World
The stupidity of the Oscars’ diversity quotas
Is anyone actually watching the Oscars anymore? Until ‘The Incident’ between Messrs Smith and Rock last year the direction of…
Keir Starmer is dangerously naive about the army
Keir Starmer has vowed to create a ‘squaddies tsar’ if he wins the election. This ‘Armed Forces Commissioner’ would represent…
Is Macron having a Meloni makeover?
Emmanuel Macron never does anything by chance, so why did he allow himself to be filmed downing a beer in…
Harry and Meghan may still have a bright podcasting future
After Spotify sacked/let go/‘mutually agreed to part ways’ with, in the words of one of its executives, those ‘f-ing grifters’…
Parliament votes to ban Boris
MPs have just voted 354 to 7 in favour of the Privileges Committee report’s finding that Boris Johnson deliberately misled…
The Tories can’t escape partygate
Is partygate all in the past? That’s what Rishi Sunak is hoping. He sent Penny Mordaunt to the Commons this…
In praise of Leo Varadkar
The number of abortions taking place in Ireland is more than 8,000 a year, up from the memorable figure of…
Why Xi Jinping finally agreed to meet Antony Blinken
When Antony Blinken got on the plane to Beijing two days ago, the US Secretary of State didn’t even know…
Keir Starmer is clueless about energy security
It will create lots of well-paid jobs, especially in Scotland. It will reduce our electricity bills. And it will make…
Why Japan doesn’t do Pride
Want to avoid Pride month? Bit tired of the, almost literally, in your face, carnival of uninhibited sexual freedom we…
Russia’s sexual health crisis just got militarised
As Ukraine pushes forward its long-anticipated counteroffensive, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu seems more concerned with reeling in his institutional rivals, not…
Rishi Sunak is no transphobe
Does a woman have a penis? Of course not. Until recently, that basic biological fact was accepted by almost everyone.…
The idiotic campaign against Elizabeth Gilbert
At the end of the 1920s, Erich Maria Remarque’s novel Im Westen nichts Neues appeared in English as All Quiet…
John F. Kennedy’s trip worth remembering
Sloppy Joe Biden may face strong political headwinds with just seven months to go before the first presidential primary, but at least he’s…
Watch: Partygate video threatens to derail Johnson honours’ list
Will Partygate ever be over? Today’s front page of the Sunday Mirror splashes on leaked footage of Shaun Bailey’s mayoral campaign team…
Levi Bellfield must never be allowed to marry – and I should know
There is a rare outbreak of unanimity on social media. Save a few lawyers who – correctly – point out…
Tears, tangles and tremendous views in Cape Town
Thirty feet underwater, somewhere on the False Bay coast near Simon’s Town in the Western Cape, South Africa. I’m getting…
In defence of Howard Donald
The mob has claimed another scalp. This time it’s Howard Donald’s. The Take That star has been found guilty of…
Jenny Boyd goes beyond the muse
The beautiful muse to great male artists is a tricky figure, omnipresent in history but a bad fit for our…
Albanian small boat arrivals fall 99 per cent
With the return of Tory psychodrama and the leak of CCHQ lockdown party videos, Rishi Sunak needs something to go…
Britain’s war in Malaya
On 17 June 1948, seventy-five years ago this weekend, the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee declared war on the ethnic…
Is Isis preparing to exploit Europe’s open borders?
There is a growing sense of unease in France that a new wave of Islamist terrorism will soon break over…
Is the war on ultra-processed foods justified?
Ultra-processed food is back under the spotlight. ‘In the last decade, the evidence has been slowly growing that ultra-processed food…
Brits have a troubling approach to death
You never forget your first corpse, do you? Cold, visceral, mute, lying there immune from the world and its cares.…
Spotify exec: Harry and Meghan are ‘grifters’
It seems the Americans are belatedly waking up to the reality of the Sussexes. Bill Simmons, Spotify’s head of podcast innovation…
