The Week
Soldiering on
Given Putin’s less than triumphant operation in Chechnya, where the Russian army suffered catastrophic losses, it is hardly surprising that…
Diary
I met a Canadian couple for lunch in Edinburgh. They were from Vancouver – he a judge, she an opera…
Letters
Applying myself Sir: It was interesting to read David Abulafia’s rather damning critique of the Oxbridge admissions process (‘Who’s out’,…
Portrait of the week
Home Sue Gray starched and ironed her report for publication after the Metropolitan Police wound up its own enquiries into…
Letters
Don’t ban Russia’s culture Sir: It is uncouth, illiterate and actually beneficial to Putin when theatres, opera houses and other…
Portrait of the week
Home The annual rate of inflation, impelled by energy costs, rose to 9 per cent, its highest since 1982. Unemployment…
Barometer
Wagtime Footballers’ wives Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney are locked in a libel trial dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’. The term WAGs,…
Diary
It is a glorious spring evening in Lviv and what could be better than a ballet gala at one of…
Ship shape
The biggest cruise ship yet builthas just been launched, but in like-for-like terms, it comes nowhere near the Syracusia,built c.…
Sanction Schröder
From the start of the war in Ukraine, the democratic world has shown striking unity in the economic boycott of…
Letters
Disarming by default Sir: Underpinning Rod Liddle’s amusing article on use of nuclear weapons last week is the reassurance provided…
Non, merci
The Ukraine crisis has transformed international affairs, forcing countries the world over to rethink their alliances and interests. New patterns…
Portrait of the week
Home The Prince of Wales delivered the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament sitting on a throne next…
Diary
I wonder at times how some of my fellow hacks in America get out of bed in the morning. The…
Ancient and modern
Did Vladimir Putin ever use his infamous ‘historical’ account of Russia-Ukraine relations to consider how Ukrainians might react to his…
Barometer
Biergate Sir Keir Starmer was facing the scandal of ‘beergate’. Biergate is a lane in the Lincolnshire village of Grainthorpe.…
It’s the cost of living, stupid
As Boris Johnson faced the possibility of a no-confidence motion earlier this year, a large number of Tory MPs decided…
Barometer
The right to buy The Prime Minister floated the idea of granting housing association tenants a blanket right to buy.…
Diary
It has been wonderful to welcome seven refugees – and their four dogs – to my home in Suffolk. I’ve…
Letters
Wrong is right Sir: Having spent most of my working life in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), I never pass up an…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced £300 million more in military aid for Ukraine. Speaking by video to the…
Power naps
Whatever one thinks of her politics, Angela Rayner is clearly a pretty sporting party, and the joke she made about…
Brexit’s first success
The purpose of Brexit was to strengthen Britain’s ties with both the world beyond Europe and with Europe itself, but…
Rough justice
What is a just war? Those who, from St Augustine onwards, have debated the question usually begin with Cicero, the…
Barometer
Stone me Boris Johnson threatened to unleash the ‘terrors of the Earth’ on an unidentified Tory MP who claimed that…
