Isis
The real Iran deal
While Obama talks centrifuges in Geneva, Iranian-backed militia are redrawing the map of Iraq
High life
Athens I am walking on a wide pedestrian road beneath the Acropolis within 200 meters of the remaining Themistoclean wall…
Why do bright schoolgirls run away to Syria?
How could they? How could girls brought up in the wealthy West abandon their families and their own bright futures…
Julius Caesar vs Isis
Isis disseminates videos of beheaded captives to spread simple terror. Julius Caesar knew all about it. In his diaries of…
Portrait of the week
Home MPs voted by 382 to 128 to make Britain the only country to allow genetic modification of embryos to…
They want a gender-neutral pronoun? What’s wrong with them?
They want a gender-neutral pronoun? What the hell’s wrong with them?
Raging towards utopia
The Sykes-Picot agreement will be 100 years old next year, but there will be no congratulatory telegrams winging their way…
High life
Thick snow is falling hard and heavy, muffling sounds and turning the picturesque village postcard beautiful. I am lying in…
The hype jihad
Isis slaughters kidnap victims because it guarantees headlines. It's better at slaughtering innocents than it is at winning wars
A singleton’s notebook
Christmas will be a very warm occasion for me. I’ll be spending it with the Massonneaus — my family —…
The hate that dare not speak its name
For some left-wing men, the misogyny of the Islamic State is part of the appeal
The ransom business
Islamic State commanders know exactly how to extract the greatest possible profit from their hostages. Some care about little else
The White Widow myth
Samantha Lewthwaite almost certainly isn’t as monstrous as the papers say. And she definitely isn’t as important
I don’t care what you wear. I care what you believe
What sort of clothing do you wear when you go to the opera? I assume some of you do go…
The terror whisperer
Jonathan Powell’s stance on negotiating with violent extremists is consistently inconsistent and slippery
Long life
I don’t think I can remember a time when there have been so many scares about. They come at us…
Whose side are they on?
Qatari money has flooded into London – but also into much less savoury places
The Islamic State
I’m puzzled by the dropping of the one part of the name of the Islamic State that seems certain. That…
Forewarned is forearmed
President Obama was assailed for saying that the USA had no strategy on combating Isis. Vegetius (late 4th century AD), the…
To catch a killer
Politicians’ promises to bring those who murder British hostages to justice almost never come true
Portrait of the week
Home Britain’s terror threat level was raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ in response to fighting in Iraq and Syria, meaning…
The wolf in all of us
I had an interesting discussion with my friend Aidan Hartley earlier this week about whether the young men fighting for…
Diary
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
Barometer
Not in their name The BBC decided to start calling the Islamic terror group Isis by the acronym IS instead.…
More war for oil
You can’t understand any of the world’s crises without understanding petropolitics
