Features
May’s man of influence
Civil servants in the Home Office, even the senior ones, always felt a little nervous when walking towards Theresa May’s…
Cops and killers
Washington, DC Considering how heavily its citizens are armed with pistols, hunting rifles, shotguns, military semi-automatics, crossbows and nunchucks, considering…
Olympic shames
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ‘Welcome to hell’ was printed on a banner written in English at Rio de Janeiro’s international…
Pilgrimage’s progress
If Christian Britain is fading away, what will survive of it? One answer seems to be pilgrimage. In the past…
Holiday reading
Holidays are a welcome chance to lose ourselves between the covers of a book, especially for those of us who…
Holiday reading
Holidays are a welcome chance to lose ourselves between the covers of a book, especially for those of us who…
A new workers’ party
We are living through the most intense political drama in modern British history. The vote to leave the European Union…
‘I had to step up’
On the way to interview Michael Gove, we meet a government minister, an Old Etonian, who suggests we ask him,…
Sleepless by the strait
In my novel Three Daughters of Eve, a well educated housewife with kids looks at her motherland, Turkey, and thinks:…
Frexit – oui ou non?
In France, Brexit has provoked resentment and shock. For many years-Britain has been seen in both Paris and-Brussels as the…
Give us a break!
As Boris Johnson will know from his love of Greek tragedy, hubris leads to nemesis. And it is Boris’s own…
Downwardly mobile
Last year, I found a pair of trainers in our communal recycling bin: Nike Air Max in black and grey…
Imperial ambitions
Early on the morning of Friday 24 June, Darren Gratton went into his butcher’s shop in Barnstaple and changed his…
Passing through Bologna
Sooner or later, no matter where you are travelling on Italian railways, you are likely to pass through Bologna Centrale.…
Passing through Bologna
Sooner or later, no matter where you are travelling on Italian railways, you are likely to pass through Bologna Centrale.…
So will it be Boris?
The Tory party is in a deeply emotional state. Remain-supporting MPs cry tears of rage when they discuss the referendum.…
Project Hope
Boris Johnson famously said that Winston Churchill would have voted for Brexit. The wartime leader’s grandson — staunch Remainer and…
Sturgeon’s bluff
It ought not to be a surprise that Alex Salmond, Scotland’s former First Minister, has declared that the vote to…
Reasons to be cheerful
Noel Malcolm It may sound both Pollyannaish and paradoxical to say this, but leaving the EU will enable us to…
Left bereft
Dear Jeremy, Please don’t go. I know you’re even more unpopular than the England football team right now — your…
La bomba Britannica
In Italy, media coverage of the triumph of Brexit has been wall-to-wall as Italians worry about the collateral damage and…
Our antidote to Trump
Is Donald Trump an idiot or a genius or a mad idiot genius? He seems driven by some demented force…
Not thick or racist: just poor
The most striking thing about Britain’s break with the EU is this: it’s the poor wot done it. Council-estate dwellers,…
Pakistan’s great leader
There have been three great captains of Pakistan. The first was A.H. Kardar, the country’s first Test captain. Born in…
The Tour de France
On Saturday at Mont St Michel, the 103rd edition of the Tour de France begins, and the favourite to win…
