Instant Opinion: ‘Theresa May’s positive legacy? She’s a feminist champion’

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

1. Martha Gill in The Guardian

on Theresa May’s legacy

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Theresa May’s positive legacy? She’s a feminist champion

“How history judges the UK’s second female prime minister depends on whether her successor messes up Brexit even more spectacularly than she has done. But she already has one positive legacy despite the fact the battle to be her successor is being fought by two men. She has made the Tory party more female.”

2. Chris Deerin in the New Statesman

on the resurgence of centre politics in Britain

Can the Liberal Democrats save the United Kingdom?

“What, then, is the Lib Dem offer in 2019? It’s clear that Britain’s institutions are in a process of upheaval and in need of reform, that many of its political conventions are being uprooted, and that traditional party affiliations are breaking down. This is all classic Lib Dem territory — constitutional reform, as it affects devolution, the Lords and the voting system, are long-term party passions. Their internationalism, at a time when Britain’s global reputation is taking a self-inflicted battering, is a positive. Given a fair wind, their record as David Cameron’s coalition partner stands up well.”

3. Charles M. Blow in The New York Times

on Donald Trump’s latest twitter outburst

Trump’s Tweets Prove That He Is a Raging Racist

“There can be no more discussion or debate about whether or not Trump is a racist. He is. There can be no more rhetorical juggling about not knowing what’s in his heart. We see what flows out of it. White people and whiteness are the center of the Trump presidency. His primary concern is to defend, protect and promote it. All that threatens it must be attacked and assaulted. Trump is bringing the force of the American presidency to the rescue of white supremacy. And, self-identified Republicans absolutely love him for it.”

4. Edward Lucas in The Times

on disclosing official secrets

Police should be targeting leakers, not editors

“Our ludicrously overzealous system of classification means that even the most anodyne material is technically an official secret. In fact, decision-makers leak all the time, sometimes out of political self-interest, sometimes through gullibility, sometimes for reasons of news management. These rule breaches are the workings of a free society, not crimes. Material that at most embarrasses the government is in a different category from truly secret information that deserves the most ferocious protection of the law.”

5. Tanya Gold in UnHerd

on Prince Charles’ brand

Introducing Charles III

“Brexit is a response, however cracked, to the loss of British glory; or rather the idea of it, for I doubt the profits were distributed as fairly as we like to pretend. Since monarchy is likewise dishonest – it is not apolitical but predicated on its own survival – I suggest that Charles fuse his myth to that of Brexit, and become, at least outwardly, a glorious king of England. He has the golden tools and he should use them; it would be better if he didn’t say too much. He could build an ideal palace – a vast Poundbury – and crown his scatty wife under a mountain of diamonds. That is a solution to Charles III, who is temperamentally unsuited to his future: let the crown wear him.”