Britain
An odd, unsettled time
The word ‘magisterial’ consistently attaches itself to the work of David Kynaston. His eye-wateringly exhaustive four-volume history of the Old…
Where is the anger about Afghanistan?
This is an age of anger. Social media amplifies rage and exaggerates polarisation. Twitter isn’t Britain, but too many people…
Whitehall’s Covid gloom could harm our economic recovery
As the government continues to put forward an extremely cautiousnarrative about re-opening, more evidence emerged today that the economy issurging…
The EU’s Brexit bill doesn’t add up
A dozen hospitals. A hundred million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and a lot more of the Oxford one. Or…
The real reason Putin targeted HMS Defender
When military personnel talk of ‘theatres’ they mean a zone of conflict. Moscow seems to take the term increasingly literally,…
France’s Covid stoicism has put Britain to shame
I feel like a teenager again. Tonight I’m allowed out until 11pm. What’s more, I’m permitted to go inside my…
Brexit Britain can capitalise on the breakdown in EU-Swiss talks
It is a leading player in finance, and it’s companies are giants in life sciences and consumer goods. There were…
The EU needs to stop playing politics with law
The Lugano convention – part of a tapestry of complicated international law agreements ensuring the courts of one country recognise…
In praise of David Lammy, a true Englishman
David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has been doing his LBC radio phone-in show. If you believe LBC, he has…
Greece and Britain’s long history of fighting autocracy
As I write, it is mid-morning in Athens and fighter jets are roaring overhead. My windows rattle, the sky splinters,…
The census is the latest Brexit battleground
The end of the Brexit wars have left some Remainers feeling redundant. A few are now turning their attention to a new…
Von der Leyen has learnt nothing from the EU’s vaccine fiasco
As non-apology apologies go, it was right up there with the best of them. Speaking to MEPs today, the president…
Europe’s slow vaccine approval is testing Germany’s patience
The Bundestag can’t be an easy place to be a politician right now. At the start of the pandemic, Germany…
China has taken control of Hong Kong’s legislature
Hong Kong’s legislature has today moved one step closer to becoming a local branch of the Chinese Communist Party, after…
Our flawed species still stands a chance
There was always one key flaw in our species. Which is that someone always shags a monkey. I have expressed…
Bigamists, lunatics and adventurers
The world of 19th-century British music was raucous, but are there any masterpieces waiting to be rediscovered? wonders Richard Bratby
Brexit means Boris
A few months before he died in 2007, the famous journalist Bill Deedes asked if I would come to see…
Anger? Yes. But in another country, leaving the EU would mean bloodshed
Did any of us, whatever our opinions, expect the level of blustering indignation that has emerged since the 2016 referendum?…
Why local radio is thriving
It’s 50 years since the first local radio stations were launched by the BBC in yet another instance of the…
Our big fat problem
The good news is that Theresa May has dropped the threat to withdraw universal free school meals. Thank God (and…
Continental drift
It is a long time since the term ‘sick man of Europe’ could be applied to Britain. France is now…
Purge of the posh
Should employees be judged by their parents’ income?
Losing faith
A landmark in national life has just been passed. For the first time in recorded history, those declaring themselves to…
The Tory dogfight
The Brexit campaign has only just started to demonstrate its strength
You’ve been framed
The photographer Martin Parr claims to like ordinary people, but are his pictures celebratory or mocking, asks Stephen Bayley
