World
Can Armen Sarkissian fix Armenia?
Armen Sarkissian, the president of Armenia, is incandescent with rage. “Five thousand brave and selfless Armenian soldiers were killed in…
Harry Potter and the strange absence of J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts this weekend for a 20th anniversary special. He was joined in the Gryffindor common room…
Boris Johnson’s friendship problem
Boris Johnson is hoping that his MPs have calmed down over the Christmas break and that this term will be…
Let’s stay together
Mom, can you come pick me up? They’re talking about a national divorce again. This time, it’s the Party of…
Guardian pulls poll after JK Rowling wins
Oh dear. There seems to be something of an ongoing campaign against JK Rowling at the moment. The Harry Potter writer…
Boosters give 88 per cent protection against hospitalisation
The good news picture continues to build for Omicron. Late on New Year’s Eve, the UK Health Security Agency released…
Tony Blair's knighthood is long overdue
Arise Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. Yes, that should give…
New Year’s resolutions for the political class
If you think politics was insufferable in 2021, just wait until the New Year. The midterms are around the corner,…
Inside Joe Biden’s disastrous negotiations with Iran
One of the West’s great foreign policy failures of 2021 was the Iran nuclear negotiations, which remained bitterly unresolved as…
How anti-lockdown protesters are outwitting German police
As Germans marked the new year last night, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s message was somewhat muted: ‘It’s clear to all of us: the…
Does Warwick’s Omicron modelling make restrictions more likely?
Two weeks ago, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Imperial College both published modelling showing frightening…
Boris Johnson’s coalition of voters is falling apart
Boris Johnson enters the third year of his premiership in a much weaker position than when he started it. Alongside…
China could be more dangerous than ever in 2022
Twenty twenty-two is the year that Xi Jinping plans to seize power for life, but it is not going according to…
Why warmer days in Alaska are not a sign of climate armageddon
It’s climate panic again. This time, under headlines such as ‘Baked Alaska’, we are informed that the most northerly US…
Why have the Tories given up on fixing immigration?
In the fiercely competitive world of politics, it is not often that an opponent presents you with an Achilles heel…
Revealed: Huawei's Oxbridge millions
British universities have received twice as much funding from Huawei as previous estimates suggest, according to new figures obtained by The Spectator.…
Sage data suggests Omicron patients leave hospital sooner
Recent Sage reports have stressed that we’re still waiting on a major piece of information: the average stay in hospital…
Could Covid finally end the tradition of Japan’s dreaded 'bonenkai' parties?
John Updike described America as a ‘vast conspiracy to make you happy’. Japan, a wonderful place to live in many…
A blurred distinction between refugees and migrants is a recipe for chaos
Among the most evocative and distressing press images of the year were those of Maryam Nuri Hama Amin. The 24-year-old Kurd…
Why isn’t John von Neumann better known?
More than anyone else, John von Neumann created the future. He was an unparalleled genius, one of the greatest mathematicians…
Why should I be 'cancelled' for arguing that biological sex is real?
‘I just get the impression she hates men’, said a wound-licking James Max, on TalkRADIO, after he interviewed me on Wednesday.…
David Cameron winds his office up
In 2021 we bid many things farewell: Philip Green’s retail empire, England’s Euro chances and Donald Trump’s presidency. And now, joining them…
Will Trump’s pro-vaccine stance prove his undoing?
Donald Trump famously boasted that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and still not…
Don’t blame deforestation for the pandemic
With a laboratory leak in Wuhan looking more and more likely as the source of the Covid pandemic, the Chinese…
Labour MP demands 'free movement for all'
New year, old Labour. As 2021 draws to a close and Keir Starmer’s managers seek to establish Labour as A…
