World
The impossibility of escaping from Assad
‘The mullahs are moody,’ said Aisha, a female university student, explaining her daily nail varnish run in with the aging…
China is getting ready to take on Trump
By one estimate, Chinese military exercises close to Taiwan this week were the largest since 1996, when Beijing attempted unsuccessfully…
Only another Bill Clinton can save the Democrats now
In the weeks since Donald Trump won the US election, Democrat supporters, amidst much gnashing of teeth, have offered up…
Will Vogue apologise for calling Asma al-Assad ‘A Rose in the Desert’?
Back in 2020, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour issued a rare public mea culpa in which she apologised for the magazine not finding ‘enough…
Bobbies on the beat won’t stop the cyber crime wave
One morning last week, in the early hours, I received a puzzling text from my bank. ‘Did you use your…
Yoon’s impeachment won’t end South Korea’s political chaos
For those who loathed him, it was second time lucky – but only just. With South Korea’s national assembly passing…
Who does Starmer think is going to build Britain’s houses?
Why does the government keep setting itself up for failure? It did it with the target for decarbonising electricity by…
We’ll learn nothing from the murder of Sara Sharif
What exactly do the authorities hope to learn that they do not already know from the safeguarding review now underway…
Don’t blame Nimbys for Britain’s housing crisis
It would be an exaggeration to say that in politics conventional wisdom is always wrong – but equally it’s not…
The Syrians who can’t go home
In a waiting room in Beirut’s Adlieh district, with harsh fluorescent lighting glaring down on us, the handcuffed prisoners, we took turns to rotate…
Why there will be no Christmas truce in Ukraine
On Christmas Eve 1914, British and German soldiers laid down their arms and crossed trenches to exchange gifts, bury the…
Bombing Syria in 2013 would not have toppled Assad
In hindsight, did the US, UK and France fail to seize the chance to topple President Bashar al-Assad in 2013?…
How long will Macron’s latest prime minister last?
Emmanuel Macron has appointed the veteran centrist Francois Bayrou as his fourth prime minister of the year. First elected as…
Gukesh’s championship win is a triumph for Indian chess
Eighteen-year old Gukesh Dommaraju, from India, has become the youngest ever world chess champion – after defeating defending champion, China’s Ding…
Graham Linehan: I’m leaving Britain
To the world of comedy, where it transpires that renowned gender critical activist Graham Linehan is looking for pastures new.…
What Ed Miliband got right on Syria
It’s not every day I spring to the defence of Ed Miliband, Secretary for Environment, Net Zero and all the…
Prince Andrew’s Chinese ‘spy’ blunder is no surprise
It is fair to say that Prince Andrew has always had poor taste in friends. Notoriously, and reputation-shreddingly, he consorted…
GDP decline is not only Labour’s fault
Is the government going to create a recession out of thin air? This morning’s GDP figures from the Office of…
Labour cabinet splits over Assad
Another day, another Labour drama. It now transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s army is in turmoil over a previous Labour…
Economy shrinks in blow for Rachel Reeves
Another day, another piece of bad news for the chancellor. The economy shrank in October for the second month in…
The surprisingly recent invention of Friday the 13th
For anyone who is even a little superstitious (and superstition sometimes feels more like an unavoidable burden than a conscious…
France’s defence spending debacle will infuriate Donald Trump
Donald Trump is right that some of Nato’s European members are essentially freeloaders. That these countries are holding talks about…
There’s no such thing as a neutral centrist
Does religion matter in politics today? It certainly does, at least if you pose as someone who is neutral, as…
What al-Jolani’s past can reveal about Syria’s future
In late February 2012 I was travelling through Syria’s Idleb province. I stayed for a few days in a town…
Luigi Mangione’s bad education
Luigi Mangione is officially the “suspect” in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but he is plainly the culprit,…
