World
Zelensky’s homophobia row reveals a divided Ukraine
A peculiar row has broken out in Kyiv over the role of one of Zelensky’s best-known advisers. Oleksiy Arestovych is…
Boris Johnson’s inflation contradiction
As Boris Johnson tries to limit pay rises to bring down inflation, ministers have no explanation for why planned rises in…
Inflation is a social evil, so why don't our leaders care?
It was a ‘destroyer of society’, a ‘tax on ordinary people’s savings’ and a threat to social order. You don’t…
Joe Lycett's donkey joke isn't a matter for the police
There’s a word for countries in which you might get collared by the police because someone took offence to your…
The Tories are picking inflation winners and losers
Inflation rose to 9.1 per cent on the year in May, taking the UK’s consumer price index to a 40-year-high.…
Rishi continues the crypto-craze
Poor Rishi Sunak. The Chancellor was once the golden boy of British politics: the free-spending, Insta-loving, charm-oozing toast of the…
Boris is falling into the Macron trap
You can’t blame Boris Johnson for jetting off to Kyiv last week for another meet-and-greet session with Volodymyr Zelensky. He…
The EU's solidarity for Ukraine is a sham
The EU will formally add Ukraine to its list of candidate countries this Friday. But if you look carefully beneath…
Mike Pence and the clash of the GOP titans
Mike Pence began his political career as “Rush Limbaugh on decaf,” a calmer and more collegial kind of conservative radio…
Why won't Gary Lineker name those who racially abused him?
Gary Lineker is the BBC’s top earner: he was paid £1.36m last year. The popularity of Match of the Day,…
How long can Boris hold the line on railway strikes?
Is the government’s approach to strikes and public sector pay too blunt? Today Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak took the…
More than 3,000 Tube drivers earn £70,000 each
Londoners have today been cursing the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) trade union for the misery that its 24-hour walkout…
We must know the truth about the Colbert insurrection
When Cockburn heard the news of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show staffers being arrested at the Capitol, he knew this case was…
Should Starmer be worried about the rail strikes?
Sir Keir Starmer has ended up in a very Starmer-esque pickle over the rail strikes this week. Yesterday he instructed…
China hawks demand TikTok answers
In Westminster these days, WhatsApp and Twitter are decidedly old school. Now the current craze is TikTok where MPs compete…
China’s increasingly authoritarian Covid pass
A Chinese health app, developed to enforce the Communist party’s draconian Covid-19 restrictions, is being repurposed to tighten political control…
Could Lithuania be Putin's next target?
When Russian troops started ‘military exercises’ on Ukraine’s borders, those of us living in Kyiv had grounds to worry. Putin…
Emmanuel Macron's future looks bleak
The single headline across the front page of the centre-left daily Libération said it all: ‘La Gifle’. But much more…
Boris versus the unions
In politics, a leader sometimes needs to be ruthless and mean, patiently soak up the public opprobrium directed his way…
Boris Johnson’s strike gamble
It’s day one of the RMT’s planned strike action after last-minute talks between train operators and Network Rail failed. The…
Israel’s politics is collapsing
Here we go again. On Monday, Naftali Bennett, Israel’s Prime Minister, announced that he would bring a bill to dissolve…
How Boris can defeat the railway strikers
Today, the RMT will succeed where the Luddites failed. For 24 hours, they will unwind the most impressive part of…
Millions more blown on parliamentary pantomime
Whether it’s crumbling rooftiles, weekly fire alarms being activated or bacteria in the water supplies, the creaking Palace of Westminster…
Are rail strikes the start of a summer of discontent?
This morning, the UK woke up to the largest rail strike in thirty years. As many as 50,000 workers are…
Is Britain heading into a wage-price spiral?
Are wages about to spiral out of control? Boris Johnson certainly thinks there’s a risk. Last week he warned that…