World
No one won the Hamilton by-election debate
‘How useful are TV debates anyway?’ a Labour figure scoffed when I asked why their candidate in the Hamilton by-election…
Jews in America are under attack
In Boulder, Colorado, eight elderly Jews were torched alive in a park. They wore red T-shirts bearing the names of…
Get your Pride month Kevin the Carrot, while stocks last
Please consider this a sort of public service announcement. I mention it because sadly, you may have been unaware of…
What was the point of the Strategic Defence Review?
This weekend has not been a masterclass in political communications by the government. Selected morsels of the Strategic Defence Review…
Doctor Who needs a break
Twenty years on from its spectacular revival it looks like Doctor Who might not be returning to our screens again…
Hamit Coskun’s life will only get harder now
Hamit Coskun has been found guilty of a ‘religiously-motivated public order offence’, after he burnt a Quran in front of…
Watch: Speaker slams Sir Keir over defence review leaks
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot are in the bad books with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle after details of the government’s Strategic…
Reform’s Scottish surge continues
Nigel Farage’s first trip to Scotland in six years hasn’t lacked drama. In Aberdeen this morning, the Reform UK leader…
England now has a blasphemy law
Officially, blasphemy was abolished by New Labour in the 2008 Criminal Justice Act. But today, with the conviction of Hamit…
Is Jonathan Powell unaccountable?
For the past three months there has been an exchange of bureaucratic fire across the 600 yards that separate the…
Why is the SNP resurrecting full fiscal autonomy for Scotland?
John Swinney’s strategy for retaining the office of first minister after next year’s Holyrood election was fairly straight forward. All…
There is nothing strategic about Starmer’s defence review
This Strategic Defence Review has been a long time coming. Back when he was still shadow defence secretary, John Healey…
First Labour councillor defects to Reform
It’s all go in Scotland today. Nigel Farage made a quick stop in Aberdeen to announce his latest Tory defector…
Keir Starmer is living in a defence fantasy
My son has a penchant for fantasy movies, especially Marvel. It’s an expensive taste. The cinema isn’t cheap once you…
Rachel Reeves risks killing off the family business
Changes to how inheritance tax and trusts are treated for non-doms have already put the nation’s finances on shakier ground…
Starmer tries to sell the Strategic Defence Review
The Prime Minister has been up in Scotland this morning, ahead of the full publication of the Strategic Defence Review…
Is Britain spending 3 per cent on defence, or not?
Your starter for ten: what is the difference between an ambition, a promise, a certainty and a commitment? If you…
Hamilton is just the beginning for Reform in Scotland
In less than 72 hours, the polls will open in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse for a Scottish by-election like no…
Should we feel sorry for nepo babies like Ella Mills?
Is sympathy finite? The Rolling Stones suggested that we might extend this tenderest of emotions towards ‘Old Nick’ himself, but…
Farage gains another Tory councillor in Scotland
To Scotland, where Nigel Farage is visiting for the first time in six years. It’s a day of firsts for…
Union chief in second home hypocrisy row
Well, well, well. The general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress has found herself at the centre of a…
The rush to blame Israel is bad for journalism
If the war in Gaza has taught the world anything, it is this: truth in war is rarely immediate. In…
What Karol Nawrocki’s triumph means for Poland
Karol Nawrocki – the Law and Justice candidate – is the winner of Poland’s 2025 presidential election following a dramatic…
The real cause of French football hooliganism
Soon after Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) thrashed Inter Milan five-nil to win the Champions League, Ousmane Dembélé urged fans not to…
The Polish right is radicalising
In some ways, Poland’s presidential election on Sunday seems a simple continuation of the country’s long-standing status quo. Karol Nawrocki,…
