Features
Trump’s tariffs ‘perfectly rational’
The plan to defeat the communists
What Five Eyes does – and doesn’t – see
In the famous ‘Rainbow Portrait’ of Elizabeth I her gown is embroidered with eyes and ears, a reference to her…
Bring back beef dripping!
For several years, a debate has raged (mainly on Twitter, now X) over whether animal fats are actually better for…
Survival of the hottest: evolution’s fun side has been long overlooked
The theory of evolution is dominated by the utilitarian logic of natural selection: adapt or die, survival of the fittest.…
The downfall of climate change poster boy Michael Mann
Even if you’ve never heard of Michael Mann, you will have felt his baleful influence on your energy bills. He…
Ukraine is just one part of Trump’s Great Game
Washington D.C. For Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, it’s a case of today Ukraine, tomorrow the world. In their much-hyped…
‘Austerity is back’: Inside Labour’s emergency budget
Dominic Cummings may have left Whitehall but his spirit lives on. Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,…
It’s time for Rachel Reeves to stop gambling
Next Wednesday Rachel Reeves will stand up in the House of Commons to deliver what she is calling her ‘spring…
Does China have Vatican City in its sights?
Last Sunday the Vatican released the first photograph of Pope Francis since his ordeal began. He was wearing a stole…
What modern Britain should learn from Charles I
Next week marks the 400th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Charles I. This moment began what was…
Could Trump’s tariffs be good news for British wine-lovers?
Professional Englishmen and women – doctors, accountants and even journalists – could once afford to drink first-growth claret like Château…
How ‘Boom Boom’ are you?
Do you Boom Boom? Or are you just Booming? Can Boomers Boom Boom or is it just for Zoomers? Can…
Norway’s eccentric royals make Britain’s look mundane
It’s not hard to see why the 93-year-old, wheelchair-bound Princess Astrid of Norway might feel that now is the moment…
The ‘physician associate’ will see you now…
There is a war being waged in NHS hospitals. On one side are overstretched junior doctors in understaffed wards. On…
Debunking the myths about the ECHR
This year the European Convention on Human Rights and its Strasbourg court are 75 years old – the age at…
Save Syria’s Christians
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, and Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, had rather tellingly different responses to the latest…
Why does the beheading of Christians not make headlines?
The Congolese chapter of Islamic State has a ruthless way of stopping outsiders reporting their presence to the authorities. Under…
Massacre of the innocents: the return of sectarian persecution in Syria
No one covers up their war crimes any more. They film them, celebrate them, post them on X. So we…
Jonathan Bowden: my eccentric school friend who became a far-right hero
When my old school, Presentation College, Reading, was demolished a decade ago, the Labour council desperately searched for famous old…
McSpaff: Scotland is the worst when it comes to government waste
No country in the UK receives more public money per head than Scotland. An extra £2,200 is spent on every…
Why possum beats cashmere
In 1990, an exotic Swiss-Canadian teenager of purportedly Habsburgian lineage descended on Cambridge in a cloud of cashmere. His wardrobe…
The anti-genius of William McGonagall, history’s worst poet
‘Not marble nor the gilded monuments of princes,’ wrote Shakespeare, ‘shall outlive this powerful rhyme.’ To be a great poet,…
Why is the NHS pushing pregnant women towards sterilisation?
It was a routine antenatal appointment. I’d done it twice before and knew the format. The obstetrician runs through the…
Stop scoffing food on trains!
I’m on the 10.45 slow train to Ipswich. It’s not even lunchtime, yet everyone around me is already gorging on…
The Gen-Z fliers obsessed with maximising their air miles
Oscar, 26, joins me on Google Meet from Buenos Aires, having arrived earlier that day from New York – by…
