Islamic State
The hate that dare not speak its name
For some left-wing men, the misogyny of the Islamic State is part of the appeal
Portrait of the week
Home The government, expecting a backbench rebellion over the European Arrest Warrant, did not present it for a separate vote…
Why wouldn’t we want these jihadis to go and get themselves killed?
The news is always grim, isn’t it? Doom and gloom everywhere. And even the news which appears to be good…
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
Portrait of the week
Home A hundred firemen could not prevent wooden cooling towers at Didcot B gas-fuelled power station in Oxfordshire from burning…
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…
Turkey goes cold
Turkey has long been a bridge between the West and the Middle East. Its record on free speech may be…
Portrait of the week
Home Checks began at British airports for passengers who might have come from west Africa with Ebola fever (even though…
Hannibal vs the Islamic State
Whatever the Islamic State hopes ultimately to achieve by its current onslaught on all and sundry in the Middle East,…
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…
Portrait of the week
Home Alan Henning, 47, a British volunteer aid worker taken captive in Syria by Islamic State, was murdered, and footage…
Whose side are they on?
Qatari money has flooded into London – but also into much less savoury places
The good fight
It is a mark of the uncertainty of our policy in the Middle East that just over a year ago…
Bombs away!
The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is an eager interventionist
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
High life
Next time you read about an auctioneer’s gavel coming down on a $150 million painting bought by some flunkey representing…
Portrait of the Week
Home Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said that Britons who went to Syria or Iraq to fight could be stripped…
High life
Can somebody tell me when America last got it right? Uncle Sam’s track record in selecting leaders in faraway places…
Portrait of the Week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, writing of the Islamic State in northern Iraq, said: ‘If we do not act…
Invading the womb of gods
The fighters of the Islamic State are bringing a deadly new intolerance to a territory rich in ancient sects
No we shouldn’t
Hawks are mistaking military action for strategy
‘It’s jihad, innit, bruv’
Meeting the British Muslims who have joined the ‘Islamic State’
