We must never lose the treasured Orkneys
Fertile fields and spectacular sea stacks are matched by an extraordinarily rich, dramatic history. No wonder the islands have been so celebrated for centuries
Will Biden support Ukraine’s attacks on Russia?
This time last year, Volodymyr Zelensky was touring western capitals, calling for weapons and money to launch a decisive summer…
Macron vs Putin: this summer’s Olympic battle
Dixmont, Yonne Last summer, Emmanuel Macron lashed out at France’s constitution because it prevents him from running for a third…
Were the Greeks right about justice?
The Sentencing Council, consisting of various legal authorities, has told judges and magistrates to consider, when sentencing the young, their…
Common sense prevails in the gender debate
The publication this week of the Cass Review into gender-identity services for young people marks a welcome return to reason…
Israel is running out of options
There are many misunderstandings about Israel in the international media, but one of the most bewildering is the suggestion that…
Portrait of the Week: Tory phishing, tension over Rafah and Cameron in America
Home The review by Dr Hilary Cass of gender-identity services for people under 18 called for an end to prescribing…
Is Trump or Biden a bigger threat to democracy?
When more than two-thirds of the American electorate doesn’t want to vote for either major party’s nominee, a third party…
In defence of the EU
Eastern Europe is the graveyard of empires. Rome failed on the Danube, Napoleon on the Dnieper. The epic struggle between…
Women don’t want women-only clubs
In my experience, men offer this infuriating comeback when challenged about the continuing exclusion of women from clubs such as…
Is Cameron upstaging Sunak?
The logic behind Rishi Sunak’s decision to make David Cameron foreign secretary was that he would be a ‘big beast’…
Farewell, Voyager 1
Some time soon we will have to say farewell to our most distant emissary – the Voyager 1 spacecraft. After…
Why do MPs send nude pictures of themselves?
Adam Dyster has gone to work for the shadow Defra secretary Steve Reed. I admit this is not an appointment…
The arrogance of Apple
Can flexible working get the best out of what a ministerial press release calls ‘hardworking Brits’ – or is it…
What is there left to say about the Tories?
Spare a thought for us political commentators. We stare into the void between now and a (presumed) decisive Labour victory…
Bridge | 13 April 2024
I’ve been waiting for what feels like decades to make a contract by means of an intra-finesse. And not just…
Better than expected (but my expectations were low): Back to Black reviewed
When the trailer for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic of Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, first landed, her fans were gracious. ‘This,’…
I’m ashamed that I used to think ABBA wasn’t cool
One of the joys of listening to archive BBC interviews with pop stars is the chance to hear long-discarded hipster…
Grey, gloomy, and utterly joyless: Ripley reviewed
If you’ve spent any time gawping at Netflix over the past half-decade or so, you’ll already know that human culture…
What would Tanner say?
On the train home from the Royal Festival Hall I learned of the death of Michael Tanner, who wrote this…
The mayhem ‘Born Slippy’ provoked felt both poignant and cathartic: Underworld, at Usher Hall, reviewed
On the same night Underworld played the second of two shows at the Usher Hall, next door at the Traverse…
