Iran
Will books soon become extinct?
I am glad that Radio 4 is producing a series called How Reading Made Us, presented by the subtle, super-literate…
Revealed: Keir Starmer’s new plan to get closer to the EU
A Labour MP, reflecting on the problems the Prime Minister faces over the war in Iran, observed this week: ‘Keir…
Why is the ‘gay press’ so cowardly on Iran?
Sometimes the obvious is so obvious that people forget to state it. So let me observe one small footnote among…
Letters: We interfere in the Middle East at our peril
The West’s track record Sir: I read with much sadness Matthew Parris’s reservations about western attempts at regime change in…
The right’s Israel fracture
As the joint American-Israeli military campaign in Iran continues, President Trump’s coalition is starting to exhibit some cracks. The war…
Revenge of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys
French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating rose by six points last week. It will likely continue to climb following his…
Trump has been caught flat-footed on Iran
Donald Trump has become something of a sole man. His cabinet members and White House visitors report that the president has developed…
The Iran war is just what Putin’s depleted coffers need
Of all the parties watching the chaos in the Middle East unfold, one should be rubbing its hands together with…
I spent 25 years fighting neocons. Then Trump became one
Like everyone, I’m glued to the news coming out of Iran. I’m experiencing some depression, as one might, upon realizing…
Will the war in Iran really weaken China?
Analogies in international politics are tricky and easily abused, yet they remain irresistible because they can illuminate patterns that are…
MAHA, stay in your lane
MAHA is not a foreign policy doctrine, nor should it become one. Nevertheless this week the movement experienced a split…
‘Whose side are you on?’: How Keir Starmer alienated Britain’s allies over Iran
The American-Israeli attacks on Iran were publicly called Epic Fury, but behind the scenes it is Britain’s handling of the…
The greater game: Trump’s ultimate target in this war is China
The United States and Israel killed Ayatollah Khamenei, and Xi Jinping’s decade-long project to build an alternative to the American-led…
Operation Epic Fury is already tearing the MAGA movement apart
When President George W. Bush invaded Mesopotamia in 2003, everybody laughed at Comical Ali, the bespectacled Iraqi information minister who…
Won’t someone please think of Dubai’s influencers?
The human spirit is incredibly resilient really. Even in the depth of our concern over the Israeli-American war against Iran,…
I love Dubai. Get over it
I am in Dubai where we are doing our best to keep calm and carry on. Granted, the sudden instruction…
Tracey Emin should remake her bed
Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the US bombing of Iran is inglorious, but one should suspend disapproval to understand how…
If only Britain was as important as Iran thinks we are
I am becoming rather fond of Prime Minister Starmer’s major foreign policy announcements. In early January, after US forces swooped…
Is this Starmer’s finest hour?
A friend met Mary Wilson on the Isles of Scilly, where she and her husband, Harold, had a home. She…
Iran’s tradition of martyrdom is key to understanding this conflict
One word stood out in the florid and overwrought announcement of the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader by a tearful…
Greek tips on how to beat Iran
In 500 BC, Persia (modern Iran) was the most powerful state in the known world, ruling an area of more…
Trump isn’t the greatest threat to the special relationship
Britain’s refusal to fully back the United States over strikes on Iran has triggered an unusually public transatlantic row. It…
Will the Iran war propel Gavin Newsom to the presidency?
“I’m very angry about this war,” said Gavin Newsom, the California Governor, on stage yesterday. Newsom has a memoir, Young Man…
