...and how they were covered

What next?

Johnson is playingaskilful game, said John Rentoul in The Independent. Almost the first thing

he did on entering the contest to replace Theresa May was to say he’d take Britain out of the

EU, deal or no deal, at the end of October–and this confident determination to “deliver the

undeliverable has scattered his opponents before him”. The sight of opposition forces

squabbling over who should head up their “fail-safe scheme” to thwartanodeal is the clearest

vindication of his strategy. By refusing to back Corbyn’s scheme,Remainerslike Swinson are

painting themselves intoacorner, said Oliver Wright in The Times. Their only other recourse

would be to wrest control of Commons business and passalaw compelling the PM to seek

another extension to Article 50–atactic thatwould, to say the least, be “hard” to pull off.

“Let’s be under no illusion” about how the PM intends this to play out, said Gina Miller in The

Guardian. Guided by his “arch-Brexiter Svengali” Dominic Cummings, he plans to “sneak”

throughanodeal not by proroguing (temporarily suspending) Parliament–but by dissolving it.

Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Parliament is automatically dissolved 25 days before an

election, but by usingadraft statutory instrument, the PM could dissolve Parliament even

sooner. So the likelihood is that Johnson, “gambling on Corbyn’s unpopularity”, willcall an

election himself in early September–but with polling set for after 31 October.Such an “election

lock would close the doors of Parliament and legally push the UK over the EU exit date”. While

opposition MPs bicker, Johnson is plotting to “pull the rug from under their feet”.

Of course, it’s still possible that Johnson and the EU will clinchalast-minute compromise, said

Iain Martin in The Times–but this week’s events all point inadifferent direction: toano-deal

Brexit this autumn. Indeed, the forces of Remain and compromise are now “virtually defeated”,

agreed Jeremy Warner in The Daily Telegraph. “Divided, apathetic and resigned”, they have

little chance of mustering the strength now required to blockano-deal outcome. And they had

better get used to it. “The battle is lost. The world has changed, and they must change with it.”

What the commentators said

Boris Johnson was due to

meet Angela Merkel and

Emmanuel Macron this

week, before travelling on

to Biarritz where he will join

other EU and world leaders

at this weekend’s 45th G

summit. Although Brexit is

not on the official agenda, the

subject is likely to be much

discussed on the sidelines.

British officials will stop

attending most EU meetings

from September, the Brexit

Secretary, Steve Barclay, has

said. His department will

slash attendance by more

than half to “unshackle”

government resources, he

said. In future, ministers

and officials will only attend

meetings at which the UK

has a“significant national

interest”, and will instead

focus on non-EU countries.

What next?

Listen to the doomsayers in Hong Kong and it’s easy to believe China will soon “detonate the

nuclear option” and crush the protests, said David Dodwell in the South China Morning Post.

And no doubt impatient hardliners in Beijing are itching to do just that. ButIdoubt it will.

After all,abrutal intervention would destroy atastroke China’s remaining reputation as a

responsible member of the international community. Besides, it won’t be that easy to persuade

the People’s Liberation Army to act against unarmed protesters. When the government sent

troops into Tiananmen Square in 1989, they showedamarked reluctance to act against the

students. The economic consequences, too, must give Beijing pause for thought, said Yinzi Huli

on Spiked. True, Hong Kong now accounts for just 3% of China’s GDP; when Britain ceded

control in 1997 it wasachunky 18%. But it still handles 60% of China’s outbound investment

and remains the world’s third largest financial centre after New York and London. Why

jeopardise the future of suchamoney-spinner, especially atatime when the economy is slowing?

Ican’t share that optimism, said Jude Blanchette in Foreign Policy. The Chinese leadership

has along memory: it is especially mindful of how the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe

crumbled after making concessions to protesters. When “backed intoacorner”, it believes

violence “is preferable to perceived political weakness”. As for any concern for its global image,

that hasn’t stopped it detainingamillion of its own Uighur citizens. There’s little the UK can do

if China does act on its threats, said Matt Kilcoyne in The Times. But we’re not wholly

powerless. Many of Hong Kong’s citizens are classed as British Nationals Overseas, but have

no right to live in Britain. “If darkness should fall”, why not–asTom Tugendhat, chairman

of the Foreign Affairs Committee suggests–grant them that privilege. The presence of such

“entrepreneurial, freedom-living individuals” would bea“huge boost” for this country.

What the commentators said

Donald Trump has warned

that any use of force by

Beijing could threaten the

future of negotiations on

ending America’s trade war

with China. The president

said China must find a

“humane solution” to

Hong Kong’s problems

before any deal could be

reached. Trump will meet

President Xi as well as Boris

Johnson at this week’s G

summit in Biarritz.

Beijing will be keen to see

an end to the protests

before October to prevent

the unrest in Hong Kong

from overshadowing its

celebrations for the 70th

anniversary of the founding

of the People’s Republic.

At what age should we be able to retire? The state pension age is

scheduled to go up to 67. But, according toanew report, it needs to

go upalot further than that. This week, the Centre for Social Justice

recommended that by 2035–bywhich time almostaquarter of the adult population will be over 65 –

the pension age should have gone up to 75. In return, says the think tank, more effort would have to

go into making sure older people could find work. And why not, was Charles Moore’s reaction in The

Daily Telegraph. When the state pension was introduced in 1909, the pension age was 70. Since

then, it has gone down, while life expectancy has risen. Yet, says Moore, the pension’s purpose was

to offer relief to people who were incapable of work, not to fund years of doing nothing. Besides,

many people would like to remain productive members of the economy until they feel properly old –

maybe at 80. That, at least, is his impression, based on interviewing 500 people for his biography of

Margaret Thatcher. But perhaps if he’d interviewedadifferent cohort, he would have hadadifferent

impression. Retired civil servants, business leaders and politicians might yearn forareturn to the

fray; those who spent their working lives toiling in less stimulating, or lower-status jobs might be

relieved to be out of it. It can be rewarding to work; it can also be demoralising and dull. It’s hard

enough coping with stress, boredom and petty humiliations when you’re young

and fit; it’d be miserable to have to endure all that when you’re old and tired.

THEWEEK

Caroline Law

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