World
Why are teachers so obsessed with the ‘far right’?
Much has been written in recent years, and even recent days, about the threat posed to the mental wellbeing of…
When will Iran finally be free?
An Iranian friend of mine once told me that ever since fleeing his homeland in the early days of Iran’s…
How far can bravado take the US?
Operation Absolute Resolve, Donald Trump’s rendition of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, was a brilliantly executed coup. The audacious raid did…
Inside the Democrats’ AI skepticism
Bernie Sanders has been rolling out political hot takes for more than half a century, and in recent years his…
Could the Donroe Doctrine turn Marco Rubio into the president-in-waiting?
It required an incredible amount of sophistication to achieve the desired result in Caracas: a dictator detained and transported alive.…
A buyer’s guide to Greenland
I recently wrote a book countenancing the idea that the United States could buy Greenland, and I have received some…
Iran’s uprising and the moral bewilderment of Western youth
I’m starting to feel sorry for progressives who are schtum about the revolution in Iran. My contempt for them is…
Who cares if Dylan Thomas was a plagiarist?
‘Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.’ This quote from TS Eliot has become a critical commonplace. And if we’re to take it as…
What Agatha Christie’s migrants teach us about Britain
Agatha Christie, who died fifty years ago today on 12 January 1976, possessed a genius for making the ordinary strange.…
Sunday shows round-up: Heidi Alexander: UK hoping for ‘peaceful transition’ in Iran
Protests have swept across Iran in the last couple of days, and reports suggest hundreds of people may now have…
Mandelson refuses to apologise for Epstein association
The Dark Lord is back. Peter Mandelson has resurfaced, four months after being sacked as US ambassador for his links…
Labour MP threatens by-election over jury plans
A new year and new headaches for the Labour whips’ office. Karl Turner, the long-serving MP for Hull East, has…
Trump is playing geopolitical Monopoly with Greenland
Donald Trump is playing hemispheric monopoly. Depending on what day of the week it is, the President’s focus alternates between…
The Palestine flag that shames Dublin
A Palestinian flag is currently fluttering from the top of the Spire, Dublin’s tallest landmark, looking down on the Irish…
America’s Somalis and the ‘learing’ explosion
I suspect that Somalis around the country – especially, but not exclusively, in Minneapolis – wish about now that they…
Being a bookseller isn’t what it was
Every Christmas, I throw off my doctoral gown, slap the monographs, the Collected Works and the many-volume Letters back onto…
Australia’s cricket was just too good
The longest postscript in sport is finally over. On the eve of the first Ashes test, which began on 21…
Why I’m doing wet, rather than dry, January
Rainy grey skies so often compound the gloom of going back to work after the Christmas break. Not least in…
The end is drawing near for Iran’s mullahs
As a wave of protests swept across Iran last night, the internet was completely shut down. I have no idea…
Will the Iranian regime finally collapse?
These are tense hours for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and head of state. Thousands of protesters are flocking to the streets to protest…
The Middle East is once again in flux
The Middle East has long been organised around two competing logics: pragmatic alignment and ideological alignment. Before the 7 October…
Why does anyone still take Rory Stewart seriously?
As per J. M. Barrie, one either believes in fairies, or they don’t. I take a similar approach to Rory…
The question the FBI must answer in Minnesota ICE shooting
For the third time in a week, Minnesota is making national headlines, and for all the wrong reasons. In a…
Will Starmer go after more of Putin’s shadow oil tankers?
It seems to be criminal cosplay season for Donald Trump, as he successively takes on the roles first of kidnapper,…
Billionaires or bust: the world needs the super-rich more than ever
The socialist left was on parade in the final innings of 2025. The long cold shadow cast by “The 2026…
