America
Daniel Penny and the problem with have-a-go heroes
I have always liked the phrase ‘have-a-go hero’. It sums up a certain type of person who can emerge from…
The US knows the main threat is China
China’s President Xi Jinping opened the CCP’s 20th party congress by doubling down on four key issues: no let up…
Does Joe Biden know what ‘super-wealthy’ Americans pay in tax?
Joe Biden, ice cream in hand as so often, yesterday pronounced on Liz Truss’s tax reform disaster. ‘I wasn’t the…
What Washington was like during the Cuban Missile Crisis (2002)
On 27 October 1962, US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara stepped out of crisis meetings and looked up at the sky.…
Opec will regret taking on the US
Production will be cut. Supplies to the rest of the world will be curbed. And inflation will rise just a…
Isis is wreaking havoc in Afghanistan
The bomb tore through an examination hall in Kabul on Friday, where students – mostly minority Hazara, mostly young women…
Author’s Notebook
I began the week in Miami, looking forward to what a friend of mine describes as ‘the finest sight in…
America’s touching tributes to the Queen (1901)
The United States hasn’t always reacted rather snidely to the death of the British monarch. Below is The Spectator’s lead…
Dynasty rules in the US too
I suppose it was inevitable that with the death of HM the Queen certain floodgates would open. During her reign…
Not all Americans are so crass
In the face of American snark about the Queen’s death, many a British newspaper reader was disgusted. With bad tidings…
Back on the road again
Get ready for more of Less: Andrew Sean Greer’s hapless novelist is back on the road. First things first: you…
Mad men plotting
Fifteen years ago, A.M. Homes published The Mistress’s Daughter, an explosive, painful account of how she met her birth mother,…
Chips with everything
Semiconductors are the latest battleground for China and the US
Continental drift
When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?
The problem with Biden’s student debt plan
In Europe it is handouts to help pay our energy bills – even for people who could easily afford to…
The West cannot do business with Iran
Salman Rushdie’s would-be assassin might have been a lone wolf. He might have had no contact with military or intelligence…
An exercise in futility
It’s possible that I owe Joe Biden some sort of an apology, however mealy-mouthed it might be. Last week I…
Biden’s victories look a lot like defeats
Joe Biden’s week did not get off to a good start. When running for office in 2020 he repeatedly boasted…
Viktor Orbán’s Texas rodeo
Say what you want about Viktor Orbán, but he gives a good speech. His address on Thursday in Dallas on…
Nancy Pelosi knows how much Taiwan matters
In the coming hours, Nancy Pelosi is expected to arrive in Taiwan. The plane that is thought to be carrying…
Remembering Gore Vidal
Fourteen years ago, my then boss, Matt d’Ancona sent me off to interview Gore Vidal. I’ll always be grateful to…
Keep on truckin’
Sam Kriss on why country-pop is the most modern music there is
A sharp instant in nature
‘I like the way he puts on paint,’ Milton Avery said about Matisse in 1953, but that was as much…
Is the US in recession?
There’s an almighty debate ongoing in the US about what exactly a ‘recession’ is. Regardless of semantics, the numbers are…
January 6 has turned Trump fans into NeverTrumpers
The 6 January hearings are a bit of a kangaroo court, since no one is trying to poke holes in…
