World
The slow death of Macron’s political dream
Where did it all go wrong for Emmanuel Macron? In his New Year’s Eve address of 2022, France’s president called…
How Vladimir Putin stays in power
With Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine well into its attritional phase, Western aid to Kyiv seems to be drying up.…
How China is weaponising trade against Taiwan
Why should we care that Beijing has suspended tariff relief for 12 Taiwanese petrochemical products? The move certainly lacks the fear…
Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy baubles
Rudy Giuliani may sometimes carry himself like the Grinch, but the former New York City mayor loves Christmas enough to…
How to celebrate Christmas in London
You just can’t beat London at Christmas. Unless you’re lining up to get into the Tube station (never mind onto…
Should Brianna Ghey’s killers ever be released?
In the wicked murder of poor Brianna Ghey, it’s not hyperbole to say the Devil is in the details. Thousands…
The truth about Ireland’s Troubles amnesty law challenge
Christmas is a time when those who are closest to each other fight most bitterly. Ireland, which is bringing a…
Why Hamas isn’t willing to strike a deal with Israel
Hamas’s chairman, Ismail Haniyeh, is in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials about a new temporary ceasefire deal with Israel.…
Is flag football the future of the game?
“Where does it stop?” Andy Reid was griping about the NFL’s new kickoff rule. This year, for the first time,…
New York is a people pleaser’s hell
Oh, New York, New York. So nice they named it twice. It never sleeps. It’s New York or nowhere, they…
Why BDSM is innately conservative
My friend Evie complains that I never want to go out and have fun anymore. “You’ve become a boring old…
Remembering John Gardner
“Art begins in a wound, an imperfection,” said the late novelist John Gardner, one of the last American writers to…
A history of intellect
It has it been widely noted that, as Western culture generally has grown steadily more materialistic in its values and…
Visiting Glashütte, the small town in East Germany that has mastered time
The view from my top floor room at the Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe looked out at the great dome of…
The wellness retreat reborn
Rebecca Illing’s résumé doesn’t read like your typical hotelier’s: circus school graduate, free diver, marine conservation advocate and certified death…
Why the law on assisted dying must change
Esther Rantzen’s decision to join the campaign to legalise assisted dying, in the light of uncertainty about her cancer prognosis,…
A craft beer revolution in Grand Cru Country
If the dozens of cartoonish stereotypes that flood my mind when I think of France — grand Bordeaux estates, snails…
Cooking for busy people
Scrambled eggs. Beans on toast. Canned soup. But Caro Chambers, recipe developer, Substack author and mom of three little boys,…
The perils of Harvard and Claudine Gay
History sometimes rhymes. You can’t expect things to work out the same way every time. But sometimes events are so nearly…
Are Red Sea ship attacks the start of a crisis for the global economy?
Covid provided a revelation of the vulnerabilities of the global supply chain, but now war in Yemen has provided another.…
A true Vienna experience includes the Sacher cake
What Victoria is to a jam sponge, so is Sacher to chocolate cake. It’s a man, a hotel and a…
Bowling Alone reads like a nostalgic look at the good ol’ days
In the Phetasy.com book club, we recently read the famous social science tome, Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam. In it he…
Does falling inflation show that interest rates are too high?
Well that was a surprise. At just 3.9 per cent, down from 4.7 per cent, the latest inflation figure published…
The lawfare against Donald Trump is increasingly farcical
Does kicking a popular candidate off the electoral ballot protect democracy? Or is that in fact deeply anti-democratic? These are…
Is the cost of living crisis over?
This morning’s inflation figures are good news. The fall in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to 3.9 per cent, from…
