The Week
Diary
During one of the interminable lockdowns I mentioned that I didn’t care if I never went to another launch party…
The game of life
The extraordinary sporting achievement of Emma Raducanu and the response it has received from royalty and politicians alike makes one…
Letters
A kick up the assetocracy Sir: While it was heartening to see Fraser Nelson take a stand against the ‘assetocracy’…
Portrait of the week
Home The government decided to offer booster vaccinations to those over 50. Children aged 12 to 15 would be offered…
Letters
Out of practice Sir: GPs are not ‘hiding behind their telephones’ (Leading article, 4 September). In-person appointments are the core…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced a new tax in the Commons branded a ‘health and social care levy’.…
Emergency exit
For 18 months, the government has held power over us as never before in peacetime. The emergency powers granted by…
Root cause
A ‘State of the World’ report warns that a third of the world’s wild tree species are threatened with extinction.…
Barometer
Floating vote Voters in St Petersburg were presented with three candidates all calling themselves Boris Vishnevsky, with two believed to…
Diary
In football, you are always stronger in numbers. With a shared focus, people from different cultures, nationalities, races, sexual orientations,…
Portrait of the week
Home Britain brought its last troops home from Afghanistan, having flown out more than 15,000 people since 14 August; but…
Letters
A glimmer of hope Sir: After the debacle of the West’s shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was comforting to read…
Doctor who?
Nye Bevan famously said that he was only able to persuade family doctors to support the creation of the NHS…
Barometer
Escape velocity The evacuation of Afghanistan was likened to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. What were the…
Off colour
In the 18th century, art historians’ admiration for the beauty of white-ish ancient Greek marble statuary led people to draw…
Diary
I have no personal investment in America’s Afghanistan war. My own service in Vietnam, now a half-century in the past,…
Portrait of the week
Home At the virtual G7 emergency summit that he was chairing, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, urged President Joe Biden…
Letters
The blame game Sir: Like many who served in Afghanistan, I have watched with growing dismay the recent events unfolding…
The protest test
The concept of normality has been so disrupted over the past 18 months that the Extinction Rebellion protests — usually…
Diary
I’ve been to two of my favourite book festivals recently, Chalke Valley History Festival and Charleston, and the experience has…
Barometer
Birth of the Paralympics While Athens can claim to be the home city of the Olympic Games, the Paralympics can…
War and peace
‘No one is stupid enough to choose war over peace. In peace sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury…
Letters
Zero balance Sir: James Kirkup (‘In defence of net zero’, 14 August) highlights the falling cost of solar and wind…
Recovery position
At the start of this year, Britain looked as if it would be the first major country to vaccinate its…
Diary
Kabul I’ve been to the front line in Iraq, Syria and Libya and witnessed all kinds of crazy, unlikely…
