The New European

2 days ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Jay Elwes

Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army on April 30, 1975, 50 years ago this month. On that day it was 105 degrees outside and the air conditioning in the US embassy had broken. “At one point we took bags of half-shredded secrets down to the embassy courtyard,” one CIA officer recalled of the rush to get out of the city, “and when the choppers began landing they blew open all of these bags.

2 days ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Josh Barrie

One of the most depressing places I have visited in recent years is Gibraltar. That silly rock, our dainty territory at the foot of Spain with a network of slippery tunnels and a Morrisons supermarket. In years past, I’ve no doubt it was a more agreeable locale. It must have been: Sean Connery got married there, so too John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I saw a charming(ish) town square and plodded through old streets that once hosted drunken sailors on leave, full of rum and raunchy intent.

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

The first conversation happened in 2011, at around 2am. Most drunk conversations are silly and incoherent but sometimes, all that alcohol gives you a sense of sharp clarity. They were my housemate and we were close; at some point, they took me away from the dancefloor and we went to sit in a corner. “I think I may be non-binary”, they told me, and so we talked it out for a little while. I asked questions; they answered. The second was in 2015, at my birthday party.

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Ivor Gaber

After almost 50 years in the Labour Party, I could be in danger of missing out on my gold watch. As someone with more than a passing knowledge of Labour at both a local and national level and with some academic expertise in politics and polling, I have grown increasingly despairing as I have watched Labour lock itself into ever more (seven at the last count), self-imposed and unnecessary, policy binds. We begin with the last election and Labour’s unwarranted EU pledges – three in all.

1 week ago | theneweuropean.co.uk | Marie Le Conte

So, Hard Labour. Have you heard the news about it? It’s all the rage in Westminster, apparently. You may have read the words “hard labour” and thought that it didn’t sound especially pleasant, and that it wasn’t necessarily something you’d name a political faction or governing ideology after, but that’s probably because you’re daft and a bit of a pinko. You just don’t understand the Real Struggles Britain Is Facing. This was, in essence, the gist of a piece published in the Sunday Times last week.