World
The trouble with 'Bros'
Hollywood and identity politics really is a toxic mix. Awards shows are dominated by hectoring actors. Popcorn fluff must now…
Do Oxford students really need trigger warnings?
It is freshers’ week on campus. Brand new students get to make friends, get drunk and find their way around…
Will Catalonia ever achieve independence from Spain?
Catalonia’s pro-independence government almost imploded last week. A major disagreement between its two governing parties occurred after one half of…
Why Penny Mordaunt’s pre-rebellion matters
Another day, another Tory rebellion. Liz Truss needs to think of ways to constrain spending and tough decisions lie ahead.…
Liz Truss walks into another row
With a wearying inevitability, Liz Truss has gone from one row to another. One of her own cabinet ministers, Leader…
Why can't MPs let Truss be Truss?
Our common culture – the huge audiences that tv, film and pop music used to attract – has evaporated. Politics…
What does Michael Gove want?
Tory conference has long been more stage-managed than other party meetings, but this year the official speeches from ministers have…
It's no surprise eco zealots targeted Captain Tom
What drives someone to do something as morally depraved as throw human faeces on a monument to Captain Sir Tom…
Bolsonaro isn't finished yet
São Paulo The polls got it wrong again. In the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday, challenger Luiz…
Isis is wreaking havoc in Afghanistan
The bomb tore through an examination hall in Kabul on Friday, where students – mostly minority Hazara, mostly young women…
How to stop a blackout
Will the lights go out this winter? A letter from the energy regulator Ofgem reveals just how seriously it is taking…
How Liz Truss can wrongfoot Labour over human rights
Liz Truss’s government has taken a deserved pasting in the polls for its slapdash economics, but all is not lost…
France and Britain are brothers in despair
Since Brexit, Britain and France appear to have drifted apart. Leaders from both countries have engaged in an on-off war of words. But despite…
Will anyone ever be able to cut the 45p tax rate?
Well, that went well. Kwasi Kwarteng’s decision to axe the 45 per cent top rate of income tax triggered a…
Why would Tory MPs trust Truss now?
Most Tory MPs went to bed last night convinced that their party was heading for an almighty showdown over the…
The bizarre story of the ‘Jewish Taliban’
One of the more bizarre stories to have hit the headlines in recent days was the unsuccessful attempt by police…
What’s so funny about Elon Musk?
At the end of last week, at an AI event in California, Elon Musk unveiled his latest project: a humanoid…
Is levelling up dead?
Does Liz Truss really believe in levelling up? She doesn’t talk about it that much, and it wasn’t really a…
What do the Tories have to show from their time in power?
After 12 years in Downing Street, four prime ministers (so far), two monarchs, and one mini-budget, the public are starting…
Is this a Black Wednesday moment for the Tories?
Kwasi Kwarteng delivered his mini-Budget one week after the thirtieth anniversary of Black Wednesday, when the markets forcibly ejected sterling…
Does Ukrainian exist?
After six months of war in Ukraine, most observers agree that the roots of Russian aggression lie in the country’s…
Is sanity returning to the trans debate?
At last, Mermaids, the UK charity for, in their own words, ‘gender variant and transgender children’ is under the spotlight.…
China’s lockdown nightmare is far from over
Another Covid-19 lockdown, another angry confrontation. This time it was on the streets of Shenzhen, China’s high-tech hub, where videos…
What Liz Truss should do now
Markets are nervous and they are right to be. The government has announced a huge, open-ended package of energy subsidies…
Will Giorgia Meloni be an enemy of Macron?
French elites are annoyed and perturbed that Italian elections have produced a new prime minister of the right, Giorgia Meloni,…
