America

It’s time to scrap the asylum system

22 February 2025 9:00 am

Whatever you think of the blizzard of executive orders howling from the White House, at least the new President doesn’t…

Why don’t Yale students want to drink?

15 February 2025 9:00 am

They say it is good to learn new skills as you get older. Well here goes. I am about to…

Let Trump buy the Chagos Islands

15 February 2025 9:00 am

Forgive me for returning in this column to Diego Garcia. The issue is too important to shrug aside: important not…

Right young things: meet the Trumpian twentysomethings taking over Washington

8 February 2025 9:00 am

Washington, D.C. ‘What made you open a restaurant?’ I ask Bart Hutchins, the owner of Butterworth’s, a French-style bistro turned…

Britain could learn from Trump’s approach to foreign policy

8 February 2025 9:00 am

The Foreign Secretary describes his approach to diplomacy as ‘progressive realism’. One can legitimately ask what is progressive about a…

What economists don’t get about Trump’s tariffs

8 February 2025 9:00 am

We already knew that most economists are quite bad at economic policy. Unfortunately, foreign policy appears not to be much…

America has seen sense on aid. When will we?

8 February 2025 9:00 am

The new administration in Washington has somewhat startled its critics by issuing a blizzard of executive orders during its opening…

How to solve a problem like the Chagos Islands

1 February 2025 9:00 am

Very soon – as soon as the mutual courtesies now being exchanged between the new American President and his British…

Peter Mandelson’s rocky path to Trumpworld

1 February 2025 9:00 am

The muddle about who’s to be the next British ambassador in Washington has been only a small part of the…

Will Trump remember his allies?

25 January 2025 9:00 am

I had thought that having to be inaugurated indoors would have cramped Donald Trump’s style. Not so. The rhetoric with…

The Trump resistance is dead

25 January 2025 9:00 am

The special relationship is dead, long live the special relationship. On Friday, at a ‘Stars and Stripes & Union Jack…

Which were the most destructive fires in history?

18 January 2025 9:00 am

Swing states Where would Canada and Greenland rank if they became US states? – Canada would be, by far, the…

Am I a MAGA icon?

18 January 2025 9:00 am

‘Traitor!’ the woman yelled at me the instant I entered the beautifully decorated living room of a famous actress. It…

Empire of Trump: the President’s plan to make America greater

18 January 2025 9:00 am

‘The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation,’ said William McKinley, America’s 25th commander-in-chief, who happens to…

J. D. Vance is the future of MAGA

18 January 2025 9:00 am

The vice-presidency of the United States has always been the butt of jokes. ‘I don’t plan to be buried until…

The architectural provocations of I.M. Pei

11 January 2025 9:00 am

When first considering architects for the new Louvre in 1981, Emile Biasini, the project’s head, liked that I.M. Pei was…

The growing wealth gap between Britain and the US

4 January 2025 9:00 am

New year predictions are always rash, but it feels as though one aspect of the story of 2025 can already…

Portrait of the year: Subpostmasters scandal, Rishi in the rain and Syrian rebels topple regime

14 December 2024 9:00 am

January After an ITV drama, the government suddenly proposed to do something about the unjust prosecution of sub-postmasters. Junior doctors…

Elon Musk is wrong about the Roman Empire

14 December 2024 9:00 am

I was in Washington D.C. during The Election, living halfway between the Capitol and White House. Concerned friends suggested I…

Why does James Baldwin matter so much now?

14 December 2024 9:00 am

The rise of Queer Studies and Black Lives Matter has led to renewed interest in Baldwin – who was exasperated in life with being categorised by colour or as ‘gay’

Portrait of the week: Labour’s ‘plan for change’, falling productivity and 20,000 wolves in the EU

7 December 2024 9:00 am

Home The Labour government announced a ‘Plan for Change’ that it refused to call a reset. Sir Chris Wormald was…

What Scott Bessent’s appointment means for Trump 2.0

30 November 2024 9:00 am

How rare it is to be given a second chance. That’s what the American people have handed Donald Trump. His…

Musical chairs at Mar-a-Lago

23 November 2024 9:00 am

Welcome to the United States of Disruption. From his ‘Winter White House’ in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Donald Trump has been busy…

Welcome to life on Planet Elon

16 November 2024 9:00 am

On 13 July this year, an assassin’s bullet grazed the ear of Donald Trump as he turned his head on…

Why Trump changed his tune on crypto

16 November 2024 9:00 am

This column comes to you from Atlanta, Georgia, where but for one giant ‘Trump Stands Up For Families’ billboard and…