The Guardian
18 hours ago
Filters
The Guardian view on the legacy of Jürgen Habermas: philosophical sustenance for illiberal times | Editorial
In an age of demagogues and big tech, the work of one of Germany’s greatest scholars points the way to a new politics of the humanIn his later years, Jürgen Habermas was sometimes described as “the last European” – a reference to his passionate commitment to the ideals of the European Union (although not always its modern reality). The great German philosopher was also the last surviving exemplar of a generation of postwar intellectuals formed by the experience of the second world war. Like Jean-Paul Sartre in France, Habermas was as at home in the public square as the seminar room, debating the future of a continent that needed to be rebuilt ethically as well as physically.In the new age of unreason, where brute exercise of power is explicitly prized above the force of moral argument, the loss of any such figure is to be mourned. But Habermas’s death at the age of 96, as the US and Israel wage an illegal war of choice, and the far right is in the ascendant in France and Germany, feels particularly poignant. A member of the Hitler Youth as a boy, Habermas then made it his life’s work to philosophically ground the democratic values which are now under threat again.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The Guardian
18 hours ago
The Guardian view on the fragile politics of the union: Labour’s woes have consequences beyond Westminster | Editorial
Following May’s elections, first ministers committed to independence could be in place in Edinburgh, Cardiff and BelfastThe general election of July 2024 did not just call time on a decade and a half of Conservative rule. It also delivered the most pro-Union parliament since the early 2010s, when the meteoric rise in support for the Scottish National party (SNP) began. In Scotland, a 16-point swing away from the SNP allowed Labour to win the most votes and most seats; in Wales, Plaid Cymru made modest gains but won only four places in the House of Commons, compared to 27 for Sir Keir Starmer’s party.Since then, the many missteps of Sir Keir’s government have contributed to a swift and remarkable reversal of fortunes. In May’s Senedd elections, Plaid is on course to replace Labour as the largest party in Wales for the first time since devolution. Also profiting from the government’s woes, a revived SNP has weathered its own scandals to lead comfortably in polling for the Scottish parliament. At the party’s spring conference on Saturday, its leader, John Swinney, pointed to the “absolutely seismic” possibility that come 8 May, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (which does not vote again until next year) could all have first ministers in place committed to taking their countries out of the United Kingdom. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
The Guardian view on falling donations to charity: rising living costs are part of the problem, but not all of it | Editorial
Lack of confidence in the voluntary sector seems linked to a more general fraying of social bondsBBC Radio 1’s Greg James reached the halfway point of his 1,000km bike ride for Comic Relief just outside Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, on Tuesday lunchtime. The Radio 1 stunt is a popular fixture of the annual charity fundraiser – played out all day long with regular updates on the station, and enthusiastic reminders to “text 10, 20 or 30”. On Red Nose Day, which falls on 20 March, Mr James and his tandem – on which assorted celebrities have joined him – can expect to be greeted by cheering crowds in Edinburgh.There is nothing not to like about this warm-hearted caper. The takings from these feats of endurance by presenters reached a record £2.2m last year – when Jamie Laing ran five ultra marathons in five days. But away from the buzzy spotlight of national radio, and seasonal appeals such as the Guardian’s, which raised more than £1m between December and January, charities are facing tough times. Concerning details of the current downward trend are set out in the latest report from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), which recorded the first overall drop in donations since 2021. Continue reading...
The Guardian
1 day ago
Even taking Trump’s confused reasons for the Iran war at face value, it’s still a total disaster | Jonathan Freedland
Two weeks in, it’s increasingly clear that the US-led war has taken every problem it aimed to solve – and made it worseIt’s not easy, but let’s try to look at this war in the best, most charitable light. Let’s try to see the US-Israel conflict with Iran as its prosecutors and advocates would want us to see it.They would say that it has two aims, both legitimate. The first is to weaken if not remove a regime that has done terrible evil to its own people. Who could mourn the supreme leader of a government that, according to one report, gunned down 30,000 of its citizens on the streets in just two days on 8 and 9 January? Listen to those Iranians who long ago reached the glum conclusion that the only way they could be rid of their tormentors was through external military action. As one exiled Iranian put it to me this week: “The Iranian people have been begging the world for help for so many years. They tried voting for change in 2009; they were killed. They tried protesting in 2019, 2022 and this year; they were massacred in the tens of thousands … They were out of all other options.”Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The Guardian
5 days ago
The king’s visit to the US must go ahead despite Trump's terrible military aggression | Simon Jenkins
A state visit is a connecting of people, not governments; of cultures, not commentators – our national bonds should be honouredShould King Charles’s state visit to the United States next month be cancelled? The case for doing so is powerful. America is waging an unprovoked war on Iran in which more than 1,000 innocent people have already been killed. The collateral damage to the global economy, including Britain’s, is becoming astronomical. All Donald Trump can do is insult Britain’s prime minister as a “loser” and “no Winston Churchill” for failing to join him. Should the monarch honour such a man by attending a Washington banquet?The call is close. The occasion is the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States with the declaration of independence. Of course this merits celebration. But now? British public opinion is emphatically opposed to the US war on Iran. Many more Britons think the royal visit should be abandoned (46%) than think it should go ahead (36%), with 18% undecided. Just as the war is staged by Trump for personal political gain, so he can be expected to exploit a royal visit.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist and the author of A Short History of America: from Tea Party to Trump Continue reading...
The Guardian
6 days ago
Sign up to Matters of Opinion: a weekly newsletter from our columnists and writers
Guardian columnists and writers on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading, and more Continue reading...
The Guardian
8 months ago
Top stories from trusted global sources
Updated just now · Feeds: The Guardian Opinion · BBC Analysis · DW Opinion