Boris Johnson’s dis-United Kingdom
With both the mainstream and the social media full of jubilation or alternatively tears about the British general election results,…
Can anyone lay a glove on Donald Trump?
Donald Trump just got another spot of good news. The Supreme Court has cut him a break by taking up…
Politics has fractured along new fault lines – those elected must repair the cracks
It’s easy to see why the Labour party tried so hard to avoid this general election. They looked certain to…
Portrait of the week: Trains stop, a volcano erupts and the nation goes to the polls
Home The nation went to the polls. Engineering works compounded the misery of passengers on the South Western Railway where…
Andrew Sullivan: The evidence against Trump is overwhelming
When people ask me what the mood is in DC these days, the only word I can come up with…
How common are volcanic eruptions?
Volcanic eruptions At least six people were killed when White Island, a volcano off New Zealand’s North Island, erupted. How…
Letters: Why have the Conservatives decided Chesterfield is a lost cause?
Given up on Chesterfield? Sir: Matthew Parris makes some interesting and accurate points about growing Tory support in the north…
My run-in with Westminster’s TV news circus
Leaving an evening meeting in Westminster on Monday night, I walked to Charing Cross. Approaching the public path which runs across…
The battle for the soul of the Labour party
In the days before the election, senior Labour people were already discussing how to replace Jeremy Corbyn should the party…
I’ll take Russian democracy over ours
Staraya Russa. About two thirds of the way from Moscow to St Petersburg, in the historic Novgorod Oblast, once the…
Does the truth about Ukrainegate even matter?
If you think the election here has been a disorientating exercise in post-truthiness, try following the latest twists in Washington.…
What have the Anglo-Saxons ever done for us?
It has been a while since I’ve considered the vexed question of Byrhtnoth’s ‘ofermod’. More than 30 years, in fact.…
Take note, Peloton: sweaty blokes make safer marketing
You’ll have had enough of politics and punditry, so let me introduce a non-political City debate (even if rather a…
Changing the script: the shifting character of our political parties
Elections should be carnivals of democracy. The campaign we have just been through, though, has felt more like amateur dramatics.…
All the world’s a stage: this election has echoes of Shakespeare and Dickens
The Christmas election has unfolded like a series of mini-dramas from panto, Dickens and other popular classics. Boris has come…
Finland is rebooting its politics – and its new centrism is defined by youth
Helsinki Sanna Marin is the world’s new feminist political icon. At the age of 34, she’s just been appointed the…
The chilling stories from inside China’s Muslim internment camps
Vegetable-seller Kairat Samarkhan didn’t know why he had been summoned to the police station. ‘I had to empty my pockets…
Trans activists are making life harder for trans people
This was the year that the word ‘non-binary’ went mainstream. It has now officially entered the dictionary — lexicographers at…
A river of lost souls: the extraordinary secrets of the Thames
If you spend enough time on the Thames, you will eventually come across human remains. It is a river of…
Is St Edmund’s body buried beneath a Suffolk tennis court?
Here in St Edmundsbury cathedral, a bunch of clerics and local bigwigs are preparing for a most unusual anniversary. Throughout…
Uzbekistan: where east meets west and past meets present
You realise what a rarity western tourists are when the locals ask to take selfies with you. I was standing…
The island where monkeys steal from your minibar
A short flight from Kuala Lumpur, the island of Langkawiis a wise choice for anyone seeking to shake off the…
Tsar quality: the charm of Tbilisi
‘These regions are not under the control of the central government,’ reads a warning on a map of Georgia in…
Why Tuscany always beats Provence for me
A family of peacocks is sunning itself in our villa garden. They all look extraordinarily happy and composed, especially the…
More juicy gossip from Kenneth ‘Climbing’ Rose
When this second volume of diaries begins in 1979, Kenneth Rose is 54 and well established as the author of…
