Features
The known wolf
The meeting place of the two worlds could not have been more sharply defined. In Manchester Arena, thousands of young…
Boats, goats and landslides
J.L. Carr’s classic novel How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup (1975) contains a character named Arthur Fangfoss. Mr…
A war on joy
When the pictures of the dead came in, it was hard to take, even from a distance. There was Georgina…
Holding court
A hundred years after the Russian revolution, Russia has a tsar and a court. Proximity to Putin is the key…
All hail Pence!
Washington Day 1: The New York Times reveals that President Trump offered FBI director James Comey a 25 per cent…
First class
On the Today programme a month ago, Education Secretary Justine Greening was asked whether she could name any ‘respected figure…
Swiss trains
When Theresa May went off to Switzerland on a walking holiday last August, she said it was the ‘peace and…
‘Our children are horrified’
Wrexham, North Wales To window cleaner Andrew Atkinson, Theresa May’s ‘blue-collar Conservatism’ is not just a slogan. It’s what…
This is an emergency
The NHS as we know it is dying. It’s no longer a matter of if it will collapse, but when.…
Middle May
Once, politicians remained in their safe spaces and elections were fought in a handful of swing seats. This time Theresa…
Throw in the towel
Spas are supposed to be relaxing. You pad around in a regulation robe and too-big slippers. Everything is beautifully soft,…
Life in a gulag
I was invited to Moscow earlier this year to give a talk about my latest book. But while I was…
Red Theresa
Never has the Conservative party been more confident about winning a general election. Theresa May’s popularity ratings have broken all…
More gas, less wind
The Global Wind Energy Council recently released its latest report, excitedly boasting that ‘the proliferation of wind energy into the…
Found in translation
Buririggu deshita. Suraibi tōbu Wēbu de gairu to gimburu shite, Nante mimuji na borogōbu, Mōmu rassu autoguraibimashita ne. If this…
Mother Theresa
Tory activists last week were heard to refer to Mrs May as ‘Mummy’. No Corbynista calls their hero ‘Dad’. The…
Stand up for Arsène
I had 20 good years supporting Manchester United but now I follow Arsenal, and I find the treatment of the…
Libya’s best hope
We were in a detention centre for migrants in Tripoli and we came to a big locked door. It was…
Kaspar the Savoy cat
How to solve the problem of an unlucky 13 people at dinner? Developing a rational mind is the obvious answer,…
Made in Windsor
It’s a summer of change for the House of Windsor — out with the old, in with the young. The…
Scafell Pike
Within a couple of miles of England’s deepest point is its highest. Towering a kilometre above the hidden depths of…
Is Le Pen really ‘far-right’?
What is ‘far-right’? With the progress of Marine Le Pen to France’s presidential run-off, the term has been liberally used…
At the cutting edge
There’s a graveyard inside Henry Marsh’s head, though you’d never guess it to look at him. There he sits in…
Divided they stand
New York As the malevolence and incoherence of the Trump administration continue to amaze, Democrats are taking heart from the…
Moths vs the middle classes
It’s not the free movement of people I spend my nights fretting about; it’s the free movement of pests. It’s…
