America
What we can learn from our mistakes in Afghanistan
What we got wrong in Afghanistan
The dirty truth about ‘wash-up’
‘They asked me if I wanted to wash up before we even went in to dinner,’ my husband recalled with…
What was the point of the war in Afghanistan?
On 7 October 2001 President George W. Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom – the invasion of Afghanistan. The operation sought…
Is the airline ‘booking surge’ a load of hot air?
Be glad you’re not in Dr Mike Lynch’s shoes. A London judge has ruled that the founder of the Cambridge-based…
The EU is failing to stand up for eastern Europe
Will the EU stand up for eastern Europe? This question is now being asked by Ukraine following the announcement of…
Why Joe Biden’s Russia-bashing is a tactical mistake
You might not think that Geoff Norcott, the self-proclaimed conservative comedian, has something to contribute to western relations with Russia,…
Immigration is Joe Biden’s Achilles heel
Having indulged an unhealthy interest in human migration for decades, I’ve been intrigued by how the number of illegal immigrants…
Cuba libre: why Cubans have reached breaking point
Havana There is an astonishing patience in the Cuban people, born of endless waiting. When a store has, say, chicken,…
The Soviet spectre haunting Afghanistan
As US and British forces pull out of Afghanistan, further victims of the ‘grave of empires’, Russia is experiencing a mix…
The Kremlin's plan to destabilise the West
On Sunday, Russia releasedits new National Security Strategy. In many ways, it picked up from where the 2015 version left…
Triumph of the Taleban: the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan
Their patience is paying off
Biden and Putin have left Britain out in the cold
It would probably be wrong to say that Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin got on like a house on fire.…
Why the Biden-Putin summit wasn't a waste of time
The meeting between U.S. president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva started cordially enough. A quick handshake, toothy smiles…
China is not as strong as it appears
The theory that the pandemic began with a leak from a research laboratory in Wuhan is rapidly gaining currency. Since…
The wine that links Thomas Jefferson, Charles II and Samuel Pepys
It seemed a suitable topic for a bank holiday. We were discussing Haut-Brion, a bank-breaking wine. There is a question…
The strange theatre of mask-wearing
However surreal and dystopian the pandemic landscape seemed at first, no enduring vista feels ‘surreal’ and ‘dystopian’ indefinitely. Citizenries uniformly…
The Trump nightmare isn’t over
What would happen to the Republicans after Donald Trump? That has been one of the pundits’ favourite themes in the…
‘This was a horrible pandemic – but it wasn’t the big one’: Michael Lewis interviewed
Michael Lewis on the scientists who saw Covid coming – and were ignored
The UK’s very American political realignment
The speed and scale with which voters, mainly but not exclusively in the north of England, have switched their allegiance…
The true cost of make-believe money
I like Bill Maher. He’s a rare practising left-wing comic who’s actually funny. But last week, his routine on cryptocurrency…
The China model: why is the West imitating Beijing?
From spending to lockdown, the West is copying Beijing
Portrait of the week: Covid retreats, raves resume and a £165,000 squid
Home ‘I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre-plus from 21 June,’…
The curious rise of cottagecore
Cottagecore, not to be confused with cottaging, is an aspirational lifestyle trend. The word is relatively new —although you’ll find…
Britain is not America
‘If people in Wales had access to as much media coverage of decisions that affected Wales as they do of…
George Floyd was a victim of American gun culture
The triple guilty verdict on Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd was greeted with general relief across the…
