"Was Brexit Inevitable?"

"A misguided narrative is taking hold about Brexit, both here and abroad. According to this argument, David Cameron called the 2016 referendum on whether Britain should remain a member of the European Union solely for party-management purposes. When he did, he unleashed a wave of atavistic xenophobia whipped up by the tabloid media, and uneducated, working-class Britons were consequently fooled by lies and false promises.
"If only politicians hadn't picked the scab, the country could have ticked along quite happily, so the conceit goes."

Henry Newman at The Atlantic writes that the above "interpretation might provide comfort to some, but it's fundamentally specious."

"Her Majesty the Queen Has Asked Me to Form a New Government, and I Accepted"

"As we leave the European Union, we will forge a bold, new positive role for ourselves in the world. And we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us."

The Washington Post offers a transcript of Theresa May's first speech as Britain's prime minister.

"This Is Not the Country It Was Yesterday"

"The risk is that Britain becomes a kind of offshore oddity, quirky but irrelevant–shut out of the action of its neighbouring continent. That shift will be felt first by the City of London: perhaps few will shed any tears for them, even if financial services are–or used to be–one of this country's biggest employers. But eventually that new view of Britain could percolate through, affecting our creative industries, our tourism and eventually our place in the world."

Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian reacts to the Brexit.

As does Owen Jones.

As does David Dayen in The American Prospect.

The British Bernie Sanders

"So what exactly is Corbyn’s worldview, and how might he govern if elected prime minister of the United Kingdom? Corbyn is a self-described 'socialist' or 'democratic socialist,' an old-school tax-and-spend left-winger who believes government spending—not austerity—is the key to economic stimulus. He wants to close the U.K.'s budget deficit by, in part, raising taxes on the rich and ending corporate subsidies.
"Domestically, he wants to renationalize the country's much-maligned railways, scrap university tuition, and introduce rent controls. Many of these positions enjoy widespread support, though another—his support of mass immigration to the United Kingdom—does not."

Ahead of the Labour Party's leadership election, Krishnadev Calamur in The Atlantic looks at frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn.

As does Matthew D'Ancona in The Guardian.

"This May Be the Last Election of a United Kingdom Ever"

"Under their skin, a lot of old hands felt in their bones that it was remarkable that Labour was level pegging when the Tories had everything in their favour. Never has there been such a mighty blast of nearly all the press denouncing Labour in the crudest ways. Add to that six months of nothing but good economic news, on jobs and on growth, with orchestrated paeans of praise from business. Even if people didn't feel it in their pockets, they were fed a story of sunlit uplands ahead.
"Inside Labour the inquest will be bitter, a battle ahead that risks turning into a grim repeat of old arguments between Blairites and Miliband radicals. Was it the man, or was it his ideas that were defeated?"


Polly Toynbee at The Guardian reacts to the British election results.

"The Future of the U.K. Looks Increasingly Like a United States of Great Britain"

"Although the 'No' campaign won in the end, British Prime Minister David Cameron's all-or-nothing strategy on Scottish independence failed. During referendum negotiations with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond two years ago, Cameron pushed for a yes-or-no vote in the hopes of spooking voters into choosing the latter. But when a YouGov poll two weeks ago showed the 'Yes' campaign in the lead for the first time, he and other U.K. leaders suddenly reversed course and pledged far greater powers to Scottish voters if they remained in the union. They decided to do so. The prime minister had wanted a choice between independence or the status quo. Instead, he had to offer independence or devolution of powers to save the United Kingdom. Now he has to deliver the latter."


Matt Ford at The Atlantic looks at the aftermath of the Scottish referendum.

"Lions Led by Donkeys"

"'Our look is at reconciliation, to have as many former enemies together as possible and to show that we have learned from our mistakes,' said Norman Walter, a spokesman for the German Embassy in London.
"But the nature and tone of some events elsewhere have become hotly contested, especially in Britain."

Henry Chu in the Los Angeles Times reports on Europeans being divided over how to commemorate the upcoming centennial of World War I.

"Conservatives 'Care More about the Rich and Affluent than Ordinary People'"

"The class war, of course, is an old and unresolved battle in Britain. But the significance of Mr. Major’s remarks lay as much in their timing as their content.

"Most administrations reach a tipping point in the trajectory of office when their energies switch to the next big fight. That is where Mr. Cameron’s Conservatives, leading an uneasy coalition with the junior Liberal Democrats, seem to be at the moment, hoping that a surge of positive economic omens will loft them to undiluted power in the next national elections 2015.

"But the message from Mr. Major’s comments, the conservative Daily Telegraph said, has clouded the vision. 'If the Conservatives are seen as the party of the few, the rich, the privileged,' the newspaper said, 'then it is all too conceivable that a Labour leader posing as the tribune of the people will be able to snatch victory in 2015.'"

Alan Cowell in The New York Times reports on comments made by former British Prime Minister John Major about inequality.

"The Filthy Lens of Political Extremism"

"In Trilling’s portrait of the last decade, the BNP was a predictable phenomenon, one that naturally accompanies cynical Blairite politics and a growing gap between rich and poor. But the 2000s look like a golden age compared to the perpetual desolation of the Cameron era. Miliband’s reviving Labour Party and the less ideologically blinkered press have to make the case for government and against the mindless dogma of austerity—austerity that doesn’t just destroy communities and ruin lives in the long run, but that hasn't even succeeded on its own short-run fiscal terms to lower deficits or stimulate private sector demand. Otherwise we may see not only the continuation of this British nightmare, but an even darker time in which the only alternative for most Britons is Griffin and his ilk."

Jason Farago in The New Republic reviews Daniel Trilling's Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain’s Far Right.

"We Want a Market Economy, Not a Market Society"

"What Mr Miliband wants is 'responsible capitalism’. His father would have called that a contradiction in terms, wouldn’t he? 'Yes! But I believe capitalism is the least worst system we’ve got. I believe in the creativity of Blackberry [picking up his], or whatever. But I want it to be more decent, more humane, more fraternal.’ An employee should be on every remuneration committee. There is 'a strong case’ for making takeovers more difficult. He was attacked for his conference speech last year in which he divided businesses into 'predators and producers’, but 'I was definitely right’. It is ironic, says Mr Miliband, that Mrs Thatcher’s reforms, which attacked many vested interests, created new ones: they need to be taken on. There are too few banks, and six companies control 99 per cent of energy supply: 'This is about the free market working properly’. It just isn’t enough to deregulate the private sector. Wealth is created by 'the private sector working with government. We shouldn’t be ashamed of wanting an industrial policy.’ There are 'different capitalisms’– Scandinavian as well as American."

Charles Moore in The Telegraph interviews Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.

"Austerity Isn't Working"

"For the past two years most policy makers in Europe and many politicians and pundits in America have been in thrall to a destructive economic doctrine. According to this doctrine, governments should respond to a severely depressed economy not the way the textbooks say they should—by spending more to offset falling private demand—but with fiscal austerity, slashing spending in an effort to balance their budgets.

"Critics warned from the beginning that austerity in the face of depression would only make that depression worse. But the 'austerians' insisted that the reverse would happen. Why? Confidence!"

In The New York Times, Paul Krugman lays into neo-Hooverian economics.

"A Stunning Failure of Policy"

"The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist—or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook 'Economics'—could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia."

Paul Krugman in The New York Times denounces the "prophets of austerity."

"This Will Welcome the Crown into the Modern Age"

"The announcement in Perth comes after Cameron wrote last month to the other leaders calling for change. Legislation will have to be introduced in Britain and some of the other 15 realms to amend laws including the Bill of Rights 1688, the Act of Settlement 1700, the Act of Union with Scotland 1706 and the Coronation Oaths Act 1688."

In The Guardian, Nicholas Watt reports on a constitutional change to the British monarchy that would end male primogeniture and allow a monarch to marry a Catholic.

"The Culture of Greed and Impunity"

"The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: 'We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility–in every town, in every street and in every estate.' He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well.
"The tragic truth is that Mr Cameron is himself guilty of failing this test. It is scarcely six weeks since he jauntily turned up at the News International summer party, even though the media group was at the time subject to not one but two police investigations. Even more notoriously, he awarded a senior Downing Street job to the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, even though he knew at the time that Coulson had resigned after criminal acts were committed under his editorship. The Prime Minister excused his wretched judgment by proclaiming that 'everybody deserves a second chance'. It was very telling yesterday that he did not talk of second chances as he pledged exemplary punishment for the rioters and looters."

Peter Osborne in The Telegraph denounces rot throughout British society.

Get It Signed by the Heads of State

Guardian columnists Jackie Ashley, Julian Glover, and Martin Kettle react to the pact between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats that has allowed David Cameron to become prime minister.