The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.
1. Polly Tonybee in The Guardian
On Jeremy Hunt’s hardening no deal Brexit position
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Jeremy Hunt seemed the sensible Tory option. No longer
“The only useful role for the inevitable loser in the Conservative leadership contest was to pull the next prime minister back into the realms of reality. But in the death throes of this contest, Hunt emerges as a swiveller too, a turncoat peddler of the same hyper-dishonesty, just as ready as his opponent to wreck the economy and people’s lives.”
2. Hugo Rifkind in The Times
On how environmentalism stole the show at this year’s Glastonbury festival
Sir David Attenborough was this year’s Glastonbury hero
“In referendum year, the whole site felt like a defensive liberal fortress. The next, it felt like a hotbed of potential revolution. This time, it felt more like an escape. No politics this time, thank you. Give us a week off. It’s why we came.”
3. Freddie Sayers in UnHerd
On the Brexit Party’s ‘manifesto for the regions’
Farage has found Boris’s weak spot
“Never mind that the sums are highly dubious; the politics are significant. Farage’s offer is a hybrid of anti-corporate populism and Thatcherite appeal to small business owners. He is responding to a deeply held feeling across the country that London has benefited over recent decades as the regions have declined. And crucially it makes Boris Johnson, inextricably associated with London as its twice-elected Mayor, a highly vulnerable adversary.”
4. Malcom Rifkind in the Daily Telegraph
On Britain’s response to the Hong Kong protests
Crushing dissent in Hong Kong will not be as easy for China as Tiananmen Square
“The Chinese have always been adamant that they are punctilious in respecting international treaties that they have signed. If China disavows the commitments it has made to protect the freedoms of Hong Kong then the British government cannot just make ritual protests. To keep its honour there would have to be a deep and lasting breach in relations between the UK and China for many years. This would not only damage our trade with China, it would leave China with a reputation as a country that does not honour its obligations.”
5. David Skelton in the New Statesman
On English cricket's declining popularity in the UK
English cricket only has itself to blame for the forgotten World Cup
“In losing terrestrial coverage, cricket has also lost the benefit of capturing accidental viewers and has shut off its heroes from national view. Terrestrial TV coverage lends enormous oxygen of publicity to a sporting event and means that viewers who accidentally tune in might end up hooked. That isn’t the case when you have to buy a satellite dish and a Sky Sports subscription and then make your way to the relevant channel.”
