How supporting Trump became cool
For the past decade, the basic lines of conflict in American public life seemed clear. Donald Trump was pitted against…
Portrait of the week: IT meltdown, riots in Leeds and the wrong kind of pandemic
Home Britain enjoyed its share of the worldwide failure of 8.5 million computers reliant on Microsoft, through a faulty update…
Evita meets Thatcher: the woman fighting Venezuela’s autocracy
Maria Corina Machado is showing the world how opposition politicians can fight an autocrat. When President Nicolas Maduro tried to…
The mystery of Melania Trump
While everybody at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was preoccupied with Donald Trump’s triumphal story after the assassination attempt…
Me vs the plumber
My one finished bathroom featured a sink so small I could only wash one hand in it at a time,…
The Tories are a danger only to each other
On Monday night the Conservatives announced the rules of the party’s leadership contest. The reaction in Labour circles was incredulity…
The joy of party bags
The perfect, unpretentious, well-constructed party bag was given to guests leaving a recent Hatchards party. It contained a wedge of…
Joe Biden was never quite all there
As President Biden sank more deeply into the mire this month, kind friends kept urging me to write in his…
The curious rise of Kamala Harris
I’m struck just in your presence,’ a news anchor gushed to Kamala Harris in January. The Vice President beamed, nodding…
Clear, thorough and gripping: BBC2’s Horizon – The Battle to Beat Malaria
If you transcribed the narrator’s script in almost any episode of Horizon, you’d notice something striking: an awful lot of…
Does Donald fear Kamala?
On Monday, Donald J. Trump sent out an urgent campaign memo. ‘Joe Biden just dropped out of the race, and…
Charismatic, powerful and raw: Patti Smith, at Somerset House, reviewed
There are certain long-established rules for describing Patti Smith. Google her name and the words ‘shaman’ and ‘priestess’ and you’ll…
Jeremy King has done it again: The Park, reviewed
The Park is the new restaurant from Jeremy King, and it sits in a golden building to the north of…
