Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jump to content
UK EditionAsia EditionEdición en Español
Sign up to our newslettersSubscribe: $6 for 6 months
More
Best
Climate
TV

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Memphis Barker

@memphisbarker

Memphis Barker is Deputy Comment editor of the Independent

Migrants are deported to Turkey from the port of Mytilene on April 4, 201
Voices

Will Turkey-EU deal work? Listen to the 'unnamed officials'

The number of refugees making it into the EU now is 10 times higher than it was at the same time last year
Voices

EU plans over asylum applications play into the hands of Brexit campai

William Shawcross with his Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) medal
Voices

Why does the charity regulator sound like the sector's top critics?

Support to most vulnerable is ‘falling away’, warns government health director
UK Politics

Rise in drug-related deaths 'could be linked to council cuts'

David Cameron and the European Council President Donald Tusk get down to business in Brussels
Voices

Why Cameron can't talk about the EU's biggest achievements

Angela Merkel has rejected calls for the closure of Germany’s borders with Berlin Wall-style defences (
Voices

Merkel wants a no-fly zone in Syria – but has she thought it through?

Oxitec chief executive Hadyn Parry examining the male GM mosquitoes reared to wipe out the Zika-carrying Aedes Aegypti Tom Pilston
Home News

British team say they have a remedy for the Zika virus

Not every drinking session looks like this
Voices

Dame Sally Davies’s advice on alcohol is driving me to drink

​It is not charity employees who are under scrutiny now, but the companies to which they outsourced their fundraising
Voices

We need the banks? Perhaps. We certainly need charities, too

Young Muslim women speak to David Cameron at the Jamia Masjid mosque in Manchester in 2013. He has said Muslim women who cannot speak English will be 'susceptible' to Isis
Voices

Deporting the mothers of young Muslim men is likely to drive extremism

Sean Penn shakes hands with Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman in Mexico, in the photograph shot for the Rolling Stone magazine. Sean Penn has been mocked for Rolling Stone magazine article detailing his meeting with drug lord El Chapo
Voices

What do we learn from Penn's 'El Chapo' interview? How not to write

Voices

Speculation about the "new Jihadi John" is missing the point entirely

Rex Features
Voices

Roger Scruton is right - everyone is dancing the wrong way

Voices

Roger Scruton is right - everyone is dancing the wrong way

Rex Features
"Apple is the world’s most profitable company, it pays over $7 billion a year in taxes", said Banksy, in a statement
Voices

You shouldn't have to be the next Steve Jobs to count in the Jungle

A Syrian civilian looks at the devastation in rebel-held territory
Voices

Loosening the rules of engagement in Syria would only backfire

At 27 Adele laments “I’m so mad at getting old”.
Voices

There’s life after 24... Isn’t there?

Mohammed Emwazi, also known as 'Jihadi John', during his time at Westminster University
Voices

Jihadi John had to be killed. Corbyn is naive to suggest otherwise

Mohammed Emwazi, also known as 'Jihadi John', during his time at Westminster University
Voices

Jihadi John had to be killed. Corbyn is naive to suggest otherwise

Put people on it, and it's paradise no longer
Voices

I think I'd hate life in a modern-day 'Eden'

Amazon's book depot in Milton Keynes
Voices

Why I won't shop in a 'real' Amazon bookstore

Voices

Video: The EU's refugee proposals... in theory and in practice

Voices

The pain of putting yourself in your parents' shoes

The ad was filmed at the Ik Kil cenote, or water sinkhole, in Mexico, a popular tourist spot
Voices

There’s no glamour in tombstoning, despite the TV ads

Getty Images
Voices

How can you hate George Osborne when he uses emojis?

Refugees queue to register at a camp after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border near Gevgelija
Voices

Four problems with Europe's refugee quota

Pope Francis was the fifth pope to address the UN General Assembly
Voices

The UN's plan to end poverty and hunger will require a miracle

Getty Images
Voices

How can you hate George Osborne when he uses emojis?

Refugees queue to register at a camp after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border near Gevgelija
Voices

Four problems with Europe's refugee quota

Pope Francis was the fifth pope to address the UN General Assembly
Voices

The UN's plan to end poverty and hunger will require a miracle

Parents on low incomes rely on free school meals during term time because they cannot afford to feed their children three times a day
Comment

The Tories were right to scrap the universal free school meals plan

Comment

The Tories were right to scrap the universal free school meals plan

Parents on low incomes rely on free school meals during term time because they cannot afford to feed their children three times a day
Different strokes: Damien Hirst poses in front of his artwork ‘I Am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds’. The artist appears on the Sunday Times Giving List
Comment

Time to change the definition of charity

350,000 people have been registered on Europe’s borders so far this year
Europe

We know all about the refugee crisis - but how do we address it?

350,000 people have been registered on Europe’s borders so far this year
Europe

We know all about the refugee crisis - but how do we address it?

No thanks are owed to Elvis for the author's name
Comment

Thinking of giving your child an unusual name? My guide to the pros

No thanks are owed to Elvis for the author's name
Comment

Thinking of giving your child an unusual name? My guide to the pros

No thanks are owed to Elvis for the author's name
Comment

Thinking of giving your child an unusual name? My guide to the pros

Andy Hall faces eight years in jail if found guilty
Voices

A man who changed the lives of hundreds faces years in Thai prison

BNP graffitti outside the Central Mosque in Luton
Comment

We need the help of non-violent Muslim extremists against Isis

Between the covers: Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet, opposite Colin Firth's Mr Darcy, in the acclaimed 1995 BBC adaptation of 'Pride and Prejudice'
Comment

To talk about 'liking' a character may be a literary faux pas, but I

Comment

It's more likely that Isis will achieve statehood than Cameron coming

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 09: Shackles which were used to tether slaves on display at the International Slavery Museum on February 9, 2012 in Liverpool, England. The maritime city of Liverpool has seven museums of national importance which include the
Comment

My shameful secret: an ancestor of mine was a slave owner

Michael Gove
Comment

Michael Gove doesn't really want to bring back hanging – unlike his


 Some email ignorers might actually be more organised and productive than everyone else.
Comment

Workers of the world, untie yourselves from email

The reign of the cupcake may be at an end
Comment

Gluten-free diets reveal more about Western anxieties than they do

A man rescues an migrant from the Aegean sea; some 80 per cent of those arriving illegally in Europe have done so only after paying smugglers to facilitate some or all of their passage
Comment

Europe can’t just stand back and despair while tragedy unfolds in

Look familiar? A man slouches over his computer
Comment

My generation is growing old before its time because of its awful tech

Comment

My generation is growing old before its time because of its awful tech

Look familiar? A man slouches over his computer
DFID tents are loaded up at warehouse in Dubai ready to fly to Erbil, Iraq
Comment

The new certainty of Britain’s aid budget is no guarantee it will

DFID tents are loaded up at warehouse in Dubai ready to fly to Erbil, Iraq
Comment

The new certainty of Britain’s aid budget is no guarantee it will

Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson in Broad City
Comment

Love Friends but want something more feminist, racially diverse, and

Remote control: the Smart TV wants to know all about you
Comment

Samsung Smart TV: If you don't mind, I'll take one that's a little

Remote control: the Smart TV wants to know all about you
Comment

Samsung Smart TV: If you don't mind, I'll take one that's a little

Remote control: the Smart TV wants to know all about you
Comment

Samsung Smart TV: If you don't mind, I'll take one that's a little

Comment

Isis video: Piers Morgan thinks you need to watch it to find a man

Comment

‘Affordable’ housing? Tell me another...

Comment

‘Affordable’ housing? Tell me another...

Comment

The BBC has just done more to eradicate ‘terrorism’ than all our

Heart of stone: the Temple of Karnak (AFP/Getty)
Cruise

Cruising from Aswan to Luxor: A lost jewel on the Nile

A quarter of a billion pounds a year is being spent on computers in schools, according to the latest figures from Besa, the educational suppliers’ organisation (Getty)
Comment

Technology in schools? Just a mad, bad iPad fad

A quarter of a billion pounds a year is being spent on computers in schools, according to the latest figures from Besa, the educational suppliers’ organisation (Getty)
Comment

Technology in schools? Just a mad, bad iPad fad

IV Drip

Andy Murray's logo: The new dark mark

IV Drip

Andy Murray's logo: The new dark mark

French President Francois Hollande observes a minute of silence surrounded by heads of state including (LtoR) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council Preside
Comment

Charlie Hebdo: Political Islam is more ally than enemy in the fight

Comment

Charlie Hebdo: Political Islam is more ally than enemy in the fight

French President Francois Hollande observes a minute of silence surrounded by heads of state including (LtoR) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council Preside
Natalie Bennett, the leader of the Green Party
Comment

I thought about voting for the Green Party. Now I'm unthinking it

What's Christmas without Night at the Museum 3?
Comment

Tired of adverts in public spaces? Then let's turn Britain into

Comment

It's not Google's business to save the newspaper industry in Spain, or

Two women take a selfie photo close to the café where around 15 people were taken hostage
Comment

Sydney siege: Not the moment for a selfie

Two women take a selfie photo close to the café where around 15 people were taken hostage
Comment

Sydney siege: Not the moment for a selfie

David Cameron and Barack Obama
Comment

The West likes to give a little, and take a lot of credit

Comment

Helping returning jihadists with 'good intentions' is dangerous, but

Comment

Yes, the iPhone 6 is a miracle, but it's Apple's tax affairs that

Emma Watson has become the latest target of the 4Chan nude hacking scandal
Comment

What is 4Chan? And why does it threaten women like Emma Watson?

Bono and Apple CEO Tim Cook announce U2's surprise new album at the iPhone 6 launch
Comment

Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes tell you what to think. Don't let them

Courts around the world are starting to crack down on privacy issues online
Comment

Are we heading towards a digital dystopia where no secret is safe?

Migrants line up after disembarking from a navy ship in the Sicilian harbour of Pozzallo
Africa

What happens to African migrants once they land in Italy during the

Comment

The difference between Isis and the Muslim Brotherhood is clear

Comment

Treat drunks and drug abusers just like anyone else

Comment

A pep talk for men for worried about donating to a lesbian sperm bank

'I’m here to entertain you but I don’t really care about entertaining you,' says Franco
Reviews

Directing Herbert White by James Franco, book review: Clunky lines

"Damned if they do, damned if they don’t"
Comment

The law is too hard on sexting teenagers

Comment

Sentinel and co, beware: There's no easy money to be made out of

Do we need to stop with all the doom and gloom? These men don't think so
Comment

Ditching the doom rhetoric to save the world

Bard act to follow: Shakespeare
Features

Poetry doesn't need to be easier, Mr Paxman – it's up to us to try

The Shard is unveiled in 2012
Comment

Unwelcome transparency: From the Shard's Shangri-La to Swiss bank

Do we need to stop with all the doom and gloom? These men don't think so
Comment

Ditching the doom rhetoric to save the world

Bard act to follow: Shakespeare
Features

Poetry doesn't need to be easier, Mr Paxman – it's up to us to try

The Shard is unveiled in 2012
Comment

Unwelcome transparency: From the Shard's Shangri-La to Swiss bank

Dr Diego Pol gives a hint of the scale of the dinosaur’s size as he stretches out alongside one of the bones discovered in Patagonia
Comment

World's largest dinosaur? Columbus wreck? There's nothing to see

Comment

Cocaine in water isn't real story, but public health scares are

William Wordsworth's Dove Cottage, Cumbria
Comment

The spectre of Wordsworth shouldn't stop us building on the green belt

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'The particularly hostile treatment of victims and witnesses in court has nothing to do with fairness or justice'
Voices

Prisoner rehabilitation pilot should have been left in place

A ball, an open space.. but for grass-roots football the spaces have been growing emptier
Comment

Austerity bites, but using sport to tackle deprivation is a winner

The hedge fund exec dodged almost £50,000 of train fares
Comment

Law caught up with hedge fund fare dodger. Shame about the banks

Science

Global survey finds that seven is probably our favourite number, but

Comment

Students want revenge at the ballot box - and Labour knows it

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in