War
The stalemate in Ukraine won't last forever
Addressing the vexed question of who is winning the war in Ukraine, six months on, is a task to challenge…
The strange morality of sponsoring weapons
Forget fund-raising concerts donating spare clothes and offering your spare room to a refugee family. There’s a better way of…
Ukrainians aren't surprised by Amnesty's victim-blaming
Is Amnesty International victim-blaming? The Ukrainian military has been endangering civilians, it said, by establishing military bases and putting weapons…
Will China blockade Taiwan?
Xi Jinping has made it very clear over the years that he is determined for China to reunite with Taiwan.…
Why I’ve spent £68,500 on a tank
Why I’ve spent £68,500 on a tank
The sin of neutrality
Yet again, millions of civilians across the Horn of Africa are starving. The world blames the crisis on drought and…
Bitter harvest – how Ukraine’s wheat has always been coveted
Publishers love books with ambitious subtitles such as ‘How Bubblegum Made the Modern World’, and this one’s, about American wheat…
Cross to bear: can Russia ever atone for Putin’s sins?
Can Russia ever atone for Putin’s sins?
Our children are at breaking point – and it’s our fault
I think it’s time we stopped scaring the children. I think they’ve had enough. They’re at breaking point now, every…
40 years on, war still casts a shadow over the Falklands
Life on the Falklands, 40 years on
War, wine and the brilliance of Beychevelle
If only toasts and good wishes were weapons of war. At every serious repast I have attended since the invasion…
Why Russian tactics won't win the war
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second month, the war has settled into a largely attritional struggle –…
In praise of amateurs
Two weeks ago in St Moritz I ran into both Nicolas Niarchos and Nikolai von Bismarck, two talented young men…
Why I’ve stayed in Kyiv
I write this from my Kyiv air raid shelter. It has become my second home, an improvised bedroom, study and…
How should cartoonists respond to war?
The art of wartime cartoons
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…
My oncologist has a new weapon in his arsenal
‘We’re at war!’ said the taxi man as I installed myself for the long drive to Marseille. I put a…
Britain is finally remembering the forgotten soldiers of empire
Each year, flowers of remembrance are left on the tomb of the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey. The memorial marks…
Would Japan defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack?
In a parliamentary debate in early June about Covid, Japan’s prime minister Yoshihide Suga said that Australia, New Zealand and…
Homeric levels of misery: Paradise, at the Olivier Theatre, reviewed
The National Theatre has given Sophocles’s Philoctetes a makeover and a new title, Paradise. This must be ironic because the…
The terrifying development of AI warfare
The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in France contains some of the earliest known Palaeolithic cave paintings, including those of lions, bears, and…
Why is the smoky, febrile art of Marcelle Hanselaar so little known?
I first became aware of the work of Marcelle Hanselaar in a mixed exhibition at the Millinery Works in Islington.…
The funniest current affairs show since Brass Eye: Into the Grey Zone reviewed
It was something a friend said to me about The Revenant, Leonardo diCaprio’s bloody-minded and brutal Oscar vehicle: ‘The problem…
It’s been a tough year for socialites
New York Here we go again, the annual holiest of holies is upon us, although to this oldie last Christmas…