World
The New York Times hits out at panto
Pantomime has been an essential part of British theatre for generations. Not only is it often a child’s first, magical…
Keir Starmer needs to find his own Guilty Men
This is a week of bittersweet anniversaries for the Labour party. It is now 72 years since Clement Attlee’s government…
Farewell, dear Hong Kong
There was no way to know that the last trip I took to Hong Kong just a few years ago…
College elites and defunding the police
In the first weeks of my freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania, I heard the phrase ‘abolish the police’…
Offence-taking has ruined comedy
I’m watching television more uncritically than usual but still can’t stomach the format of Live at the Apollo. It features…
Can the republic survive?
‘A republic, if you can keep it.’ That was Ben Franklin’s famous response when asked, as the Constitutional Convention ended…
The Black Lives Matter UK reverse-ferrets
As the first Black Lives Matter protests began to take place in the UK, following the killing of George Floyd…
Trump takes on anti-nationalism
Even the most ardent Trumpist must admit that it has been a bad few months for the President. The COVID-19…
The next culture war will be over climate change
It is steadily becoming clear where the woke brigade will go once the current moral panic over racism has run…
Now isn't the time for an NHS pay rise
Across Britain, the rainbow pictures are coming down. But in some houses, they are being replaced with new, more political…
Get ready for Starmer's Brexit conversion
A new problem is looming for Sir Keir Starmer: a leader of the opposition needs some shop windows if he…
Trumpism vs. Trump
Politicos have spent years asking what would happen to the Republican Party post-Trump. Establishment types prayed that he was an…
Macron has just dropped a clanger
His name is unknown, but resonates like that of a character from Astérix the Gaul. Jean Castex is France’s new…
The Ghislaine Maxwell I know
My wife and I were introduced to Ghislaine Maxwell by Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynne de Rothschild, and we subsequently…
The looming Tory trade debate
Post-Brexit, the UK needs to find allies on trade liberalisation. One obvious place to look is the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership.…
Boris's TV briefings could end the lobby pantomime
The daily coronavirus briefings from Downing Street were wildly popular by one measure, drawing in millions of viewers, but were they…
Germany's EU presidency could make or break the union
Germany’s government had been busy making big plans about all that it wanted to achieve during its EU council presidency…
Boris's misguided war on obesity
Boris Johnson has declared the government’s latest war on obesity. It’s a continuation of the war on ‘junk food’. It’s…
What happens when coronavirus mutates?
Common wisdom states that a new pathogen, once introduced into a vulnerable human population with no immune defences, will evolve…
Prodigal son-in-law
A friend in Washington saw Jared and Ivanka at a couple of smart DC dinner parties in the first year…
Why is Black Lives Matter praising a terrorist?
In the early hours of May 2, 1973, State Trooper James Harper pulled over a white 1965 Pontiac Lemans on…
The coronavirus scandal no one is talking about
For months, mental health charities and Labour politicians have been telling the government truths that were so self-evident to anyone…
Putin's referendum rigging is a sign of weakness
Putin has his result. After a week of postal, online and in-person voting, his controversial package of constitutional amendments that…
Did Harry and Meghan’s wedding really raise £1bn in revenue?
Without going into the ins and outs of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s withdrawal from royal life, still less…
Will Boris's Whitehall shake-up really work?
There is a paradox at the heart of Boris Johnson’s political project, I say in the magazine this week. He is…
