What stunts should we expect to see at future State of the Unions?
The State of the Union is like that annual meeting where the boss says it was a triumphant year as…
No presidency for old men
What a thrill! Last night, I was dining with a friend in Piccola Italia, a charming restaurant in Manchester, New…
Labour’s radicals need to grow up
As the well-worn cliché has it: if you’re not a socialist at 16, you don’t have a heart; if you’re…
Adam Bandt loves Frozen? But what about the climate emergency?
Yes, folks. It’s true. Adam Bandt loves Frozen. Or Frozen II, to be precise. The Greens leader has done what…
How Oxfam’s propaganda starves the poor
Interesting musings from the economist Maarten Boudry on the topic of inequality, in a post titled “Is extreme wealth a…
James Carville is right. He’s also to blame
James Carville, the ragin’ cajun, former Democratic strategist and adviser to Bill Clinton, is hot. Carville has been making the…
Pete Buttigieg isn’t going to win
I see that various pundits are competing to write the political epitaph for Joe ‘son-of-a-bitch‘ Biden. That’s entirely understandable. It’s been…
The death of populism has been greatly exaggerated
Have we reached peak populism? This is the question being asked after a recent regional election in Italy delivered a…
Boris has fallen into a trap by sucking up to David Attenborough
Regardless of one’s views on climate change, one should welcome the fact that Boris Johnson removed Claire Perry O’Neill from…
Let’s not forget the unintentional heroes of Brexit
A week on from Brexit day, it is worth stopping and reflecting on just how Britain’s departure from the EU…
The latest Democratic debate was the most pugilistic yet
If you’re after a real fight, come to Manchester, New Hampshire on a Friday night. An idyllic Catholic college smothered…
A friendly word to the Never Trumpers
In an article sure to sort the sheep from the goats, Dr Michael L Brown (who is about to tour…
Hair down in a sea of chignons
The January dance stage can be a site of naked contrition. Like a tippler grasping at green juice after a…
The Happy Prince
Many people have had a go at it. Ever since Oscar Wilde published The Happy Prince and Other Tales in…
Chinese whispers
Following a good month and a half of often nocturnal motorised flights from active bushfires both at Echo Point in…
London notes
Drinking English champagne A visit to London to watch the end of Britain’s 47-year membership of the European project reveals…
Climate warriors
It’s been an endless summer but not in the style of the 1966 classic film of sun and surf. Our…
Are all the Labour leadership candidates Corbynites now?
This week every contender for the Labour leadership and deputy leadership signed up to a series of pledges issued by…
Costing the Earth
After being sacked as the chairman of the COP26, the UN climate conference which is to take place in Glasgow…
Portrait of the week
Home The United Kingdom quietly left the European Union at 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January. Boris Johnson, the Prime…
Barometer
Mumbo jumbo The Prime Minister called opposition to imports of US-produced food ‘mumbo jumbo’. The expression was introduced to the…
Living in hope
The gloom that envelopes the Labour party stands in strong contrast to the confidence and hope that the Prime Minister…
Objects of desire
‘Homosexuality without the cant’, by Simon Raven, 14 June 1968: ‘All virile societies,’ writes Mary McCarthy à propos the Florentines,…
Letters
The chance to fail Sir: Matt Ridley’s article ‘Risky business’ (1 February) offers a variety of reasons why innovation has been…
