Ukraine
Letter from Kyiv
I write this from my Kyiv air raid shelter. It has become my second home, an improvised bedroom, study and…
Inside Putin’s mind
The lessons of Chechnya
Turbulent priest
The Patriarch in league with Putin
Screen off
What Russians watch — and believe
Low life
Speaking pretty good English, Dr Tayeb came straight to the point. Was I eligible for the ground breaking new cancer…
Diary
‘Why the hell did you hire a lorry without a spare tyre?’ asked Rizvana. Fair question. Luckily we had just…
Is Putin’s war spreading?
Yerevan, Armenia ‘This is our land,’ Anna says, looking out over her roadside flower shop. ‘Lenin promised it to us.’…
Was Biden’s chemical weapons threat a gaffe?
Did Joe Biden mean to threaten Russia with a chemical weapons attack? That seemed to be what he implied at…
The drone era has arrived
The Ukrainian airforce has so far held out in the battle for the skies. Russia continues to rely on missiles…
Is Germany already backsliding on Russia?
Just three weeks after Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would directly arm Ukraine, Europe’s economic powerhouse is running out…
Boris’s Brexit-Ukraine comparison was a mistake
After years of post-Brexit rancour,the last few weeks have been a striking display of European (not just EU) unity. Britain…
Francis Fukuyama on Ukraine, liberalism and identity politics
This week, Sam Leith spoke to Francis Fukuyama – the author of ‘The End of History and the Last Man’ and…
Bono’s ‘poem’ was an insult to the craft of verse
‘Poet’, said Robert Frost, ‘is a praise-word’. So it is. That explains in part the unabashed delight with which Colm…
Putin and the Muslim world
Several thousand Muslim Chechen fighters are reportedly massing on the edge of Kiev. Syrian volunteers, filmed this week holding assault…
It doesn’t matter if Putin is mad
Mike Tyson put it simply: ‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth’. And Vladimir Putin has…
How to fix Britain’s broken asylum system
Asylum is often seen as a simple morality tale—the generous spirited are in favour of it, the hard-hearted against. And…
Why is Putin firing a hypersonic missile in Ukraine?
Putin, like many other belligerent autocrats, does like his Wunderwaffen, or ‘wonder weapons.’ Now it appears he’s even used one…
The Russian army is running out of momentum
As the Russian invasion enters its fourth week it is clear that its forces are running out of momentum, although…
The Spectator’s Notes
I remember my father telling me about Imre Nagy’s final broadcast before the Hungarian leader was taken by the Russians…
Real life
The lodger looked at me blankly and pronounced wearily, as though intoning something he was tired of parroting, that I…
Why was the Hunter Biden laptop story covered up?
It’s now a familiar pattern – a sensational news story is dismissed by serious journalists as bogus right-wing agitprop. You’d…
Russia had nothing to do with Brexit
In light of Russia’s abhorrent invasion of Ukraine, certain corners of the internet have become obsessed – yet again – with Russia’s supposed…
The West has to bite its lip for Saudi oil
It would be ridiculous to claim that Boris Johnson’s visit to Saudi Arabia is not morally problematic. He is going…
Ukrainians fear Chechen fighters. Russian soldiers hate them
Residents fleeing the Kiev suburb of Bucha reported Chechens machine-gunning cars, even those with the word ‘children’written in their windscreens.…
Why do Russian tennis stars need to condemn Putin?
Nigel Huddleston is Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, hardly the biggest job in government. Yet…
