World
Will Potsdam swing right?
Guten Tag – or, as they more often say in these less formal times, Hallo – from constituency number 061, otherwise…
How France killed its start-up culture
It would encourage digitally savvy entrepreneurs. It would be a hub for artificial intelligence. And it would encourage a wave…
The truth about Mohamed Al-Fayed
Even from the grave, Mohamed Al-Fayed dictated his obituary. When news of his death emerged in September 2023, Al-Fayed’s loyal…
Trump plays the hits at CPAC keynote
National Harbor, Maryland President Donald Trump capstoned a three-day CPAC pep rally with a message of… well, Trump. To be…
What business does America have in Russia?
It didn’t take long for preliminary discussions between the US and Russia on Ukraine to morph into something dramatically more…
Where do the Democrats go from here?
Losing elections is a bit like getting dumped. Often times the dumped party’s desire to overcome the heartbreak or to…
The Apple encryption row has come at the worst time for Keir Starmer
I am not sure about the capacity of AI to take over the world and suppress humanity, but big tech…
Is New Addington Britain’s bleakest estate?
There’s blood spattered on the pavement but locals in New Addington, an estate in Croydon, southeast London, seem curiously unbothered.…
Keir Starmer is doing a Boris on immigration
Keir Starmer is just the latest in a long line of prime ministers who says that immigration has been far…
Is Indian whisky ready to take on Scotch?
Indians drink a lot of Scotch whisky. In 2023 the country overtook France to become the largest market for Scotch…
What Lebanon’s energy crisis can teach us in Britain
“See that?” my friend pointed to a pylon on the hill opposite the window. “That’s the dawla.” The dawla (pronounced…
Who is responsible for the BBC’s Gaza documentary debacle?
In 2007, the BBC was engulfed in scandal for an embarrassing – if relatively trivial – misrepresentation of Queen Elizabeth…
Europe must be stronger, or it will die
Over the last weeks, the words and actions of the Trump administration have caused the biggest rift between the United…
Sydney Smith’s love for life lives on
Why should anyone care about Sydney Smith, who died on this day in 1845? 180 years have diminished the stature…
The case for moving SOUTHCOM back to Panama
The recent American interest in the Panama Canal is grounded and rational — contrary to media characterizations of the renewed focus…
Zakynthos: then and now
“You just missed Chris Hoy. He was here leading cycle rides over the summer,” the Peligoni Club’s receptionist informed me…
Hamas’s final torment of the Bibas family
So Hamas has committed yet another act of depravity against the Bibas family. It said Shiri Bibas was in one…
Why Trump doesn’t see Putin as a real threat
It turns out that Harold Wilson’s famous quote, ‘A week is a long time in politics’, is equally applicable to…
The online shopping boom is well and truly over
So much for ‘dry’ and ‘no buy’ January. The UK public seems to have thoroughly rebelled against efforts to persuade…
Has Rachel Reeves broken her fiscal rules?
Rachel Reeves is having to borrow more money than even the worst estimates expected. Figures on the public finances, published…
The shame of Big Energy’s £3.9 billion profit windfall
It is one of the world’s great mysteries: if wind and solar energy are supposed to be so cheap then…
The hard truth about Britain’s armed forces
There is something ironic about the fact that just as Donald Trump has made it clear that Europe needs to…
Christoph Heusgen is just another arrogant boomer
Historians will look back on the tears of Christoph Heusgen as a defining moment of the early 21st century. When the…
Is the Amazon version of James Bond doomed?
So at last the deadlock has been broken. After months, even years, of tension between Amazon MGM, who own the…
Elon Musk wields chainsaw at impromptu CPAC appearance
National Harbor, Maryland Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at CPAC Thursday afternoon, where Argentinian president Javier Milei presented him…
