World
Sunak’s gender attack will hurt Labour
If the country has not had enough sex by now, it may have by the election. Political sex, that is…
It feels like the social order is crumbling in Germany
I’ve been in and out of Germany a lot in recent months, and it’s hard not to gain the impression…
The Northern Irish law posing a threat to free speech in Britain
On Friday, the High Court in Northern Ireland deflected a serious threat to the right to free speech, not only…
Sunak and Starmer’s plans for battle in first TV debate
The parties are gearing up for their first full week of campaigning since parliament was dissolved on Thursday. This means…
Jacob Zuma remains a problem for South Africa
More than 30 years after the Berlin Wall came down, leaders of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s long-time…
Keir Starmer is treating the House of Lords with contempt
We have different approaches to tidying up, my wife and I. It bothers her very much that the house we…
Tories to amend Equality Act to protect biological sex
The Tories have continued their habit of making a big election pledge at 10:30 p.m every weekend. Last time, it…
Diane Abbott confirms she will stand for Labour
Oh dear. It seems that Diane Abbott has outmanoeuvred Keir Starmer once again. Week one of Labour’s much-vaunted election campaign…
What the end of sole ANC rule means for South Africa
Election day on 29 May was a tumultuous, wonderful day for South Africa. 30 years of corruption and ruin under…
Gary Lineker and the problem with celebrity boycotts
One of the country’s most cherished footballers, and one of its most irritating right-on social media commentators, Gary Lineker, has…
Sunday shows round-up: Diane Abbott bullied by ‘overgrown schoolboys’
Questions over whether Diane Abbott had been banned from standing as a Labour candidate were a distraction for Keir Starmer’s…
Macron is to blame for France’s dismal economy
Standard & Poor’s downgrading of France’s credit rating on Friday is a hammer blow to President Macron’s reputation. The ratings…
The Tories have handed Starmer a gift on immigration
To turn Keir Starmer, of all people, into someone who can credibly promise to bring immigration down is an act…
Has Starmer really changed the Labour party permanently?
In his first speech of this election campaign, Keir Starmer made what is likely to become an extremely familiar claim.…
The problem with Biden’s soft stance on cannabis
Indiana When Joe Biden directed a review into the classification of cannabis two years ago, no one – not the…
What would Franz Kafka have thought of ‘Kafkaesque’?
Franz Kafka is one of a handful of writers whose names have become an adjective. First coined in the 1940s,…
What’s behind the boom in Japanese fiction?
‘There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine’. This is a quote from the novel Butter by…
Who will survive to lead the Tories?
In spite of his conviction for falsifying business records, Donald Trump is still expected by many to make a remarkable…
Why South Africans lost faith in the ANC
A red dawn had just broken when Stephanie Sathege joined the queue to vote at her local polling station in…
The triumph of Labour’s centrists
Barring an extraordinary electoral turnaround, Sir Keir Starmer is about to join an elite club, which is even more pale,…
The enduring ghastliness of Sarah Ferguson
When I was a kid in the music business, I became aware of a funny phenomenon whereby visiting American bands…
Free speech will be in peril under Labour
Threats to freedom of speech in Britain today typically stem from a combination of two ways of thinking. First, the…
Bashing Brexit won’t help Macron defeat Le Pen
The Prime Minister of France has warned his people that any form of Frexit would leave them weeping into their…
Mexico’s narcos election
17 October 2019 will forever be etched in the memory of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa in northwest Mexico, as Black…
Mega-poll suggests worst ever Tory result
Another day brings another devastating poll for the Tories. The first MRP polling of the election campaign is out and…
