This election will change Britain – and Europe – for good
This election campaign feels unreal. Commentators focus on spending plans and personal foibles, but what will make next week’s vote…
History holds far fewer lessons for Brexit than both sides think
How we love bringing history into our political debates. It may seem strange in a country where so little history…
What Sir Ivan Rogers gets wrong about Brexit
When so much of the Brexit debate has consisted of slogans and unexamined assertions (‘cliff edges’, ‘crashing out’ and the…
Brexit is about renewal, not just leaving the EU. And there’s no time to waste
None of us can predict the potential fallout from Brexit, good and bad. What began as a vote of confidence…
Anger? Yes. But in another country, leaving the EU would mean bloodshed
Did any of us, whatever our opinions, expect the level of blustering indignation that has emerged since the 2016 referendum?…
The sensuous thrill of learning to swim in your sixties
Sharing a plate of oysters with a three-year-old: where could this be but France, where children are brought up not…
The World Cup has made us proud to be English
Buying fish at Cambridge market on Sunday, I found myself chatting to the fishmonger about the prospects for England in…
It took a long time for de Gaulle to become ‘de Gaulle’
When General de Gaulle published the first volume of his war memoirs in 1954, he signed only four presentation copies:…
Our great universities are struggling – but not because of Brexit
British universities have serious problems. The recent strikes protesting against a sudden reduction in pension rights were unusually effective, and…
Brexit suggests we’re on the right side of history
How nice it would be, in this season of good cheer, to find something hopeful to say. Being a historian,…
Lost in translation
If Michel Barnier and David Davis, in their regular dialogue of the deaf, seem to be inhabiting different mental universes,…
Down with declinism
Britain is a strong and wealthy nation. Let’s behave like one
A choice of revolutions
Is France on the brink of a political revolution? Already, four established candidates for the presidency — two former presidents…
A choice of revolutions
Is France on the brink of a political revolution? Already, four established candidates for the presidency — two former presidents…
A choice of revolutions
Is France on the brink of a political revolution? Already, four established candidates for the presidency — two former presidents…
