World
Zelensky may regret wishing for Putin’s death
Ever since 2013, I’ve been hearing that Vladimir Putin is going to die any day. Is Volodymyr Zelensky now trying…
King Charles’s hospital visit will prompt concern
The news released last night that King Charles had been briefly hospitalised was an unwelcome surprise. A statement from the…
Why does Britain think it can censor Gab?
A dramatic escalation has happened in the information war between the US and Europe. Ofcom, the British media regulator that…
Jolyon Maugham gets it wrong again
Oh dear. The Babe Ruth of the bar has blundered once again. Jolyon Maugham, the kimono-cladded KC, has been raging…
Britain narrowly escapes recession – again
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just confirmed that the economy ‘grew’ by 0.1 per cent in the last…
Australia is bracing itself for a chaotic general election
Early this morning, even before dawn broke, Australia’s Labor party prime minister, Anthony Albanese, asked the country’s governor-general to call…
What happened to the post-Covid roaring twenties?
It has become customary for Budgets to unravel within 48 hours of being delivered. Rachel Reeves didn’t have much in…
Britain’s underfunded army is letting down Nato
The British army is overstretched. This is not breaking news to anyone who takes an interest in defence. Although its…
What Denmark’s social democrats could teach Germany’s SPD
Despite suffering their worst electoral humiliation since the 1890s, Germany’s Social Democrat party (SPD) is displaying a remarkable combination of…
The enduring message of Anthony Powell’s work
Anthony Powell died on 28 March 2000, twenty-five years ago today. It is also fifty years since he completed his…
J.D. Vance’s trip to Greenland is deeply insensitive
This morning, Vice President J.D. Vance is set to touch down in Greenland after deciding to join his wife Usha…
Rachel Reeves should leave ISAs alone
Voters won’t want to thank Rachel Reeves if the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) turns out to be right in…
Is Macron scared of Algeria?
Emmanuel Macron couldn’t have been clearer about why he wants to boost defence spending: ‘We want to protect peace in…
Three cheers to Wigmore Hall for breaking free from Arts Council England
Tonight, I’m going to hear Joyce DiDonato, one of the greatest living sopranos, sing Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise. On Saturday…
Trump’s choice on a replacement UN ambassador is complex
Maybe the surprising thing isn’t that Donald Trump yanked Elise Stefanik’s nomination to become ambassador to the United Nations. It’s…
What went wrong for MAGA in Pennsylvania
What’s changed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania? The Republican-leaning district in a purple state has been turned on its head by a…
A miracle DC plane crash didn’t happen sooner, Senate hears
The first Senate hearing on the mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January, which resulted in the…
How could Holyrood not mourn Christina McKelvie?
A parliament is an odd place. It’s the arena where clashing worldviews come to cross swords and there’s low and…
Watch: Sue Gray turns on Starmer
Talk about a belated Ides of March. It was less than 100 days before Keir Starmer sacked his first No.…
Farewell Just Stop Oil, you won’t be missed
So it’s a not-so-fond farewell to Just Stop Oil, the soup-throwing, hand-gluing environmentalist troupe. According to JSO activist Hannah Hunt, who…
What Jordan Bardella is doing in Israel
In September 1987, during a radio interview with RTL, the late Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French National Front,…
Why the Houthis are targeting Jerusalem
Sirens blare across Israel, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They have been triggered by a barrage of missiles, launched from…
The truth about the Paddington statue
When two inebriated RAF engineers broke a Paddington statue in half in Newbury earlier this month, they could not have…
Are tax hikes on the horizon?
Tax rises are almost certainly coming, Britain’s leading fiscal think tank has said. Those taxes are most likely to fall…
PBS and NPR should never have received public funding
Congress has been mulling the future of publicly-funded television and radio. Here’s a spoiler alert: that funding is toast. There…
