World
Will Starmer fix any of Britain’s big problems?
George Robertson’s critique of the government’s reluctance to commit to proper defence spending is deeply politically inconvenient for Keir Starmer.…
Get ready for Labour’s ‘summer of sex’
‘Samantha Niblett’s Summer of Sex’ sounds like something that the police would have shut down during the grubbiest era of…
What the Guardian should have asked Francesca Albanese
There are times when even the Guardian is beyond parody. The newspaper which recently published an article by Iran’s foreign…
Starmer is being ‘corrosively complacent’ about defence
The old joke runs that you can tell when a politician is lying because his lips are moving. It is…
The IMF growth downgrade is more bad news for Rachel Reeves
Rachel Reeves lands in Washington tonight to be greeted with bad news. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) – whose spring…
Watch: John Bercow weighs in on Iran
Whooooo remembers John Bercow? It has been sometime since the disgraced former Speaker attracted Steerpike’s attention. Having been banished unceremoniously…
Labour MP calls for ‘summer of sex’
It is a hard time to be a Labour MP. The polls are flagging, the economy is stagnating and the…
Germany’s fuel price relief has backfired on motorists
The temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran was certainly a relief for car drivers across Europe. Ever since…
Will Spain’s migrant amnesty backfire?
Spain’s cabinet has just approved a law that allows over half a million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers already in…
The intertwined lives and deaths of Jean Genet and Simone de Beauvoir
A strange literary coincidence occurred in Paris exactly 40 years ago, on 14 April, 1986. In the small hours of…
Harry and Meghan’s Australia trip is a pathetic cry for public love
Before dawn today, a Qantas jet touched down in Melbourne from the United States. Aboard, flying commercial first class but…
The high cost of Ed Miliband’s ‘cheap’ renewable energy
First the good news. Some commercial users may be enjoying free electricity at some point this summer – or better…
The great soccer World Cup swindle
Tickets for this summer’s soccer World Cup are the most expensive in the tournament’s history. Or the history of any sporting…
If Trump hates the Wall Street Journal so much, why is its editorial board dictating Iran policy?
For the better part of a decade, Donald Trump has been an avid, if irascible, reader of the Wall Street…
Ireland’s sinister media crackdown over the fuel protests
Last week, when Irish farmers and hauliers began their protest about the rising cost of fuel, they were dismissed as…
Why is Labour so obsessed by what we eat?
The government has serious work to do. As world war looms and the economy dives perilously close to recession, they…
Will the US blockade force Iran to negotiate?
As Israel prepared to mark Yom HaShoah last night, remembering the Holocaust, the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz…
Swalwell’s fall was electoral math not morality
Eric Swalwell’s fall from viable gubernatorial contender to political casualty was swift and surgical. He was among the frontrunners to…
Who will take responsibility for Southport?
The official report into the Southport attacks — in which 17-year old Axel Rudakubana murdered three girls at a Taylor Swift…
China won’t be hurt by the US blockade of Hormuz
As I argued last month, the Iran war was, partially, always really about China. Not by design, perhaps, but these…
Will Republicans blow California Governor’s race?
Eric Swalwell has dropped out of the race for California Governor after a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Republicans may…
The truth about Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran conflict
Pakistan was always an unlikely mediator for peace negotiations between the United States, Iran and sotto voce, China. It would not…
Israel won’t stop in Lebanon until Hezbollah is crushed
Direct US-brokered talks between Israeli and Lebanese representatives are set to take place in Washington this week. The Israeli delegation…
The Southport attack did not have to happen
The Southport murders and maimings did not need to happen. Three little girls, Elsie, Alice and Bebe, should still be…
Orbán’s defeat is a warning to MAGA
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was the first populist of the 21st century. The problems his country faced, he said, were immigration…
