Why talk of civil war is overblown
Are we really on the brink of civil war in Britain? Is it ‘inevitable’ in the foreseeable future? So thinks Elon…
The Olympics can’t mask Macron’s troubles
Politics and sport have always been cynical and self-interested bedfellows. Rulers since the Caesars have been eager to spend vast sums…
How the Tories changed Britain
The late Roger Scruton (whose wrongful sacking as a housing adviser by a Tory minister in 2019 was a sign that things…
The astonishing achievement of D-Day
Today we are commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day – ‘Operation OVERLORD’ – with fitting ceremony and reverence, though, some polls…
Has the C of E got its reparations bill all wrong?
Reparations have a troubled history, and rightly. The word itself, in its familiar sense, seems to have been a euphemism…
What Kemi Badenoch gets right about colonialism
Kemi Badenoch has developed a habit of truth telling. This is risky in our climate of rigid cultural orthodoxy, for…
The endless myth of British decline
The former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, recently compared the British economy with that of Argentina. This…
The rise of conspiracy history
Canada’s determination to believe the worst about its past
The trouble with returning the Benin Bronzes
The trouble with returning the Benin Bronzes
Remainers should be honest about the costs of Brexit
Those opposed to leaving the European Union repeatedly accuse Brexit of being based on ignorance fed by lies. The ‘lie’…
Did the Suffragettes really win women the vote?
I suppose most people regard the Suffragettes as the exemplary vindication of the right to carry out illegal direct action…
England vs France is far more than a football match
When England play France tonight, more will be involved than just a game of football. We all know why. Even those…
Fifa’s president has exposed the trouble with ‘decoloniality’
I laughed aloud when I heard Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa, identifying himself sanctimoniously with a whole list of disadvantaged…
These polemics against Brexit both fall into the same trap
It is good for historians to take the plungeinto political writing, using their knowledgewhere they can to illuminate our present…
What Netflix's RRR gets wrong about the British Raj
Netflix is promoting a new pseudo-historical blockbuster. RRR, which stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt, is an Indian film which has been…
Backing Badenoch is a risk the Tories should take
Whoever is chosen to lead the Conservative party will be plunged into a storm of problems needing rapid and decisive…
Why is St Paul's Cathedral commemorating a Benin slave trader?
The Church of England is rightly sensitive to the evils of slavery and racism. It has announced energetic measures to…
Can Russia ever coexist with the West?
Seeing Vladimir Putin’s bloated face and listening to his increasingly unhinged rhetoric makes it tempting to assume that the current…
Cambridge's Jesus College is guilty of double standards
An event took place in Cambridge last week that was rare enough to reach the national press: a public hearing…
Tony Sewell’s race report critics are guilty of gaslighting
The Sewell Report on Race and Ethnic Disparities is courageous, thoughtful and measured. Its relative optimism has triggered a torrent…
The distortion of British history
The British Museum has announced the appointment of a curator to study the history of its own collections. On the…
Why Britain chose Brexit
There was nothing peculiarly British about Brexit
Emmanuel Macron’s great Brexit gamble
There is an intriguing pattern in our relationship with European integration. A Frenchman vetoed our attempt to join. A Frenchman…
We should not accept Brexit in name only
Given the seemingly highly technical nature of the current negotiations, members of the public who have normal lives to lead…
