What does the European centre-right stand for?
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), dropped the bomb last weekend. In a TV interview, Merz…
Why Sanna Marin lost Finland’s election
A journalist and observer of Finnish politics once said there is one headline that works for every Finnish election: ‘Finland…
Is this the birth of a Nordic Nato?
In the past six weeks, Finland and Sweden’s security policies have changed more than they have over the past six…
A mix of Corbyn, Greta and XR: Norway's new coalition
Norway has just elected a new Prime Minister. Erna Solberg, the convivial centre-right leader that has governed the country for…
What Sweden's political crisis says about Europe's collapsing centre
What the rise of Nooshi Dadgostar reveals about Europe’s collapsing centre
Orban and Macron, Europe’s new power couple
The unlikely alliance of Orban and Macron
Can the EU survive this virus?
Will the EU survive the virus?
Sweden has pioneered an alternative to lockdown – and it works
Uppsala The culture of social distancing does strange things to us. A few weeks ago I got an invitation to…
League of nations: the race out of lockdown
Lifting lockdown is a worldwide experiment
The Swedish experiment looks like it's paying off
Two weeks ago, I wrote about ‘The Swedish experiment’ in The Spectator. As the world went into lockdown, Sweden opted for a different…
No lockdown, please, we’re Swedish
There’s no lockdown in sight here
The death of the centre in European politics
Stockholm It’s hard not to feel sorry for Leo Varadkar. He positioned himself as Ireland’s champion and even ended up…
The death of the centre in European politics
What happens when times change, but parties don’t?
Finland is rebooting its politics – and its new centrism is defined by youth
Helsinki Sanna Marin is the world’s new feminist political icon. At the age of 34, she’s just been appointed the…
Delhi notebook: Nuclear war is not around the corner
India is not preparing for war, but picking up the newspapers in Delhi you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.…
A populist surge in the May 2019 elections could change the face of the EU forever
There is a strange pre-revolutionary atmosphere in Brussels. At the various receptions and dinners before we broke up for Christmas,…
Sweden’s political panic attack
Uppsala, Sweden When I dropped off my kids at school early last week, I noticed that -another parent’s car was…
Angela’s ashes: Merkel’s grand project is crumbling
‘This is not about whether Mrs Merkel stays as chancellor next week or not,’ said Xavier Bettel, the Prime Minister…
Macron can see that the EU must change or die
It was a moment to cherish, not to spoil. But I wasn’t the only one at the grand Charlemagne prize…
Angela Merkel has created Germany’s far-right
Bankruptcy, wrote Ernest Hemingway, happens in two ways — ‘gradually and then suddenly’. By now, Angela Merkel will be beginning…
Without Merkel in charge, Europe could fall apart
No leader is indispensable, but it does feel like the future of Europe stands or falls with Angela Merkel. She’s…
Europe’s imploding right
If the British Conservative party is feeling stunned, having calamitously misread the public mood in a general election, then it…
There will be a trade deal
Most diplomats in Brussels will tell you that Theresa May has just embarked upon a fool’s errand, that Britain might…
There will be a trade deal
Most diplomats in Brussels will tell you that Theresa May has just embarked upon a fool’s errand, that Britain might…
