World
Will Liz Truss take on the IMF?
Tonight the International Monetary Fund has weighed in on the UK’s mini-Budget, offering a direct rebuke of Liz Truss and…
Did Russia sabotage its own pipelines?
It almost seems worthy of the opening scene in a Bond film. Vital Russian gas pipelines running beneath the Baltic Sea close…
The problem with nationalising energy
Is nationalisation the vote-winner which Keir Starmer believes it to be? We will find out in due course, but my…
PayPal backs down
At 5.30 p.m. this evening, PayPal notified me that it has restored all three of the accounts it cancelled a…
Trussonomics shows that Scottish independence doesn't add up
As the pound fell to a record low on Monday on the back of Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘mini-budget’, the pings on…
Keir Starmer’s cautious conference speech
Keir Starmer’s big speech to his party’s conference was about the practical things Labour could do to fix Britain. He…
Giorgia Meloni can’t afford to fight the EU
Ravenna, Italy The victory of Giorgia Meloni in Italy with ahuge majority of seats in parliament has prompted the expected…
The problem with Cambridge University's slavery report
It’s perfectly legitimate for Cambridge University to seek to understand its history, warts and all. But the University’s final report of its…
Why the European right is gaining ground
Last month the new Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, shared online a brief video of a Ukrainian woman being…
Iran's 'kamikaze' drones take to the skies above Ukraine
Ukraine is awash with foreign-made weapons, something that is true of both sides. While Ukraine uses American-made rocket systems, French,…
John Major has taken a pounding (1992)
It’s three decades ago this month since the UK government was forced to withdraw the pound from the European Exchange Rate…
Is Labour ready for power?
Labour conference has been pretty strange so far. Not the sort of strange that parties in opposition get comfortably used…
Is Europe’s attitude to asylum seekers changing?
The EU spent last November reinforcing its borders as Vladimir Putin directed a wave of refugees through Belarus towards the…
Does the EU respect the Italian people?
I know we’re all meant to be quaking over the election result in Italy. That we’re all supposed to be…
The British Social Attitudes survey misunderstands social attitudes
‘I’m not sure I even know what woke means,’ tweeted barrister Chris Daw at the weekend, ‘but if it’s just…
Why football needs a regulator
Plans by the government to introduce a regulator to the football industry – endorsed by all Westminster parties just a…
Labour storm ahead of Tories in latest poll
Tonight’s YouGov poll in the Times is brilliant news for Keir Starmer ahead of his conference speech tomorrow. It has…
Can the Bank of England inspire confidence?
It has dawned on the government that last week’s mini-Budget might have been a bit too one-sided: £70 billion worth…
Liz Truss is a liberal. So how will she approach immigration?
Should Tories already be feeling buyer’s remorse over their new leader? It has been only 20 days since Boris Johnson,…
The anger behind Shinzo Abe's state funeral
Tokyo While not quite on the scale of Her Majesty’s service, Tuesday’s state funeral of Japan’s longest serving PM Shinzo…
Life among the Russian refuseniks
Yerevan, Armenia It was getting dark outside Yerevan Airport when I arrived, but there were still a dozen flights from Russia…
Will Meloni be able to govern Italy?
Mario Draghi’s national unity government lost badly in yesterday’s Italian election – worse even than the polls predicted. Fratelli d’Italia,…
The Bank of England has no good options
How will and how should the Bank of England, and the Treasury, react to this morning’s continued fall in the…
In praise of the speeding crackdown
We all needed a laugh, what with the pound tanking and inflation running away, my old pal Kwasi delivering a…
Will the Bank of England now move to steady the pound?
After a weekend where the markets digested the Kwasi Kwarteng plan for growth, the pound hit $1.03 in early trading…
