The Week
Letters: The shale gas illusion
The shale illusion Sir: Your leading article rightly makes the case for extracting as much of our North Sea resources…
Why I gave up on the Tories
The days between my leaving the Tories and joining Reform were an odd uneven time. It was the hardest decision…
Portrait of the week: Angela Rayner resigns, Poland downs Russian drones and Israel bombs Qatar
Home The government shuddered when Angela Rayner resigned as housing secretary, deputy prime minister and deputy leader of the Labour…
Starmer’s survival depends on going against his instincts
Athelstan has long faded from public imagination, despite being the king who, in 927 ad, first united England. But thanks…
Angela Rayner and the ancient question of ‘good judgment’
Angela Rayner has returned to the back benches because, as housing secretary, she failed to follow the rules relating to…
Letters: White working-class pupils have been forgotten
In the way of justice Sir: Robert Jenrick is right to suggest that, as well as leaving the European Convention…
What percentage of hotel rooms in Britain are occupied by migrants?
Flagged up The Finnish air force announced that it is to remove the swastika from its flag (which was designed…
Bring back the book launch!
It’s that time of year when the local librairie-papeterie in your French holiday village is full of signs for la…
Portrait of the week: Keir Starmer’s reshuffle, Graham Linehan’s arrest and get ready for Storm Wubbo
Home Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, told the Commons that new applications for refugee family reunion visas would be suspended.…
The high price of Britain’s misguided energy policy
Britain’s energy policy is a mess. We have the highest energy prices in the developed world, which is damaging competitiveness,…
The ancient Greek take on human rights
While Greek and Roman thinkers were influential in developing ideas such as citizenship, justice and equality, the notion of universal…
Letters: I’ve earned my final salary pension
Waning interest Sir: Michael Simmons correctly points out that the Treasury’s large-scale issuance of inflation-linked debt is adding heavily to…
Portrait of the week: Reform’s migration crackdown, South Korea’s school phone ban and Meghan Markle misses Magic Radio
Home Nigel Farage, launching Reform’s policies on illegal migrants, said: ‘The only way we’ll stop the boats is by detaining…
Why France hates Macron
One of the pleasures of spending the summer in France is that I can turn aside from our national problems…
The risks of Reform
In 1979, XTC sang: ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel/ We only want what’s best for him.’ The song is…
How Athens handled asylum seekers
Since, in the absence of border posts, people in the ancient world could come and go at will, refugees and…
Is Angela Rayner pushing up house prices?
By George There is a popular movement to fly St George’s flags from lampposts. The St George Cross was used…
Letters: Bring back the hotel bath!
Moore problems Sir: Many years ago a colleague warned me that I was so impossibly uncool that one day I…
The ancient dangers of ‘proscription’
‘Proscription’ appears to be the current word of the month. But what does it mean? The Latin scribo means ‘I…
Rachel Reeves’s self-defeating attack on British racing
Few British traditions can claim as long a history as racing. The first races thought to have taken place in…
Don’t judge a book by its author
I am entombed, like Edgar Allan Poe’s prematurely buried man, listening through headphones to a contemporary Russian fugue for organ…
Portrait of the week: Ukraine talks, inflation rises and a new house for the Prince and Princess of Wales
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, joined President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the…
How many homes in England have air conditioning?
Suit cases Volodymyr Zelensky again failed to wear a suit and tie to a meeting at the White House, in…
Letters: Village cricket is the highest form of the sport
Fighting dirty Sir: John Power is very interesting (‘Dark matter’, 16 August) when outlining the ‘dark arts’ being proposed by…
The Romans would have been baffled by the Gaza protests
Why are people in the UK protesting about the situation in Gaza? Surely it should be because the helpless Gazans…
