Portrait of the week: EU negotiations, genderless babies and Brexit in court
Home ‘I will uphold the constitution, I will obey the law, but we will come out on 31 October,’ Boris…
Nick Robinson: Am I the new John Humphrys?
The nation is deeply divided. We can, it seems, talk of almost nothing else. Passions could scarcely be higher. No…
How many Britons now vape?
Talking Turkey David Cameron again accused the Leave campaign of ‘lying’ about the prospect of Turkey joining the EU. A…
David Cameron would be a winner in Ancient Greece
David Cameron is convinced he was right to call a referendum and to promise to enact it. Justifiably: there was…
Letters: parliament has a responsibility to stop Brexit
Parliament’s responsibility Sir: I always enjoy reading the intelligent and outspoken Lionel Shriver. But her latest article (14 September) puts…
Why there’s still a chance of a deal
One of the reasons why Boris Johnson is Prime Minister is that he is an optimist. After the negativity of…
Why didn’t Cameron realise the ‘strength of feeling’ about Brexit?
In his memoirs, David Cameron admits that he ‘did not fully appreciate the strength of feeling’ in favour of Brexit,…
The Lib Dems have revealed the extreme side of modern liberalism
A friend’s seven-year-old daughter was asked by her school to write something about the NHS. Her only experience of it…
Letting China join the WTO was the worst decision the West ever made
It’s not often that you come across a book that completely transforms your understanding of the world. Just recently I’ve…
The screaming souls on London’s streets
When I first moved to London N1 four years ago, no one seemed to notice let alone discuss all the…
An oil price spike doesn’t mean a recession is on the way
An oil price surge from $60 to $72 per barrel, as happened after the drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq…
Judgment day: the danger of courts taking over politics
Who runs Britain? When Boris Johnson’s lawyers made their case in front of the Supreme Court this week, defending his…
How to stop drones
Drones have come of age in the war on terror. When the United States and Britain invaded Afghanistan in 2001,…
I’m sorry because I failed: An interview with David Cameron
‘How have you been?’ David Cameron asks, bounding up to meet me. Fine, I say, then make the mistake of…
I was a Remainer – but I now want no deal
When I told two neighbours that I had become a no-deal Brexiter they physically recoiled from me. ‘You can’t.’ ‘But…
How to live life like a drunk
Since I’m not an alcoholic, recovering or otherwise, I don’t belong to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) but I am close to…
As Greta and Malala show, the children know best
The first book I ever produced, some 50 years ago, was a collection of poetry written by children. I called…
My puppy-training advice for Boris Johnson
President Harry Truman once observed: ‘If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.’ Boris Johnson, as Prime Minister…
The best of journeys: Justin Marozzi’s monumental trek through the history of the Muslim world
This impressively clever, careful, and often beautiful book is the best sort of journey. It takes us through 15 cities…
Rushdie at his best – Quichotte reviewed
It’s hard to get your head around Salman Rushdie’s latest novel Quichotte, which has been shortlisted for the Booker. It’s…
Welcome back to Gilead: Margaret Atwood’s triumphant reclaiming of her work
‘Penises,’ Aunt Lydia muses, ‘them again.’ Penises are always causing trouble, even in the God-fearing dystopian state of Gilead. The…
The great American trauma in minute detail
Why, I asked some months back in these pages, do the protagonists in American fiction these days seem so lost?…
Rod Liddle on Brexit: The Great Betrayal reviewed
Rod Liddle has taken a huge gamble with this book. It could be out of date very soon. The book’s…
Two faces of a single calamity: how the war against inequality backfired dramatically
In 2015, Daniel Markovits, a professor at Yale Law School, delivered a commencement address to that year’s graduating class in…
The tsunami of stuff we have and want is based on culture and economics
In 1993, the photographer Peter Menzel travelled across the globe to capture our material world. In each country, he asked…
