The Periscope Post

The Times “Europe and America”

José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, has commented that the relationship between Europe and America “is not living up to its potential”. Where did it all go wrong? asked The Times, before explaining exactly where: the US has remained slow on climate change, Guantánamo Bay open, the Middle East divided and Iraq and Afghanistan fraught. Meanwhile, President Obama “has his reasons for coolness” towards Europe over the economy. The paper then criticised Obama for failing to cultivate relationships with his fellow European leaders – something that George W. Bush (for all the “antagonism” he provoked) was able to do. “This is a mistake,” warned The Times.

The Guardian “French niqab ban: Beneath the veil”

The French parliament has passed a law to ban the public wearing of the niqab, the full-face veil worn by Muslim women. Forget debates about whether the niqab is Islamic or whether it degrades women (which is not the issue), and realise that this is neither legitimate nor proportionate, argued The Guardian. The legal argument – that this is a public order measure – is “chaff” to mask an inherent fear of western European identity being challenged by others; and, the paper noted, this contentious legislation will “effect [sic] fewer than 2,000 people”. It then predicted that the most likely outcome would be a growth in niqab use in defiance of the infringement upon freedom of expression.

The Telegraph “Labour’s ghastly soap opera”

“What is so unsettling about Lord Mandelson’s chronicle of this sorry chapter in Britain’s history is its total self-absorption,” said The Telegraph. The New Labour years continue to haunt the nation as “petty rivalries are played out in a ghastly political soap opera”. Brown is exposed as a bully, Blair as weak and don’t even get started on Mandelson. “The four former Cabinet members who are now competing for the Labour leadership should look back on this period and consider how they might have behaved in the public interest, rather than their own,” said the paper, before predicting, acidly, “They will have plenty of time in opposition to reflect.”

The Independent “The worst could be yet to come”

Unemployment fell to 2.47 million in the three months to May; but this is no cause for celebration, said The Independent. Part-time workers are replacing full-time workers, while the number of people in long-term unemployment is more than three-quarters of a million and youth unemployment is “still devastatingly high”. The good news: it could have been worse. Employers have done their best to hang onto their staff, unionisation is on the wane and the labour market is more flexible than in Europe. The bad news: the situation is still “grim”. The coalition government has been extremely optimistic about the power of the private sector to carry a recovery. If it is wrong, then “Britain’s unemployment nightmare could be only beginning”.