World
Is the SNP prepared for Scotland's next financial crisis?
As the world continues its fight against Covid-19, the Scottish National Party has been busy plotting Scotland’s exit from the UK. If…
Vaccination is pushing England's population immunity to new heights
England’s population immunity to Coronavirus now stands at almost 39 per cent — a rise of 25 per cent since…
The myth of Saint Jacinda
Every time I read another excitable media article about New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern, I am reminded of an…
Carrie Symonds and the cult of rewilding
Carrie Symonds is to join the Aspinall Foundation as its new head of communications, in a move very much on-brand…
How serious is No. 10 about immunity passports?
How seriously is the government considering immunity passports? It seemed we had a definitive answer in December when vaccines minister…
Keir Starmer is Labour’s last hope
Only a few months ago, Keir Starmer was hailed as a prime minister in waiting who was giving Boris Johnson serious…
Von der Leyen gets that sinking feeling
HMS Britain seems to be a nippier beast after her Brexit refit. That is, at least, according to EU Commission…
Cockburn’s short, handy guide to the new political language
Words have been redefined for political purposes for a long time. In 2021, however, euphemisms are spreading with particular celerity.…
The madness of Marjorie Taylor Greene
There’s something about Marjorie. That would be Marjorie Taylor Greene, a freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia who has filled a…
Can we boost immunity with the vaccines we have now?
What to make of the news this morning that Oxford University is to ask for volunteers to take part in…
Is China's hidden hand behind the Myanmar coup?
Was China involved in the coup in Myanmar? It seems unlikely, but that does not mean Beijing is blameless. As satisfying…
Why Jews don’t count to the ‘anti-racists’
Suppose you explain to someone spouting racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory ideas that they are prejudiced. You may begin by…
Is it fair to substitute equity for equality?
President Biden has stirred some controversy in recent days by his apparent preference for the word ‘equity’ over the word…
All hail the ‘reality czar’!
America has 330 million people, and not all of them are in complete agreement about what is true and what…
Putin's poisonous prisoner
Alexei Navalny, the man Putin tried to poison, has been sent to prison for two years and eight months — conveniently…
Central Europe’s vaccine scepticism problem
Countries around the world are in a race against time to vaccinate their populations against Covid-19. But there is one…
Kamala Harris’s Orwellian future
Do you suppose that Kamala Harris is a student of Jane Austen? The contingency, as Jeeves was wont to observe,…
When will Pakistan take a stand against terror?
Last week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the release of UK born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who was accused of kidnapping…
Can ‘surge testing’ get new variants under control?
A year on, in one sense we’re pretty well back to where we started — with the government attempting to…
AOC’s body politics
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is no stranger to attention. The second-term congresswoman was the second most talked-about politician in 2019, just…
America doesn't need a 'patriot party'
Many Trump supporters are rightly upset over the Republican establishment’s abandonment of the 45th president. But those calling for the…
Concern grows over South African variant
Although there’s plenty of positive vaccine news to go around, the latest government press conference offered a sobering reminder of…
Will Myanmar's military get away with their coup?
In 1962 the Myanmar military staged a coup d’etat. Their iron-fisted rule lasted 49 years. On Monday, after a nine-year…
Why vaccine nationalism won’t end in 2021
After the EU’s behaviour last week, no one can be under any illusion about how nationalistic the pandemic has now…
What happened to the populist left?
To this day, my iPhone still changes the word ‘too’ to ‘TPP,’ a reminder that about five years ago I…
