World
Starmer’s coalition of the willing has been saved from itself
It is commonplace to accuse politicians of being out of touch. There is often some truth in the charge, and…
The uncomfortable history of Narva
The Alaska talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin might have happened on American territory, but the symbolism of their…
God save the great British pudding!
There are certain names of puddings that, if whispered to an Englishman of a certain age, will bring back near-Proustian…
Xi’s purge is expanding
Of all those who have been purged by President Xi Jinping, disappearing into the communist party’s vast network of black…
How Ireland became a haven for Hezbollah’s cocaine
In the end, it was a combination of the Irish weather, European maritime intelligence and engine trouble that scuppered a…
Oxford is being consumed by bureaucracy
The governance of Oxford University is plumbing new depths – and this doesn’t mean dons or deans, but the university’s…
Was the Treaty of Versailles really to blame for the rise of the Nazis?
The 1919 Versailles peace conference that followed the end of the first world war became the most famous, or notorious,…
Mounting Russian deaths will not deter Putin
In June, a grim milestone passed. The Ministry of Defence said that one million Russians had been killed or wounded…
Can tariffs replace income taxes?
Can tariffs replace income taxes paid by Americans earning an income under $200,000 annually, as President Trump has suggested? We…
Male cheerleaders? Who cares
The most famous cheerleaders in the National Football League once belonged to the Dallas Cowboys. Both fans and haters of the…
Chicago Public Schools have failed. But there’s another option
Illinois recently released its 2024 Educational Report Card. The grades are, not surprisingly, bleak. Eighty schools reported not a single…
The 12 minutes of the Trump-Putin summit that shook the world
The Trump-Putin press conference in Anchorage was 12 minutes that shook the world. Putin got precisely what he wanted, which…
The many blind spots in Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir
Throughout her memoir, Nicola Sturgeon emphasises her achievement in becoming the first female first minister of Scotland. While that achievement…
The Alaska summit doesn’t look good for Ukraine
And just like that, the highly-anticipated summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska has been and gone, seemingly…
The Alaska summit went much as expected
The summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended predictably, without a ceasefire deal or, it seems, assent on…
Tories split on Ricky Jones’ verdict
The decision to clear Ricky Jones of encouraging violent disorder has not gone down well with many senior politicians. Footage…
Putin was the real winner of the Alaska summit
Vladimir Putin couldn’t stop smiling at the spectacle awaiting him in Anchorage yesterday, as American soldiers knelt to adjust a…
The real problem with Surrey’s cat-calling crackdown
When I was young, the song ‘The Laughing Policeman’ always spooked me a bit; I’ve grown out of most fears,…
The good, the bad and the ugly of the Trump-Putin summit
The three-hour Friday summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended as well as it conceivably could have…
What’s wrong with charging a fat tax?
At a time when quarterly economic growth in the UK is flatlining at 0.3 per cent, it’s good to learn…
Unesco status is killing Bath
Last month, the Trump administration announced that the United States would once again withdraw from Unesco, the Paris-based UN cultural…
The sad decline of the French village fête
France’s village fêtes are disappearing. A survey by the association Les Plus Belles Fêtes de France found that in just…
Why won’t young people pick up the phone?
‘So you mean rather than writing something out, you could just talk to somebody from a distance? But that would…
Ricky Jones and the reality of two-tier justice
This may be looked back on as the week when two-tier justice moved from being an accusation to a statement…
Donald Trump saved the UFC
A new bombshell has fallen on the sports-media villa: Dana White cloaked in the glory of a whopping seven-year, $7.7…
