Features
Does Andy Burnham actually have a foreign policy?
It often takes an outsider to see us most clearly. When I had breakfast with the ambassador of an EU…
The growing rebellion against screens in schools
In the late 17th century, Europe’s greatest intellectuals were consumed by the quarrel of the ancients and the modern, satirised…
Meet Jared Cooney Horvath, the neuroscientist taking on screens in schools
‘I’ve been here a week, and I can’t figure it out,’ says Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, neuroscientist, teacher and now…
Why are people surprised when animals defend themselves?
Should Altai the tiger be euthanised? Hardly the cheeriest way to start, I know, but since he mauled a man…
Has Trump changed sides?
Has Donald Trump effectively changed sides in the Ukraine war? Over just a few tumultuous days, Trump’s already rocky relations…
We cannot trust our AI overlords
It is no longer an exaggeration to say that the digital apocalypse is at our door. The advance of artificial…
After years of socialism, is Spain about to turn to the far-right?
Good-looking and always smartly dressed, Vito Quiles sports a wristband with the red and gold of the Spanish flag. It…
In defence of Staines
Ten years ago I moved to Staines and my mate Kwasi Kwarteng took me on a pub crawl. Kwasi was…
How Swindon became Britain’s drone hub
In July 2021, the Honda factory in Swindon closed after 36 years. Three thousand jobs were lost. One young apprentice…
The anti-Semitic alliance between Restore and the Greens
Johann von Leers was one of Goebbels’s most industrious propagandists: 27 books in 12 years, among them Jews Are Looking…
Andy Burnham’s concerning links to Abu Dhabi
Last month at the UN general assembly, Andy Burnham spoke movingly about Manchester’s statue of Abraham Lincoln, which stands outside…
Don’t take Britain’s cathedrals for granted
Everywhere I hear voices complaining about charges being imposed on those who wish to visit our great cathedrals. Everywhere, I…
Am I a fashion icon?
Ever since I met Omi (one half of the fashion design duo Vin + Omi) on a train, I have…
Up next… Yookay Street, a refreshing new soap opera
The idea of TV soap operas was originally, at least in part, to reflect the nation as a whole. This…
Whatever happened to the midlife crisis?
‘You’re probably just having a midlife crisis,’ says Scarlett Johansson to Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003). ‘Did you…
Do France’s pupil protestors have a point?
On 21 September, pupils at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, south-east of Paris, staged a protest. They had a list…
I miss knowing my friends’ addresses
Do you know your friends’ addresses? Do you even have an address book? I’ve had the same one since I…
‘I get better every day’: Has Kemi Badenoch revived the Tory party?
Kemi Badenoch, like many in the Labour party, is not sorry to see the back of Keir Starmer. ‘I did…
What the CIA and MI6 really talk about
The Special Relationship has seen more special days. Earlier this year, President Trump delivered his verdict: ‘How is the relationship?…
I’m a Manchester City fan – but we deserve absolutely no mercy
Fifty-nine years ago this month, a barrel-chested footballer called Francis Lee left Bolton Wanderers for Manchester City, and an impressionable…
The hunt for Britain’s wokest bar
Annalisa Quinn is an editor at the Boston Globe magazine, and through a mixture of good fortune, good journalism and…
A middle-class guide to apocalypse prepping
Earlier this month, the government launched its ‘Prepare’ campaign, urging us to plan for all manner of emergencies and put…
What if AI is actually good at writing novels?
The spectacular fall from grace of Haitian-Canadian writer Thélyson Orélien in many ways resembles our own culture war over Jason…
Gentlemen prefer pickled onion Monster Munch
In the 1970s and 1980s, pickled onions lurked in dubious-looking jars on the counters of fish-and-chip shops, and behind the…
