World
Was Pope Benedict XVI right about Catholic tolerance?
It is not for me, a non-Catholic, to say whether the late Pope, Benedict XVI, served his Church well. But…
The trouble with Prince Harry
The promotional clip trailing Prince Harry’s upcoming interview – which has kicked off the publicity trail for his forthcoming memoir Spare –…
Edward Luttwak, the uncontained strategist
“Christ, Edward! No!” Edward Luttwak has just lunged at me with a knife in the study of the house he…
Dry January is cruel
Allow me to set the scene for you. It is the coldest month of the year and also the darkest.…
Challenging anti-Semitism is a moral imperative for non-Jews
One of the functions of the honours system is to articulate our principles and priorities. Amid the cringe cronyism and…
America’s flip flopping has exacerbated Venezuela’s tragedy
Amid New Year celebrations, and a tide of high-profile obituaries, you might have missed something small and far away, but…
Trump’s war on pro-lifers is a sign of desperation
Donald Trump just made his first significant political error of the 2024 nomination battle, and it’s a doozy. After being…
What is Prince Harry’s latest sulk trying to achieve?
A new year, a new grudge. Or, at least, a new expression of an old one, which is pretty much…
The decline of traditional university study is no bad thing
University vice-chancellors will find some uncomfortable reading in their New Year in-tray today. Last month the chairman of accountancy giant…
An ode to Mrs Brown’s Boys
‘A mother hen watching all her chicks, a sassy old lady full of tricks’. Mrs Brown’s Boys recently returned to…
How likely is a global recession this year?
The best thing that can be said about global economic growth prospects for 2023 is that no-one is expecting very…
An ode to smoking
Studies show that fewer than half of Americans keep their New Year’s resolutions. The other half, I assume, are bald-faced liars.…
Coming soon: Meghan’s memoir?
And you thought we’d seen the last of them in 2022. The new year kicks off with some old score-settling:…
Pope Benedict helped me know and love Christ
It was Benedict XVI’s election as Pope, his speeches and his writings that prompted my conversion, and it was his…
Pouria Hadjibagheri and the UK’s abandoned open data revolution
With a new year comes the New Year’s Honours and I’m struck to see an MBE given to Pouria Hadjibagheri. He’s the…
Why yesterday’s men will loom large in 2023
New year, old politicians. Yesterday’s men will loom large in the politics of 2023. British politics has a nostalgia problem,…
The Home Office shouldn’t shy away from exposing Islamist extremism
Like many with an interest in national security, I’ve spent this week closely following the news that there has been…
Boxing is right to stop men fighting women
I hate the fact that I felt a major sense of relief when I saw the news that the World…
How the Tories can defuse their demographic timebomb
Even in their most difficult moments, there’s an aura of invincibility about the Conservative party. It is, after all, one…
Pope Benedict: a theologian with a profound belief in reason
Pope Benedict is dead; now only Pope Francis remains in the Vatican. And the Catholic Church is diminished by his…
Putin’s wish for 2023
Following an unusually quiet December for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin has emerged to deliver his traditional New Year’s Eve…
Venezuela’s anti-socialist opposition has faltered
2019 was a banner year for Juan Guaido, a relatively obscure Venezuelan lawmaker who announced to a crowd of thousands…
Might Michel Houellebecq become the next Salman Rushdie?
In August this year Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times. The novelist survived the attack, to the outward relief of…
My debt to Pope Benedict XVI
Back in early 2019, my wife discovered that she was pregnant with our fourth child. A few weeks later, we…
What unites Greta Thunberg and Andrew Tate
So, are you Team Tate or Team Thunberg? Do you side with the muscled misogynist who has convinced tragic TikTok…
