World
The BBC’s gender equality project has come unstuck
The BBC’s 50:50 project is designed to empower women. One of its targets is to ensure that half of the contributors…
Truss’s promising stance on Scottish independence
Much to the chagrin of colleagues, friends and ex-friends, I’ve spent the past few years raising the alarm about how…
How Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed Estonia’s outlook
Estonian Independence Day – celebrating the country’s 1991 emancipation from the Soviet Union and the Kremlin – takes place on…
Sunak is running out of time
This could be the biggest week of the Tory leadership campaign: postal ballots will start arriving on members’ doormats in…
Should Apple snoop on your iPhone?
Should Apple use software to scan the photo library of every individual iPhone in search of images of child abuse?…
The National’s Anglo-bashing hypocrisy
Given the Scottish political establishment’s misty-eyed myth-making about Scottish nationalism — it’s civic! Joyous! Inclusive! — Mr Steerpike admires the…
Liz Truss’s critics are making the same mistakes as Reagan’s enemies
Admirers of one of America’s great modern historians sat up and paid attention when Liz Truss told the Times in…
Why can’t we enjoy England’s football win without politicising it?
Not everything has to be politicised all the time. Some things are just news. Often bad news, such as an…
Does Britain lack the minerals for green fight?
Amid all her remarks about tax cuts, freedom and, er, Don Revie, some of Liz Truss’s comments were overlooked on…
What does England’s victory mean for women’s football?
Well, thank goodness for that. Just as it seemed the England’s women’s football team might be about to extend the…
The trouble with Sunak’s tax promise
Rishi Sunak should have started his campaign offering a 4p cut to income tax, instead of focusing on a Cameronesque…
The ‘conversion therapy’ canard
In 2016, the Obama-Biden administration concluded that “the quality and strength of evidence” for medicalized gender transition was “low” and insufficient…
The worldwide working-class counterrevolution
Something is happening across the world right now, something that deserves more attention than it’s getting. First, to the Netherlands,…
Remembering Gore Vidal
Fourteen years ago, my then boss, Matt d’Ancona sent me off to interview Gore Vidal. I’ll always be grateful to…
The French buy-out that explains Macron’s strategy
It’s a platitude that France and Britain are rivals and have been for centuries. But, since the 1904 Entente Cordiale,…
Will China blockade Taiwan?
Xi Jinping has made it very clear over the years that he is determined for China to reunite with Taiwan.…
Iran and Russia: the new Axis of Evil?
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran last week brought attention to a growing partnership between Russia and Iran. The…
The social mobility case against grammar schools
Plenty of Conservative party members won’t like this article. I apologise in advance for that: I know grammar schools are…
How Rebekah Vardy went from underdog to ‘Cry-Bully’
It was Depp vs Heard and Best Of Breed at Crufts rolled into one: yes, the Wagatha Christie gravy-train came…
The crisis of Generation Z
The youth aren’t doing well – not in America, at least. Even before Covid, experts were ringing the alarm bells…
Poll: Tory voters prefer Truss over Sunak
The Tory leadership races is a tale of two approaches: Liz Truss appears to be campaigning to win the party…
The triumph of Truss
This week has seen a dramatic development that has taken the Westminster Village by surprise: Britain suddenly has an identifiable…
Sunak and Truss have no answer to the big problem facing the West
You will never measure the depth of our troubles if you listen to the contenders for the Tory leadership. Rishi…
Is France capable of hosting next year’s Olympics?
Five years ago, Paris was named the host city for the 2024 Olympics. How the country celebrated. No one more…
Is the death penalty making a comeback?
It’s been a busy week for hangmen. In Japan, Tomohiro Kato, a 39-year-old man, was hanged at a Tokyo prison…
