Instant Opinion: Trudeau is ‘unfit to govern’

The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Andrew Mitrovica in Al Jazeera

on a Canadian leader in trouble

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Trudeau is unfit to govern

“I suspect that Trudeau was probably confident that if and when his racist habits were finally exposed, he would avoid any real and lasting consequences since, by his own admission, he is just another entitled, privileged, white kid. In this regard, he has a lot in common with Donald Trump - another white, privileged frat boy with a racist past (and present). Of course, the agreeable caricature of Trudeau drawn by a gullible corporate media and easily impressed liberals is that Canada’s ‘It Boy’ is the John F Kennedy-like antithesis of Trump. It is time that mainstream-media-manufactured myth is emphatically consigned to the historical dustbin – where it has long belonged.”

2. Dean Obeidallah in CNN

on the continuing surge of a veteran senator

Elizabeth Warren is becoming Trump's greatest threat

“Warren has been increasingly drawing impressive, energetic crowds, such as in August when 15,000 people came to her a rally in Seattle and 12,000 attended another rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. How did Warren climb from single digits in national polls in March to now topping Biden in the new Iowa poll? She hit all the right notes with Democrats and especially with the progressive wing of the party. Her debate performances have been consistently very good. Warren’s ‘I have a plan for that’ mantra where she has released detailed plans for policy issues facing our nation from childcare to anti-corruption to criminal justice reform - and the list goes on - has resonated with voters.”

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3. David Leonhardt in The New York Times

on the worst excesses of the Trump presidency

Donald Trump vs. the United States of America

“He has refused to release his tax returns. He falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him. He claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal investigations across the country. He has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents. He has suggested that America is no different from or better than Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He has called America a ‘hellhole’. He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.”

4. Daniella Adeluwoye in The Guardian

on inter-Oxbridge inequality

I thought I’d made it when I got to Cambridge University. How wrong I was

“During freshers’ week, I overheard a conversation between students discussing their social connections. Their family friends ranged from various CEOs to big names in the City. These connections often help to ‘pull strings’ for privileged students once they graduate. My parents cannot provide valuable social connections. I would urge schools and teachers to not raise expectations: to paint an Oxbridge degree as a working-class escape route. It’s an empty promise. I was sold a dream of upward mobility but my one year has already exposed this as far from the truth. I’ve learned that our class shapes our economic, cultural and social capital, and much of our potential, from birth. This is something a Cambridge degree cannot erase.”

5. The editorial board in The Telegraph

on MPs calling on the government to help a failed tour operator

Thomas Cook's rescue bid is a matter for the private sector, not the state

When a travel firm goes under, there is a responsibility for the state and others in the industry to help tourists. There are protocols, financial protections and pledges in place to this effect and they will be implemented should the worst happen to Thomas Cook. Airline companies and other agencies have already drawn up contingency plans and as Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday, no one would be stranded. Should the firm go into administration, these plans need to be enacted swiftly and competently. That must go for consular help as well.