Instant Opinion: Boris will ‘lose the Brexit war’

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

1. Rachel Sylvester in The Times

on the limits of Parliament’s uneasy alliances

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Boris Johnson may win this battle but lose the Brexit war

“The fact that the Commons voted on Saturday for Sir Oliver Letwin’s amendment, withholding support for the deal until the Brexit legislation has passed, demonstrates just how little trust there is in Mr Johnson himself. It also gives MPs time and space to examine the prime minister’s plans which means that the underlying clash of interpretations will emerge. This is exactly what Downing Street dreads and so it is trying to force the proposals through parliament at breakneck speed.”

2. Chris Selley in The National Post

on a disastrous night for Canada’s Conservatives

It’s not Scheer’s fault the Tories lost. Blame the dreck that passed for his platform

“The worst that can be said of [Conservative Party leader Andrew] Scheer’s performance on the campaign trail is that he utterly failed to assuage concerns over how and why his views on same-sex marriage evolved from the Catholic sermon he delivered in the House of Commons 15 years ago to defending marriage rights today. He also made an ass of himself in the dying days of the campaign, for no reason, by neither confirming nor denying — over and over again — that the Conservatives had hired a consultancy to dig up dirt on [People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime] Bernier and his candidates.”

3. Leonid Ragozin in Al Jazeera

on the slow creep of dissent in Russia

The Kremlin’s anger is proof that Navalny is winning

“Putin’s opponents are trying to reinvent Russia in the absence of viable role models. They are waging a lonely battle in the dark. But with a bit of luck, it may result in something more organic and sustainable than the defective democracy and cannibalistic capitalism that took over Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union and which paved the way for the rise of Putin.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a weekly round-up of the best articles and columns from the UK and abroad, try The Week magazine. Get your first six issues free–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

4. Anna Cafolla in The Guardian

on a historic decision at Stormont

The end to Northern Ireland’s abortion ban is a triumph for grassroots activism

“State-sanctioned shame that makes women merely vessels is peeling away, barriers that most corrosively affect the poor and marginalised pulled down. And whether Stormont returns to stasis or not, activists will continue to reject the enduring status quo that has used Northern Irish bodies as political pawns. These next few months will be ravaging.”

5. Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times

on the beginning of the end for a controversial president

1, 2, 3, 4, Trump Can’t Rule Us Anymore

“Once the House votes to send articles of impeachment to the Senate, there needs to be a public groundswell to force the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to allow a thorough and transparent trial. Then, assuming the evidence is as compelling as it seems, there should be mass nonviolent action calling for Trump’s removal. Americans might feel that democracy in our country is more robust than in places disrupted by enormous protests. But at this dangerous phase of a dangerous presidency, enormous turnout in the streets may be the only way to make sure it stays that way.”