World
Meeting Eric Ripert, chef of America’s best restaurant
For Eric Ripert, cooking is like jazz. Ad-libbing, balance, motion. “One day the garlic is very pungent, one day it…
The car seat cartel
I work on the back deck and must work quickly while I have the midday sun. The mixing bowl holds…
My friends keep dumping me
T.S. Eliot was wrong. April is not the cruelest month — January is. It’s cold and bleak and days end…
An introduction to presidential grave-hunting
Where better to talk about dead presidents than over beer and wings at Jim’s Saloon in East Pembroke, New York,…
Britain’s economic pain started long before the recession
The Tories have had a tax problem for quite some time. But news of a recession at the end of…
The digital habit
In an era that claims to value the authentic, the direct and the natural, the word “processed” has negative connotations,…
Megève’s enduring magic
Kitted out in black Givenchy, huge sunglasses blocking out the snow glare, Audrey Hepburn is lunching al fresco in the…
Hamas can’t hide behind hospitals anymore
Israeli special forces are operating in Nasser hospital, one of the main hospitals in the city of Khan Yunis, where…
Plogging: Europe’s bizarre eco-friendly fitness craze
The first finisher crossed the line sweaty, tired and almost black with dirt, his white Decathlon shirt turned gray and his…
Tan Ikram and the corruption of the justice system
The case of the ‘paraglider girls’ just keeps getting worse, exposing a criminal-justice system that seems to have become riddled…
Mökki life and Moomin minutiae in Finland
Moomins are synonymous with Finnish culture, like saunas, porridge and mökki (summer cottages). The large-snouted white fairytale creatures feature in the Moomin…
In search of the quintessentially British afternoon tea
It is a strange coincidence that both my sister and I, born and raised in Scotland, have married Americans. I…
The Long Room, a reliable Chicago bar with all the essentials
I was sipping a beer on the patio behind Ten Cat Tavern with my friend Charlie, debating which was the…
How to do St. Patrick’s Day like an Irish American
For a country like Ireland, as devoted to its faith as to a good party, the fact that St. Patrick’s…
Why has Vladimir Putin endorsed Joe Biden?
Who does Vladimir Putin want to win the US presidential election this autumn? Last night, the Russian president gave an…
The pension bomb facing Generation X
Happy birthday to me. Today I turn 48. I’m celebrating in an age-appropriate way: a trip to the physio for…
How Nicola Sturgeon saved the Union
It may seem perverse to claim that the former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon saved the Union between Scotland and…
Republicans show their fecklessness with Mayorkas
What is decadence? In popular usage, it is synonymous with “excess,” especially of a sensual or appetitive nature. I am…
Celibacy isn’t cool
Abstinence doesn’t typically come to mind when you think of Valentine’s Day. But this year it coincides with Ash Wednesday…
Edinburgh University’s new rector must save it from gender ideology
Simon Fanshawe has been installed as the rector of Edinburgh University. The arrival of the comedian and Stonewall dissident to…
Journalists are out to censor the French GB News
Left-wing journalists have won a huge battle in France against CNews, the country’s most popular news channel. France’s Council of State,…
Congress is a very silly place
The news that China Select Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher won’t run for reelection in his safe Wisconsin district may have…
Britain’s unemployment figures can’t be trusted
Britain’s unemployment statistics are unreliable, and the Office of National Statistics is experimenting with a new method of counting the…
How to get through Lent
Well, it’s a pig of a coincidence to have Ash Wednesday coinciding with Valentine’s Day. So, at the start of…
Why is Meghan launching another podcast?
In one of the many quotations spuriously attributed to Winston Churchill, the former prime minister was supposed to have said…
