World
Starmer insists ceasefire coalition has momentum
Following Thursday’s big speech on public sector reform, Sir Keir Starmer has since turned his attention back to foreign affairs.…
Can Chuck Schumer hang on?
Are the Democrats on the verge of their own Tea Party? This question is dogging the Democratic Party, as Senate…
Trump’s foreign policy isn’t unprincipled
“He [Donald Trump] sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions.” That was the verdict of the…
Reeves reignites freebies row over Sabrina Carpenter show
It’s shaping up to be a difficult year for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is struggling to get many within her…
Reform are setting Labour’s agenda
No two politicians could be less alike than Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage. But it looks as though the…
Ramadan can be a time of suffering for those who dare break the rules
Ramadan, which this year runs until the end of March, is viewed by Muslims as a time of compassion and…
Is Friedrich Merz floundering already?
Friedrich Merz promised to do things differently. Ahead of the country’s federal election last month, the likely next chancellor of…
‘Trump’s America has made a suicidal choice’: An interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy is running on fumes. Plus ça change. “I slept as always last night, a few hours, with chemistry…
How Europe’s electric battery dream ran out of power
Setting ourselves stringent net zero targets will help us get ahead of other countries in the race to develop green…
How Reform can survive its civil war
After a spectacular week of feuding, opinion polls appear to show support for Reform UK remains unscathed. Reform somehow still…
The licence fee is at the root of the BBC’s problems
The BBC’s reputation is in shreds – again. Its Hamas propaganda film, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, had to be withdrawn after it…
Howard Hodgson is a tabloid survivor
Howard Hodgson ends lunch in a rage against unearned fame. ‘Marilyn Monroe: drunken actress,’ he says, ‘fat drunken actress. Gets killed. Ohhh!…
How good titles are chosen
Liszt’s compositions tend to have descriptive titles — “Wild Chase;” “Dreams of Love” — whereas Chopin avoided titles. Thomas Wentworth…
Why Greenland’s election might not have been so bad for Trump
“We strongly support your right to determine your own future. And if you choose, we welcome you into the United…
Why I am confident the Champagne tariff will not last long
I have to begin this column with a glass of Pol Roger cuvée Winston Churchill. It’s fancy stuff, and — according…
Has the UN hit rock bottom?
The word ‘surreal’ barely does justice to what’s been happening in recent weeks. Quite apart from the possible collapse of…
Starmer must fight Miliband’s fracking Luddism
On Monday, concrete will be poured into Britain’s last two shale gas wells in Lancashire. Cuadrilla Resources, which owns the…
How Spain is trying to dodge spending more on defence
Spain’s defence spending, at a mere 1.28 per cent of its GDP, lags behind all other Nato members. While most…
Putin has set a trap for the Ukraine ceasefire plan
Vladimir Putin has set his conditions for Donald Trump’s ‘unconditional’ ceasefire: Kyiv must not mobilise or train troops, nor receive…
Why does it take the snatching of a baby wombat to spark outrage about animal rights?
An American influencer called Sam Jones has been roundly denounced after she posted a video of her snatching a wild…
Vance booed at Kennedy Center performance
You wouldn’t expect the Kennedy Center to exactly love J.D. Vance. But that doesn’t make the audience’s reaction to him…
Treasury: employer tax hikes could reduce employment
It has not been Rachel Reeves’s year. From accusations of CV embellishment to noisy backlash over the farmer’s tax, the…
Are our jails unfixable?
The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report, published today, addresses the prison cell crisis in the UK, highlighting huge government…
Why Keir Starmer must cut disability benefits
Keir Starmer’s imminent attempt to curb Britain’s spending on welfare is a more serious and important bid to curb the…
Fixing free childcare would be an easy win for Labour
Parents of young children should be happy: since September 2024, those with an income of less than £100,000 a year…
