Instant Opinion: Tories may ‘regret Corbyn’s failings’

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 Tory complacency in the face of tactical voting

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Tories may come to regret Corbyn’s failings

“The prime minister’s electoral strategy depends both on uniting Leavers behind the Tory party and ensuring that Remainers stay divided. The less likely it seems that Mr Corbyn will get a parliamentary majority, the safer pro-Europeans will feel about voting tactically against the Conservatives. The greatest threat to Mr Johnson may be the perception that a Tory victory is inevitable on December 12.”

2. Rosa Prince in The Telegraph

on the British public’s long memory

The Lib Dem collapse shows that centrism is now a spent force in British politics

“So how did the Lib Dems manage to turn these most beneficial of electoral circumstances into poll ratings so low that some Tories fear for their own chances of a majority, not because the Lib Dems have taken too many seats from the Conservatives but because of their failure to dent the Labour vote? In part, as the Question Time audience made clear, it seems voters have not yet forgiven the Liberal Democrats for the compromises of the Coalition years, meaning the party still bears the taint of austerity four years after leaving office. This is particularly the case for Jo Swinson, who, unlike Tim Farron, served as a minister in the Coalition government.”

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3. Belen Fernandez in Al Jazeera

on the exploitation of vulnerable women

Smash the patriarchy to save the planet

“Migrant women, of course, are particularly vulnerable to ‘grabbing’ - and much worse - especially given that crimes against migrants are not generally reported or prosecuted. And for Central American women transiting Mexico to the US border, sexual assault is frequently par for the course. Lest anyone assume that this validates the Trumpian vision of Mexico as composed of rapists and criminals, however, just recall the epidemic of rape in the US's own military - not to mention rampant claims of sexual abuse of immigrant children held at US detention facilities.”

4. Kehinde Andrews in The Guardian

on racial sensationalism

The Blue Story panic shows that black culture is still marginalised

“It has been pointed out that, when a gunman killed 12 people during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado in 2012, there was no decision to halt the film’s release. There has long been panic around violent movies and whether their content can lead to copycat acts. Yet this has never stopped cinemas continuing to screen them – on release now is The Irishman, whose director, Martin Scorsese, has made his reputation on hard-hitting (white) gangster movies.”

5. Frida Ghitis on CNN

on the drama of real life

Art thieves stole a priceless historical treasure in Dresden

“The police raced in pursuit of the thieves, but at this writing all they have found is the charred remains of a car they believe was a getaway Audi. German authorities say it was the greatest art heist since World War II. Local officials bemoaned the losses, and museum officials struggled to explain why the treasures - originally collected in 1723 by Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony - were uninsured. Cut diamonds and treasure haul stolen in vault heist. They were instead there on display, and apparently too vulnerable, in a gilded and ornate vault that seems very much not of this time. Indeed, it seems fitting that the collection was started by someone whose title was the Elector of Saxony.”