World
Truss u-turns on regional pay
The sound of screeching gears could be heard across Westminster this morning as Team Truss executed a dramatic U-turn from…
Does Stonewall have no shame?
Watching people brazening it out can be tremendous fun. The higher the stakes, the more extreme the disparity between reality…
Only one tax cut can save Rishi Sunak now
Rishi Sunak’s promises on tax are lacklustre. He’s announced a fiddly one-off tax break on energy that will last for just a…
The War on Normal
The eagerly anticipated midterm elections, now in a countdown, will no doubt reveal vast electoral dismay and division. Inflation, recession,…
Is Liz Truss too comfortable?
After England scored their first goal last night, the team visibly relaxed and had a spell of playing happily until…
What will China do if Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent sanctions, are roiling European energy markets and threatening a continent-wide recession. But we…
Piers Morgan sanctioned by Russia
It’s time for another round of crackpot Russian sanctions. Still smarting from the latest package of western measures, Moscow has…
The real difference between Sunak and Truss’s tax policies
The Tory leadership race is becoming a test of patience. Today Rishi Sunak has laid out his plan to slash…
The police crackdown on social media has gone too far
Last week, I spent a night in a police cell. My ‘crime’? To intervene after I witnessed an ex-soldier being…
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.…
