The UK’s return to the EU’s Erasmus student-exchange programme has sparked hope among die-hard Remainers that this is a first step towards Britain re-establishing formal economic ties with the EU.

The new agreement with Brussels, which allows UK students to participate in the EU-wide university scheme from 2027, without any additional fees, has excited those who support a return to the customs union. However, Keir Starmer has repeatedly rejected any such plan. 

What did the commentators say?
Starmer has said that Britain does “need to get closer” to the EU bloc and, as talks continue about a “reset” deal on food exports, energy markets and a youth mobility scheme, “the breakthrough on Erasmus” will help him “demonstrate progress”, said The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar.
Many Labour strategists agree there is “a growing political benefit” in “arguing more openly for a closer relationship with Europe”. 

The party “is waking up to the damage done by Brexit” and signalling they’re “intent on doing something about it”, said Chris Blackhurst in The Independent. With repeated polls showing that a majority of voters believe leaving the EU was a mistake, there is an element of “political pragmatism” at play.

There are also “concerns” that, without stronger ties to the EU, “the measures announced in last month’s Budget will fail to secure sufficient economic growth for the UK”, said Amy Gibbons in The Telegraph. 

Minouche Shafik, the PM’s chief economic adviser, reportedly recommended rejoining the customs union, said Oliver Wright in The Times. Starmer has argued that this would undo recent deals with Donald Trump and other non-EU countries.

What next?
Labour could “announce the start of negotiations now on a much bolder deal, for inclusion in the next manifesto, with implementation only if Labour won a fresh mandate”, Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin told The Guardian.

Some within the party are certainly “obsessed” with the idea, said former Labour MP Ian Austin in The Sun. They have “spotted their chance” to make “cuddling up to Brussels the big issue at the next election”. But they should “be careful what they wish for” – the 2016 referendum “would be a tea party compared to another one”.

It’s been 15 long years in the making but the reaction to the newly released trailer for Andy Serkis’ adaptation of “Animal Farm” suggests it may not have been time well spent. The actor and filmmaker’s animated version of George Orwell’s classic dystopian tale swaps the critique of totalitarian Soviet Russia for a takedown of 21st-century capitalism – with twerking pigs and fart jokes.

‘Baffling’ and flatulent
“Oof magoof”, this trailer “feels so very badly tone deaf”, said Nerdist. It “looks like it’s trying” to turn Orwell’s dark political allegory into something akin to 2006 critter caper “Over the Hedge”. It is “entirely possible” that the full movie “will reflect the tone of the novella” but, if so, why is the trailer “so goddamn goofy”?

“The decision to inject lowbrow humour into such weighty source material is baffling,” said World of Reel. This “Animal Farm” is all celebrity voices, mile-a-minute CGI energy and family-friendly jokes. But I suppose flatulence is “one way to sell Orwell to a seven-year-old”.

The film has a “starry” cast, including Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Turner and Woody Harrelson, said Variety’s Peter Debruge, who saw a full screening at Annecy International Animation Film Festival. But “the message feels muddled” by “all the pratfalls” and the “noxious ‘Old MacDonald’ rap”. It is just about “recognisable” but is no “substitute for the book” – especially with the addition of new characters like the “ghastly capitalist” Freida Pilkington (Glenn Close), who “drives a Tesla-style Cybertruck” and bribes Napoleon, the pig leader of the animals, with credit cards.

‘Emphatic message’
Nicholas Stoller’s screenplay is still “funny and frighteningly perceptive”, said Pete Hammond on Deadline. It’s “wildly entertaining” and – “uncannily”, given the years it’s taken to get to the screen – may prove to “be a little too close for comfort to America’s drift toward authoritarianism” under the second Trump administration.

While it may never “satisfy diehard Orwell purists”, said Ben Daly on Screen Daily, this film “still takes a political stance and delivers an emphatic message” about “equality and the power of the collective – albeit one which permits us a little more hope” than Orwell’s novella.

A pilgrim carrying a St Lazarus figurine crawls towards San Lázaro Church in El Rincón, near Havana. Worshippers from across Cuba join the annual procession of St Lazarus, patron saint of the poor and sick, and many crawl as an act of devotion.

Yamil Lage / AFP / Getty Images

Sky’s documentary is filled with “tasty nuggets”, said Carol Midgley in The Times. It follows journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou as she delves into the alleged lies and deceit behind the bestselling memoir by Raynor Winn (pictured above). Those who first read the details of the investigation in The Observer this summer will be familiar with the “fascinatingly tawdry tale”.

Described by publisher Penguin as “unflinchingly honest”, Winn’s book charts her 630-mile journey along the South West Coast Path with her terminally ill husband, Moth, after losing their home in Wales. But Hadjimatheou’s “original scoop” revealed a series of damaging doubts and allegations, including claims that Winn had defrauded her former employer.

This is an “excellent documentary for students of journalism”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph, as we learn that Hadjimatheou’s exposé began with a tip-off and then led to the painstaking process of “finding witnesses, checking sources and consulting experts”.

There are a “wealth of new details”, said Julia Raeside in The i Paper, including a letter purportedly written by Winn in which she admits to stealing money from her relatives. Winn and her husband, whose real names are Sally and Tim Walker, declined to take part in the documentary and dismissed the allegations. “I did not steal from family, as others can confirm. Nor have I confessed to doing so and I did not write a letter suggesting that I did,” Winn said in a statement. The film, she said, was part of a “false narrative”.

Winn’s “reputation has taken another hit”, said Midgley in The Times. But when Hadjimatheou’s investigation first broke, “The Salt Path” flew back to the top of the bestseller list, and it’s likely the same will happen following this blistering documentary. “Controversy sells.”

Why I’m striking in the middle of a winter flu crisis
Holly Tarn in The Independent
“My morale couldn’t be lower” as I join fellow resident doctors in our “next wave of strike action”, says resident doctor Holly Tarn. “Between ‘superflu’, fake news and fatigue”, my hospital is “on its knees”, but Wes Streeting calls us “moaning Minnies”. I “cover six wards – around 120 patients” – and “take home around £2,000 a month, almost half of which goes on childcare”. Doctors “want to serve the public. We just don’t want to drown in the process.”

Why we should be more like Poland
Matei Rosca on The Critic
Western leaders should look to Poland and its “pragmatic patriotism” for “solutions to the polycrisis” facing them, writes Matei Rosca. As a “progressive internationalist mugged by reality”, I’ve “reluctantly come to the conclusion” that a “healthy dose” of “moderate, calm and confident nationalism” may be “the way forward”. We’ve failed “to create a global utopia” but perhaps a “free-thinking” and “open society” that “is strict on those who refuse to contribute” is “an acceptable consolation prize”.

Kylie, please stop: I have an allergy to Christmas music
Carol Midgley in The Times
Festive music “sends me into a spiral of wall-kicking existential despair”, writes Carol Midgley. I order presents online “because the ceaseless Christmas slop” in shops is “aural torture”. And now, “dear sweet Jesus”, Kylie Minogue is clogging the airwaves with an “atrocity” that involves her “singing ‘X-M-A-S’ repeatedly while making the shapes of the letters with her arms”. To say the lyrics “insult the intelligence of a three-year-old” would be flattery. “Do I sound miserable, bitter and no fun whatsoever? Good!”