World
The biggest of all the delusions about Reform
If public life contains a very high-profile, very vulnerable fantasist with an inexhaustible appetite for money and publicity, what is the duty…
What should the law do about AI?
In the film Ex Machina, an American tech billionaire suspiciously reminiscent of Elon Musk creates a conscious machine. When he tells…
Why has John Healey started speaking like Confucius?
John Healey had been sent to Coventry, something he will have to get used to after his budget next month,…
What we really saw at the Portsmouth migrant boat protest
What happened in Portsmouth last night was extraordinary. Citizens waded into the bitter sea to try to prevent the arrival…
The scandal of HMP Millsike
HMP Millsike, the country’s newest jail which opened in March 2025, has been criticised in the strongest terms by its…
Is John Healey any different from Rachel Reeves?
John Healey has tried so far as chancellor to suggest that he is part of a ‘continuity’ Labour government –…
Stella Creasy’s gender double standard on parade
Today in Walthamstow we held the 46th Milad Al Nabi march – it’s a noisy annual celebration for our local…
St Paul’s swaps the divine for drum and bass
Lord Khan of Tooting today stepped up his mission to profane the capital, announcing that St Paul’s Cathedral will host…
The BBC has been up to its old tricks – again
I do a fair number of interviews these days – television, radio, podcasts, panels, my own interview series – across…
The lesson Cambridge should – but won’t – learn from Jason Arday
With the Jason Arday episode set to become one of the most important and symbolic stories of the year, and…
How the AfD made history by winning in Saxony-Anhalt
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on the verge of leading a state government for the first time in history.…
The triumph of Giorgia Meloni
Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government this weekend became the longest surviving Italian government since the fall of fascism in 1945. It…
The proof that Cambridge’s Jason Arday inquiry will be a whitewash
Cambridge University’s “independent inquiry” into the events around Jason Arday appears already to have decided what its outcome will be.…
Sunday shows round-up: Farage on donation sting: ‘I frankly wasn’t even listening’
Two of Nigel Farage’s senior aides have been forced to step down after an undercover team from the investigative group…
Jenrick’s personal allowance pledge is populist Keynesianism
Reform has said at its conference that it will increase the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 in its first budget.…
The safest thing for children is to keep social media dangerous
Everyone agrees that social media should be more heavily regulated to protect young people. Everyone is wrong. It should be…
This is the Golden Age of the long-form interview
How will our time be remembered? The age of anger? The age of grievance? The age of victimhood, or of…
James Rebanks and the trouble with sheep farming
Next time you’re in the British uplands, perhaps in one of our national parks, Dartmoor, say, or the Lake District,…
John Healey has failed the defence spending test
Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership was already in crisis on 11 June this year when John Healey submitted his resignation as…
Inside Badenoch’s economic unit
Kemi Badenoch’s reshuffle promised a revitalised economic team. Now Mr S can reveal how it is being staffed. A missive…
Burnham’s ‘clear diagnosis’ of Britain’s problems doesn’t add up
Andy Burnham said this week that he has made a ‘clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong’ in Britain since…
Lindsay Clancy and the inversion of feminism
In January 2023, Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children in her basement and then tried to kill herself. On August…
The oil field at the heart of Milei’s Falklands threat
If Andy Burnham were looking for a quick popularity boost, he might decide to order the deployment of a flotilla…
Jolyon Maugham and the rise and fall of the celebrity lawyer
They say that politics is showbiz for ugly people – but with the rise of the radiantly beauteous Keminator (and,…
How much longer will Cambridge stand by Simon Woolley?
The principal of Homerton College, Cambridge, has insisted he was telling the “truth” when he said that Jason Arday was…
