Opinion today: The best route to Brexit

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Theresa May’s Chequers plans for Brexit have received a lot of stick from all sides. Brussels thinks it is akin to cherry-picking the best parts of EU membership without the costs. The Brexit wing of the Conservative party think it would tie the UK too closely to the bloc. Other MPs think it does not keep Britain close enough. How the UK prime minister can pass any such deal through parliament and her party remains to be seen.

Martin Sandbu makes the case for the Chequers proposals in his latest column, arguing that it represents the best route towards Brexit. Mrs May is proposing a free goods area that he thinks is ambitious and politically courageous — a new model of pooled sovereignty. But to clinch a deal with the EU, Martin thinks that Britain will have to accept both a customs union and a fuller rule book. If such an offer is put forward from the UK, Brussels might just accept it. But it remains to be seen whether it can fly at home.

Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general, urges Donald Trump to put Palestinian rights at the heart of his proposed Middle East peace deal.

Nurhayati Mohd Noor, senior oil trader at Freepoint Commodities, argues that despite the ‘bro-culture’ trading can be a great career for women.

Keith Burnett, vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield, thinks British universities are suffering from over-ambitious expansion plans without asking what higher education is for.

And I’ve examined the fracturing relationship between Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, who are increasingly at odds over the former’s leadership.

What you’ve been saying

Public aren’t getting the climate change message — letter from Helen Jackson:

We can do a lot to prepare physical things — buildings, electricity grids, information and communication technology infrastructure — for climate impacts. But preparing society is harder. I am constantly struck by the gulf in understanding between scientists and the public of how much we may need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are not talking about a few wind turbines and efficient lights, but a revolution in the way we use energy. We’ve barely begun to communicate this.

Comment from John B 52 on Labour’s anti-Semitism row offers a deeper truth about Corbyn:

It is a fair question to ask whether, based on his recent antics and a long record of similar behaviour, Jeremy Corbyn has the right credentials to be prime minister. Fair but misleading. Labour does not have to win the next election (in the sense of presenting a compelling, coherent pitch and receiving popular endorsement), the Tories simply have to lose it. And that they are set fair to do as the Brexit juggernaut hurtles off the rails and their schism erupts into full-scale civil war. My guess is that there will be an election next year fought between an unelectable Tory party and a barely electable Labour party. If, as seems likely, millions of Tory voters spend the day in bed, which party is likely to win? I think we can guess.

Has Britain done nothing worth mentioning since the second world war? — letter from Geoff Copeland:

Why is it that whenever someone wants to laud an example of an achievement by this country it almost inevitably comes back to the second world war? Have we done nothing in the three quarters of a century since to be worthy of mention? Is this part of our problem?

Today’s opinion

UK universities face a crisis of over-ambitious expansion
Ministers should be asking themselves what and who higher education is for

Instant Insight: The greatest threat facing Jeremy Corbyn is John McDonnell
The UK opposition leader is being increasingly challenged by his de facto deputy

Trading is a great career for women despite the bro-culture
What matters is results not gender and in this job these are immediate and measurable

Donald Trump’s deal must put Palestinian rights centre stage
Americans should know that a people deprived of liberty will never be pacified

Theresa May’s Chequers proposal is best route to Brexit
An improved UK offer would respect integrity of the internal market better than EEA

FT View

The FT View: The Republicans ravage America’s fiscal future
A party of Trump and Ryan cannot be trusted with the US’s finances

The FT View: Foreign ministries, not foreign ministers, matter
The legacy of the great 19th-century diplomats is a system that works

The Big Read

The Big Read: Iraq’s Shia militias: capturing the state
The Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Units were created to defeat Isis but now they are forming political alliances and taking control of parts of the economy