unPresidented idiocy from the anti-Trump brigade
‘Not my President!’ can be heard echoing across the American leftscape, two years after Donald Trump’s inauguration, interspersed with ‘Let’s…
Project Fact: how scared should we really be of a no deal?
Food shortages, diabetics going without insulin, outbreaks of salmonella and swine flu: a no-deal Brexit has become a dystopia of…
Political discourse in the UK is broken – here’s how we fix it
For several weeks now, a group of anti-Brexit protesters have found a way of regularly appearing on television news. They…
Portrait of the week: a government defeat, the harassment of Anna Soubry and Trump’s wall crisis
Home The government drifted towards a vote by the Commons, which it had cancelled in December, on its withdrawal agreement…
If anyone knows May’s secret plan, it’s Philip
As a hack who lived and breathed the financial crisis, you might think that at the start of 2008 and…
Those tempted to turn over a new leaf this year should remember Aesop’s fables
At this time of year the media urge us all to turn over a new leaf and believe that we…
Letters: Europe is changing – so do we really need to leave?
The changing EU Sir: If, as Frederik Erixon writes, ‘there is a strange pre-revolutionary atmosphere in Brussels’ and ‘power will be…
Behind the story of Anna Soubry being called a Nazi lies a classic Brexit sequence of events
Behind the incident of Anna Soubry being called a Nazi by a small group of Leave yobs beside College Green…
Does May even have a Plan B?
Cabinets these days are fractious affairs. Ministers take increasingly unsubtle digs at each other as they rehearse the same old…
Can the National Trust please forget about ‘heteronormative privilege’ and just look after houses?
There is a satirical website called ‘Guardian headline generator’ which purports to offer a service to aspirant journalists who wish…
How to become a country squire – like me
In the days when I was less happy in my skin than I am now, I used to feel stabs…
Why Macron is happy to leave Renault’s chief shivering in his Tokyo cell
In France after New Year, the only gilets jaunes I spotted were a rather dejected bunch near an autoroute exit.…
How Eddie Davenport rebranded middle-class swingers parties as ‘posh’ orgies
The English love a story of posh people behaving badly, especially one that involves sex, drugs or drink — preferably…
Who poses a greater threat to the West: China or Russia?
At the height of the Cold War, as the West faced off against Red China and the Soviet Union, people…
The middle-class cats that are ditching meat
As I write, my cats and a visitor from the next street are hammering into their food, at nearly £5…
How Britain became the world’s largest expert in medical marijuana
If you were looking for an international drugs empire, Downham Market would not be the first place you’d think of.…
The strange love-in between Michel Houellebecq and Emmanuel Macron
France’s literary event of the year took place this week with the publication of Michel Houellebecq’s new novel, Serotonin. Named…
There were far fewer terror attacks last year. Here’s why
They don’t like to use the ‘Q’ word in counter-terrorism. It’s a bit like blurting out the name of the…
The homesick Brit’s guide to Paris
‘Yes, it’s here!’ says the sign above the English épicerie in Paris. ‘Yes, at last,’ thinks the starved expat wandering…
Hungary is being led once again down a dangerous nationalistic path
Norman Stone has already written, with a brilliant blend of humour, understanding and scepticism, histories of the Eastern Front, Turkey,…
Should William Penn be shaking in his grave?
The ultimate driving force of William Penn’s adult life is inaccessible, as the Quaker phrase ‘Inner Light’ suggests. While a…
Partying with John and Yoko: The Dakota Winters, by Tom Barbash, reviewed
Tom Barbash’s dark and humorous second novel takes a risk by combining invented and real characters. I feared nagging doubts…
Nazi caricatures: The Order of the Day, by Éric Vuillard, reviewed
There was a time when you read French literary novels in order to cultivate a certain kind of sophisticated suspicion.…
It’s a lifetime of hard work being an artist
Once, when a number of Royal Academicians were invited to Buckingham Palace, the celebrated abstract painter John Hoyland (1934–2011) found…
Love in a time of people-trafficking: Among the Lost, by Emiliano Monge, reviewed
From the very first pages of Among the Lost, we’re engaged, and compromised. Estela and Epitafio are our main anchors,…
