Ed West

Labour’s demographic crisis

1 May 2025 12:59 am

It’s local election week in Britain (stifles yawn) and a chance to observe the exciting next generation of political idealists.…

Trump is going to give us a thousand years of woke

9 April 2025 9:00 pm

I try to avoid expressing strong opinions on foreign party politics, because I enjoy the luxury of not having to.…

What really scares people about Adolescence

3 April 2025 2:52 am

Two books I read in my teens made me want to be a writer. One, Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, appeared when…

Why Britain isn’t standing up for Canada

4 March 2025 12:14 am

In May 1940, days after the Dunkirk evacuation, the Churchill defender Andreas Koureas recalls how the great British war leader…

Why Elon Musk cares about Britain’s sinking reputation

6 January 2025 11:19 pm

Diaspora politics is a funny old thing, a form of loyalty that is often coloured by nostalgia and deeply unconnected…

Stuff of legends: the surprising truth about old myths

14 December 2024 9:00 am

I visited Mycenae for the first time this autumn. While the ruins of classical Athens can seem almost familiar, the…

The right reason to give back the Elgin marbles

4 December 2024 6:01 pm

I took my daughter to Athens for a short holiday at half-term. She is studying Ancient Greek at GCSE, which…

Why Britain should actually woo Trump

11 November 2024 5:34 pm

We went to Skye last year on a family holiday – an amazing island, beautiful scenery, so many great people.…

We have no idea how many people are living in Britain

9 October 2024 9:16 pm

A few years ago, a conspiracy theory was born, based on the idea that the population of Britain was far…

Donald Trump is still the funniest politician of our age

24 September 2024 11:02 pm

Donald Trump is arguably the most unsuitable candidate of any major western political party in living memory, let alone leader…

Elon Musk has a point about free speech in Britain

12 August 2024 4:59 pm

If there is one thing that can be said about Elon Musk, whether you like him or not, he is…

Is Britain falling apart?

5 August 2024 2:48 am

My brand is pessimism so I’m wary of flogging it to death or becoming a parody of myself, but it’s…

How bad will a Labour government be?

24 May 2024 4:00 pm

I’m old enough to remember the sense of optimism, hope and promise felt when Tony Blair was elected back in…

The plot to erase the Anglo-Saxons

15 May 2024 7:44 pm

Sea-thieves messenger, deliver back in reply, tell your people this spiteful message, that here stands undaunted an Earl with his…

Britain isn’t a free country

24 January 2024 1:48 am

I’m old enough to remember when ‘it’s a free country’ was a phrase people used in conversation. It feels like…

The Tories aren’t being honest about foreign marriages

10 December 2023 5:33 pm

Western liberalism was built on the principle of marrying out. Our beliefs about the freedom of the individual ultimately stem from…

Can post-liberalism save the Conservative party?

5 October 2023 8:06 pm

‘We – conservatives of left and right, all those who believe in the old way – need to win this…

What Horrible Histories gets wrong about history

19 September 2023 7:29 pm

I love the BBC’s Horrible Histories; in fact, I’m on record as saying it’s among the best things about being a…

National service is a bad idea that won’t go away

12 August 2023 10:00 am

My father did National Service and was lucky enough to end up in Trieste, which was probably the best posting…

Blame the breed, not the owner: the truth about American Bully XLs

1 August 2023 5:43 pm

My dog is great with children, I will give her that. The family pet and I don’t really get on,…

The rise of the French Intifada

16 July 2023 5:00 pm

Seven years ago on Friday, a 31-year-old man got behind the wheel of a 19-tonne lorry and purposefully drove it…

The long defeat of the French language

2 July 2023 6:00 pm

After Brexit, it was all going to be so different for Europe. Following years of growing dominance by the English-speaking…

The Windrush myth

22 June 2023 9:48 pm

Seventy-five years ago today perhaps the most famous ship in British history arrived at this island. A new nation was…

Where is the moral outrage about Britain’s grooming gangs?

11 February 2023 8:49 pm

Tabloid journalism begins with W.T. Stead, who as editor of the Pall Mall Gazette in the 1880s brought news and scandal to…