World
How to fix Britain’s ‘sick note’ disease
Alan Milburn, Labour grandee and member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, has said our country’s sick note system…
Why were women banned from the Eiffel Tower?
The French are accustomed to rancorous debates about the threat to women’s rights posed by religious orthodoxies – especially Islam,…
If hot tea kills me, it’ll be worth it
For Britons, there could scarcely be worse news. The national drink – tea – and its usurper, coffee, is killing…
Ryanair is right to fume about the chaos at Britain’s airports
In a crowded market, the National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) still has a good claim to be our most…
At PMQs, Burnham is short of answers
Kemi Badenoch attacked Andy Burnham on defence spending again for the second Prime Minister’s Questions where the pair faced each…
Watch: Burnham puts benefits before national security
Andy Burnham said the quiet part out loud today, suggesting that he values benefits more than national security. In an…
Airport chaos is a terrible advert for Britain
Britain’s not working – that’s what we keep being told, anyway. After a day spent at Gatwick yesterday, I can’t…
The curious case of balaclavas on Britain’s streets
A balaclava on a British street is a small declaration: I do not want you to know who I am.…
Britain’s sanctions against Israel will backfire
The historian Niall Ferguson, sometimes of this parish, said: “The law of unintended consequences is the only real law of…
Ed Miliband: The Chief Rabbi is wrong
“I don’t agree with the Chief Rabbi.” Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband responds to Ephraim Mirvis’ comments that it’s “a dark…
Good riddance, Monty Don
Farewell, then, Monty Don, the Gardener’s World presenter who didn’t seem to like gardeners very much. By gardener, I don’t…
What detectorists taught us about 1066
Laid out in the British Museum like a ruler, the Bayeux Tapestry tells its story with relentless, graphic mastery. Harold…
Why has it taken Britain so long to honour Byron?
The triumphant unveiling of Byron’s statue in Hyde Park today marks the end of 200 years of dithering about his…
How Beefeater changed Britain – and why it died
The last Beefeater restaurants are closing their doors tomorrow after Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn and once one of…
The problem with Ed Miliband’s West Bank sanctions
Since July 2024, British policy towards Israel and the wider Middle East has increasingly substituted declaratory positioning for strategy. Ceasefires,…
Lucy Powell must acknowledge England’s Pisa success
In 2016, when international test results for school pupils were released, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said: ‘Scotland used…
Why Britain’s West Bank sanctions are savvy politics
British PM Andy Burnham’s move to impose sanctions on West Bank settlements is politically savvy – but not because it…
A Houthi-Saudi war is the last thing the Middle East needs
On my second day as Britain’s ambassador to Yemen, just after the so-called “Arab Spring” in January 2011, I visited…
Even playgrounds are no longer safe in Ceuta after the migrant invasion
Ceuta, population 83,000, suffered what is being described as its worst night of vandalism last night since some 70,000 migrants…
ITV’s The Box has exposed Gary Lineker for who he really is
‘What have I signed up for?’ wondered contestant Jenny Ryan early in proceedings on ITV’s The Box. It’s a question that…
The broken special needs system is betraying those who need it most
Everyone agrees that England’s special educational needs (SEND) system is broken. Earlier this year, the government said so itself. It…
Are the days of disorder about to return to Drumcree?
Drumcree Parish Church on the outskirts of Portadown in County Armagh is what comes to mind when thinking of Winston…
Labour knows it can’t call immigration protesters racist
A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable for a Labour frontbencher to use a statement about the kind…
Britain’s turn against Israel is no accident
With Andy Burnham’s government preparing to unveil sanctions against Israel, the pro-Palestinian lobby and the left more broadly has grounds…
Ukraine is losing the war
Vladimir Putin has not changed his war aims a jot since 2022 and remains determined on fighting on. Donald Trump…
