The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.
1. James Forsyth in The Times
on an end to negotiations
A Brexit deal is looking likely by Monday
“In the coming days, Michel Barnier and Ursula von der Leyen have a more difficult job than David Frost and Boris Johnson. If Barnier and Von der Leyen bring back a compromise for pre-approval it will be picked apart by the member states. They would demand that this or that delicate balance be shifted, and rapidly the deal would fall apart. So, they will have to take a judgment call on what deal the EU 27 will accept. This will obviously be one informed by contact with national capitals. But ultimately Barnier and Von der Leyen will have to decide. As one European diplomat points out, the danger for them is that they ‘do a Theresa May’ — make a deal they think is acceptable, only for their own side to turn round and reject it.”
2. James Moore in The Independent
on the ‘people’s champion’
Tyson Fury is far from de facto BBC Sports Personality of the Year
“Fury sits well in the company of the gruesome political twosome. In interviews, he’s indulged in ugly bouts of homophobia, sexism and antisemitism. Johnson has done the same in his columns and/or books, but claims his comments have been taken out of context. Ditto Tump with his public statements and twitterings. It’s tiresome, and frankly depressing, to have to list examples so I’ll refer you to Google if you can bear it. They aren’t at all hard to find. There are, of course, a couple of key differences between Fury and them. Fury has previously offered one of those limp non-apology apologies – ‘I’m sorry if anyone was offended by’ rather than ‘I’m sorry, what I said was wrong’ – in the wake of his comments. Doing even that is anathema to the transatlantic twins, who typically respond to the controversy and anger generated by their past and/or present outbursts by brushing them aside or even doubling down.”
3. Chase Strangio on CBS News
on a ray of hope
Elliot Page being transgender is a necessary reminder of the beauty of declaring our truth
“Before Elliot’s statement came out, I had been at work, assessing the consequences of a devastating ruling against trans rights out of a United Kingdom high court yesterday, one which immediately jeopardized health care access for trans youth across that country. There, the court effectively held that trans youth under 16 can never consent to any medical treatment related to gender affirmation, including puberty blockers, thereby preventing tens of thousands of young people across the U.K. from getting the chance that Elliot celebrated today to ‘pursue [their] authentic sel[ves]’. Though the clinic providing the care will appeal, young people across the U.K. are already having their ongoing care terminated and appointments canceled.”
4. Errol Louis on CNN
on the prestige of the presidency
What Biden gets about being president — and Trump doesn’t
“We’ve had a year of divisive bombast and boasting with Trump claiming the virus would vanish; that he accepted no responsibility for the failed national response; and finally threw up his hands at the over 276,000 deaths from the virus, saying ‘it is what it is’. In 2016, Trump memorably listed national challenges during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention and thundered: ‘I alone can fix it.’ Biden and Harris, by contrast, are consistently talking about sharing responsibility with other actors – Congress, Republicans, governors, and allied nations overseas.”
5. John Finucane in The Guardian
on a brutal killing
The British government is still hiding the truth about my father’s murder
“Despite the efforts of successive British governments to cover up the truth, a great deal is known about the extent of state collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane and others. We have learned that several British state agencies ran extensive, complex intelligence networks that were fed by a significant number of informants. These agencies included the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the security service (MI5), British army intelligence, and a specialist covert army unit, the Force Research Unit (FRU).”
