World
Wilderness and war are changing Chernobyl forever
Dappled light falls across the lobby of Pripyat’s abandoned Hospital No. 126, now so smothered by vegetation that it is…
British citizenship has become meaningless
I went back to my hometown recently, a small suburb in north-west London. I strolled the streets, stopped by the…
Choosing a coffin for my younger brother
Ronnie’s family has been in the same line of work since the 1880s. His office is next door to a…
Why stop at Lake America?
The Irish Rovers sang about the biggest mixup that you have ever seen: he was christened David Anthony, but still…
Of course we need a crackdown on H-1B visas
The Trump administration has proposed a fee of more than $100,000 for most H-1B visas. The usual suspects have come out with…
Britain must stand up to the US before it’s too late
Weaponising trade; interfering in the domestic affairs of open societies; using technological dependencies to undermine national security; threatening to invade…
Ratko Mladic was the ultimate Serb hillbilly hero
It’s rather appropriate that General Ratko Mladic, the 84-year-old former commander in chief of the Bosnian Serb army, “Butcher of…
John Healey U-turns on defence spending
It was just 78 days ago that John Healey resigned as defence secretary, heralding the beginning of the end of…
The Windsors have much to learn from Harald of Norway’s reign
The death of the Norwegian monarch, King Harald, at the age of 89 might, initially, seem like a sad but…
The Navy is right to be nervous about Russia’s maritime strength
Russia’s threats towards Britain in recent weeks of ‘consequences’ for its continued support of Ukraine have allowed the government to…
Does it matter that Jason Arday’s memoir is made up?
Bloomsbury’s former editor-in-chief Alexandra Pringle popped up on British television this week to argue that the late Jason Arday’s publisher could not have…
Are tax rises coming?
Welcome to kite-flying season. With exactly two months to go until Andy Burnham and John Healey’s first Budget, we’re beginning…
How radical does Andy Burnham want to be?
Is Andy Burnham running a ‘circuit breaker’ government from the one led by Keir Starmer, or is it a ‘continuity’…
Labour MP defends her kids’ private schools
It’s been a tough old time for private schools. Amid endless self-aggrandising, Keir Starmer’s ministers took great pleasure in whacking…
Has Burnham gone shy on welfare reform?
Will the government ever get around to reforming the welfare system? I ask because Andy Burnham seems to have bottled…
Ceuta’s migrant problem shows no signs of ending
Just under a month has passed since the sudden, mass arrival of approximately 80,000 mostly Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans in…
The fight for France’s future is underway
The fight for France is underway. The 2027 presidential campaign began last night as the leading candidates clashed in a…
Trump’s stalemate with Iran looks set to limp on
The standoff between Iran and the United States has currently reached stalemate. Iranian hopes to use control of the Strait of…
The Kremlin’s threats against Britain shouldn’t scare us
The latest statement from Maria Zakharova, the reliably acerbic spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, has generated considerable interest and…
Is AI really taking young people’s jobs?
We’ve had three announcements this week that paint a worrying picture for the job prospects of young people. First, the…
Why would Germany want to help fund Trident?
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When the Cold War ended and the main rationale for enormous stockpiles of…
Don’t bet against Nvidia – yet
Last night revealed another set of outstanding results from Nvidia. Its quarterly revenues were up by 105 per cent year-on-year,…
Why ‘I’m backing Britain’ would never happen today
The economic storm clouds continue to gather over Britain. A reckoning of some sort is on its way, possibly a…
Carney’s defiance of Trump could destroy the Canadian economy
Canada and the US were once great friends, allies and trading partners. They had disagreements on various domestic and international…
Why the world loved Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton was all-American. Born into the dirt-poor Tennessee hills of the Great Smokey Mountains, her upbringing reflected the indigent…
