Features
The myth of Britain’s fleeing non-doms
According to popular imagination, the skies over Britain have been full these past few months of fleets of private jets…
An American’s love letter to Britain
My wife and I relocated to the UK a few months ago after spending the past 37 years in the…
The dark truth about Hollywood assistants
Anew stop has been added to the map of Movie Star Homes and Crime Scenes, on sale at LAX airport:…
Can Kamala Harris bluff her way to the White House?
Chicago ‘There are no disasters,’ said Boris Johnson, who was born in America. ‘Only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh…
The depraved world of chess cheats
Amina Abakarova, a 40-year-old chess player from Russia, supposedly tried to poison a younger rival at the Dagestan Chess Championship…
A connoisseur’s guide to collecting matchboxes
We’d been told it would be a ‘brat’ summer, characterised by its inventor, the singer Charli XCX, as ‘a pack…
Is the CCRC fit to decide on Lucy Letby’s appeal?
Whatever happened to the likes of the BBC’s Rough Justice and Channel 4’s Trial and Error? Why did human rights…
What can save Britain’s ash trees?
The next time you drive or walk down a country road, you may well notice that something is not quite…
Is it time for me to move back to Britain?
I first saw America 50 years ago. I spent the summer of 1974 with my New York girlfriend. Richard Nixon…
How bus travel lost its magic
At the former Chiswick Works in west London, I recently celebrated the Routemaster’s 70th birthday. I owe my existence to…
What’s the real aim of Ukraine’s Russian offensive?
On Monday morning, Vladimir Putin was briefed about Ukraine’s audacious invasion of Russian territory. With his military chiefs in front…
Zelensky’s new offensive could push Putin to the brink
A Russian friend speaking from Kursk tells me the latest war joke. Vladimir Putin summons Stalin’s ghost. ‘Comrade Stalin!’ asks…
The global fertility crisis is worse than you think
For anyone tempted to try to predict humanity’s future, Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book The Population Bomb is a cautionary tale.…
In defence of strict teachers
Labour have become alarmed by the strict, ‘cruel’ approach to discipline in schools and the rise in the number of…
‘I came here to escape radical Islam’: the asylum seekers who understand the rioters’ fears
Sousou is a 24-year-old Syrian-Palestinian woman who arrived in Britain a few weeks ago in a rubber dinghy from Calais.…
My ringside seat at the Nixon resignation melodrama
American politics seem particularly febrile in 2024. The sitting President has withdrawn from the election, days after his predecessor was…
Why children have stopped reading
It’s only when you read the old stories again, to a child maybe, that you become aware of the extent…
Sharing riot videos? You’re part of the problem
We’re told these riots are about immigration, racism, angry Islam, elite blindness and identity politics – and, to a point,…
Why Britain riots
Riotous summers seem to occur in Britain with about the same frequency as sunny ones: roughly every decade. Sometimes it’s…
Down and out in Birmingham and Rotherham
The Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, is opposite an RSPB nature reserve. For months, its 130 rooms have been…
Can anything stop a full-scale conflict in the Middle East?
The fact that the Middle East stands on the brink of a catastrophic war can be explained by a scene…
How students toppled Bangladesh’s despot
Dhaka On Monday, Bangladesh’s long-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country by helicopter to India. Parliament was…
Who is your favourite character in children’s literature?
Rod Liddle Rabbits, always rabbits. I remember at age 13 forcing my poor parents to trudge despondently across hilly downland…
Britain needs to join the new space race
Elon Musk’s Starship is the biggest rocket ever built. Sending it into space is hard; bringing it back to Earth,…
Love it or loathe it, ragwort is winning
White, lacy cow parsley frothing along the roadside is a familiar sight during the British summer. But 2024 is the…
