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Simon Jenkins

Headshot of Simon Jenkins

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist, author and BBC broadcaster. His recent books include England's Hundred Best Views, and Mission Accomplished? The Crisis of International Intervention

September 2026

  • Ed Davey in white coat and orange-red baseball cap pours sauce on to fish and chips in a takeaway box

    What are the Lib Dems for? They must champion localism to stay relevant in an age of single-issue politics

    Simon Jenkins
  • Illustration: Thomas Pullin

    Slowly then all at once: this emboldened Celtic alliance could spell the end of the UK

    Simon Jenkins
  • Donald Trump and King Charles inspecting a guard of honour at Windsor Castle, September 2025

    Wake up, Britain: Donald Trump’s US is no friend of ours. We must secure our own place in the world

    Simon Jenkins
  • Young people speaking with National Careers Service advisers at the Manchester Job Show, April 2026

    Britain’s schools are failing its young people – and 1m Neets are paying the price

    Simon Jenkins

August 2026

  • Illustration by Jason White

    I’ll admit it: I’ve cycled through red lights. But Britain’s traffic laws are to blame, not me

    Simon Jenkins
    The essence of cycling is to keep moving, but London’s chaotic roads often make this difficult. My solution: fewer, not more rules, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
  • A theatre in Mariupol destroyed by Russian bombing, 25 April 2022.

    Ukrainian cathedrals, Gaza’s archives, Iranian squares – modern war is systematically erasing human history

    Simon Jenkins
    It is not enough now for war to kill, it must eradicate a people’s cherished and precious heritage too, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
  • People in the street at night outside the Two Brewers pub.

    I stand to defend vertical drinking. Is a pub that doesn’t allow it a real pub at all?

    Simon Jenkins
    The time-honoured tradition of standing up with a drink, gossiping and putting the world to rights is under threat. If councillors ban it, we’ll all lose out, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

July 2026

  • Prisoners in Pentonville prison being released early in September 2024, as part of the attempt to tackle overcrowding issues.

    Will Burnham fix our barbaric prisons – or cave to rightwing populism? The answer is a tragedy

    Simon Jenkins
    England and Wales’s prisons are overcrowded, drug-infested and barbaric. Labour has halted a once-in-a-generation effort to change that sorry state, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
  • Andy Burnham in apron chops mushrooms in industrial kitchen with man and woman either side of him

    Burnham is acting like he’s mayor of everywhere – that’s not devolving power to local communities

    Simon Jenkins
    The UK is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. Can you imagine Meloni in charge of social care or Macron discussing buses, asks Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

    • ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’? Not quite – but the Falklands cannot remain British for ever

      Simon Jenkins

    • Farage told me he would quit politics after Brexit. Now, mired in scandal, he should do it and mean it

      Simon Jenkins

    • There is no immediate military threat to Britain. We should spend less on defence

      Simon Jenkins

June 2026

  • Composite image: Simon Jenkins, Aditya Chakrabortty and Polly Toynbee

    Brexit vote: 10 years on
    ‘I feel entirely vindicated’: three Guardian columnists debate Brexit and its legacy

    Aditya Chakrabortty, Polly Toynbee and Simon Jenkins
    Ten years on, our writers met to reflect on whether leaving the EU has made the UK richer or more racist – and how the union is doing without us
  • New Makerfield MP Andy Burnham takes a selfie with the parliamentary Labour party after his swearing-in at the Houses of Parliament on 22 June 2026.

    Good luck, Andy Burnham – you’ll need more than a smile and a better bus service to succeed in No 10

    Simon Jenkins
    As prime minister, Starmer acted with dignity. What a pity that those Labour colleagues who ousted him could not do the same, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

    • Trump thinks his freshly signed ceasefire deal is a victory. It is – for Iran

      Simon Jenkins

    • As John Healey goes, the political vultures circle Starmer. And so continues our history of PM-icide

      Simon Jenkins

    • Leaked WhatsApps, embarrassing emails: it’s bad for British politics that privacy is now dead

      Simon Jenkins

May 2026

  • Students do exams seated at 10 rows of spaced-apart desks on a wooden parquet floor

    Sunak is right that our students need financial literacy – but that shouldn’t mean yet more maths

    Simon Jenkins
    Education should prepare young people for dealing not only with practical things such as insurance, pensions and taxes but also with tech and mental health, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
  • Entrance to twin-bore tunnel on construction site

    HS2 is the wildest white elephant in British history. Please put it out of its misery

    Simon Jenkins
    The government is in thrall to the sunk-cost fallacy. Scrap the project, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
  • Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer in June 2024, before Labour’s general election victory.

    Politics has tossed friendship out of the window – as Keir Starmer is realising

    Simon Jenkins
    Britain’s embattled PM is beset by enemies. One reason is that Westminster has ceased to be a club and turned into a shambles, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
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