World
ChatGPT: a world-class BS machine
Two weeks ago, like most people, I hadn’t so much as heard of ChatGPT. By last week, I was hearing of practically nothing but. After OpenAI…
GDP grows – but the UK isn’t out of the woods on recession
Have the prospects of a recession been overstated? That would be the most optimistic reading of this morning’s update from…
Canada’s assisted dying catastrophe is a warning to Britain
In 1936, King George V lay on his deathbed. As his final hours drew near, the royal physician administered two injections of…
2022 and the Revenge of the Real
Do you get that alarming feeling, right now, that everything is suddenly, rapidly, falling apart? At the same time, does…
Football won’t save France or Britain from decline
Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron rekindled their bromance on Saturday, swapping tweets prior to England’s World Cup quarter-final clash with…
Britain’s young are giving up hope
The Conservative party faces a new challenge in the battle to win back younger voters – how to sell the…
The tricky business of Judges’ names
From now on, barristers like me will no longer have to worry about calling a District Judge ‘Sir’ or avoiding clumsy…
Why Germany shouldn’t cancel Bismarck
What’s in a name? On the face of it, the Bismarck-Zimmer in Berlin’s Foreign Ministry building looks like just another…
The ‘Twitter Files’ are damning for US agencies
There are two pieces of deeply disturbing news to emerge from the ‘Twitter Files’ released by Elon Musk. The first…
John Kerry gets an easy ride from the climate establishment
For climate campaigners, Donald Trump was the anti-Christ, pooh-poohing climate change and withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement.…
China’s dangerous zero-Covid retreat
China’s scrapping of strict Covid controls represents not so much a shift in gear, as a screeching hand-break turn. It…
Inside the Iranian regime’s protest panic
During a press conference in Tehran on 3 December, Iran’s Attorney General, Mohammad Javad Montazeri was asked by a journalist…
Peru’s staggeringly incompetent far-left coup
Lima, Peru For the last 17 months, Peruvians have been wondering what it would take to see the back of…
Harry and Meghan want to destroy the House of Windsor
When I coined the phrase ‘The Grabdication’ in The Spectator two years ago, I had no concept of exactly how grasping the Duke and Duchess…
England vs France is far more than a football match
When England play France tonight, more will be involved than just a game of football. We all know why. Even those…
How Australian rock art warns us about 2023
If you had to choose an obvious place to look for clues about what will happen in the coming year,…
Harry and Meghan’s expert: ‘never sell out’
Afua Hirsch sells out Cockburn is reeling today after a heavy night, but it was the only thing he could…
Why Japan and Britain are teaming up to build a fighter jet
The UK will partner with Italy and Japan to develop a new generation of fighter aircraft with the aim of…
Ilya Yashin is in jail, but his words will sting Vladimir Putin
Fewer than one in 100 defendants in the Russian court system get acquitted. Even in the best of circumstances then,…
The Viktor Bout hostage swap is a victory for the Kremlin
After a quiet swap in the United Arab Emirates, the American basketball star Brittney Griner is out of a Russian…
What Rowan Williams gets wrong about democracy
Rowan Williams used his Reith lecture on religious liberty to make a plea to religious believers: don’t be afraid of…
Why not all the French love Mbappé like Macron
Emmanuel Macron is confident France will beat England in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final. In an interview with a radio station,…
All I want for Christmas is a TikTok ban
What do Santa Claus and the Chinese Communist Party have in common? They both see you when you’re sleeping, and…
We need to talk about Kevin
Even doomed political campaigns throw victory parties — or pretend to. No-hope candidates have to keep up the pretense that…
Iran steps up the war against its people
Iran has announced the first execution of the current crop of protestors. Mohsen Shekari, who was just 23, was hanged earlier…