegan and Mary Fitzgerald | Friday, November 29, 2019

BBC Bars Johnson from Marr Show Unless He Agrees Neil Interview

THE GUARDIAN: PM will not be allowed to pick the shows he wants appear on, says broadcaster

The BBC has refused to allow Boris Johnson to appear on the Andrew Marr Show this weekend unless he agrees to take part in a one-on-one interview with Andrew Neil, amid ongoing tension between the Conservatives and broadcasters.

The prime minister has failed to set a date for his proposed half-hour primetime interview with Neil, despite every other party leader agreeing to do one.

Labour has accused Johnson of dodging one of the toughest interviewers on television, insisting they were operating in the belief that the prime minister was already signed up when they agreed to let Jeremy Corbyn appear on the programme.

“The reason [Johnson] is doing this is because he thinks, like his Bullingdon friends, that they are above the rest of us, that they don’t need to be held to account, they don’t need to be treated like the rest of us,” said John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor.

The Conservatives had said they would allow Johnson to appear on this Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show. A BBC source said this offer had been declined and suggested the broadcaster would not let Johnson pick which shows he wants appear on. » | Jim Waterson and Heather Stewart | Friday, November 29, 2019

Boris Johnson Grilled by LBC Listeners - Watch in Full