Features
The appalling truth about London’s ambulance service
‘An old lady’s fallen down – quick! She’s bleeding. Come help.’ An elderly woman lay on the entrance steps of…
‘Kids were tougher in the Nineties’: what happens in Dan Pena’s £27,000 ‘tough love’ seminars?
Dan Pena has a picture of Adolf Hitler on his wall, but not any old picture. You know, not a…
How Trump could temper tensions in the Middle East
One of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign ads was aimed at Jewish voters. Three stereotypical New York bubbes are kvetching about…
Not even close: how Trump confounded the pundits
It was supposed to be close. On the eve of election day, Donald Trump was up just 0.1 per cent…
American titan: Inside Donald Trump’s remarkable political comeback
Palm Beach, Florida Donald Trump’s bid to take back the White House has been triumphant. It is a decisive victory…
My time as the speaking clock
Ask young people today if they know that they can dial a number to hear the time and you would…
Reality check: why the Democrats lost
For the past decade, Donald Trump has been the most famous and influential man on the planet. But he had…
Dam shame: what really caused Valencia’s floods?
Who is to blame for the devastating floods that hit Valencia on 29 October? The mob that surrounded King Felipe…
Gen Z love ecstatic dance. Would I?
Two months ago I moved to London and found it a disorientating experience. Most of my friends were already settled…
Could inheritance tax changes help farmers in the long run?
Britain’s farmers are in a bind. Despite sitting on land worth millions, they are unable to release that wealth without…
My glimpse into a childless world
If you are looking for a pointer for the future of the world, the free-diving fisherwomen on the matriarchal, shamanistic…
Labour’s war on the countryside
Two miles from where I am writing, the neighbouring village is plastered with posters demanding ‘Say No to Pylons’. The…
Team Trump: who’s in – and who’s out?
If Donald Trump wins back the White House next week, adopt the brace position. His opponents will go beserk, inevitably,…
Toffee apples: a dangerous food for frightening nights
Bonfire night is more about burning Catholics than haute cuisine and it shows. I’ve always felt for Catholic friends at…
Scroll model: confessions of a clickbait writer
Working on a ‘trending’ news desk is the journalistic equivalent of being a battery-farmed hen. When I was still at…
How quickly would Trump wash his hands of Ukraine?
For American politicians, all wars are two-front wars. There is a hot battlefield somewhere in the Middle East or the…
Meet the western conservatives moving to Russia
Tofurious Maximus Crane was sitting in a barber’s chair in Moscow when he received the greatest news of his life.…
Leaving the ECHR won’t fix Britain’s immigration chaos
If you tuned into the Tory party leadership race, you will have heard rather a lot about the European Convention…
Who do US psychics predict will win the election?
A week away from the American election, and the polls cannot tell us who will be president. But can they…
The dark side of life in Cuba
The first scent of trouble came when Cuba’s government ordered all its non-essential workers home. By packing them off (and…
Decline and fall: how university education became infantilised
Last month, after 21 years study-ing and teaching Classics at the University of Cambridge, I resigned. I loved my job.…
Halloween is the time for fairies
Among the many options available for Halloween costumes and decorations these days, from witches to zombies, from mummies to serial…
Trump makes America laugh again
‘Tradition holds that I’m supposed to tell a few self-deprecating jokes this evening,’ said Donald Trump in his speech at…
Albania has long lived in Italy’s shadow
Albanians are descended from the most ancient of European peoples, the Illyrians. The country came into existence only after 1912…
Is it really too much to ask students to read children’s books?
The Shakespeare scholar Sir Jonathan Bate recently claimed that students are struggling to read long books. Depressingly, he’s right. I…
