Isis
Julius Caesar could teach Isis a thing or two
Isis disseminates videos of beheaded captives to spread simple terror. Julius Caesar knew all about it. In his diaries of…
Portrait of the week
Home MPs voted by 382 to 128 to make Britain the only country to allow genetic modification of embryos to…
Here's my rule: If the word 'he' will offend, then always use it
They want a gender-neutral pronoun? What the hell’s wrong with them?
A state of terror: Islamic State longs to be left alone to establish its blood-stained utopia
The Sykes-Picot agreement will be 100 years old next year, but there will be no congratulatory telegrams winging their way…
Those ancient Greeks were bores — but things are looking up
Thick snow is falling hard and heavy, muffling sounds and turning the picturesque village postcard beautiful. I am lying in…
Why does Isis slay hostages? To cover up the fact that it’s losing
Isis slaughters kidnap victims because it guarantees headlines. It's better at slaughtering innocents than it is at winning wars
Valérie Trierweiler’s notebook: Christmas as a singleton
Christmas will be a very warm occasion for me. I’ll be spending it with the Massonneaus — my family —…
For some left-wing men, the misogyny of the Islamic State is part of the appeal
For some left-wing men, the misogyny of the Islamic State is part of the appeal
How Islamic State commanders squeeze their hostages for every penny
Islamic State commanders know exactly how to extract the greatest possible profit from their hostages. Some care about little else
The myth of the White Widow
Samantha Lewthwaite almost certainly isn’t as monstrous as the papers say. And she definitely isn’t as important
Wear a veil if you like – but don’t treat women like that
What sort of clothing do you wear when you go to the opera? I assume some of you do go…
Does Jonathan Powell really want to negotiate with the Islamic State?
Jonathan Powell’s stance on negotiating with violent extremists is consistently inconsistent and slippery
Here’s how to remain cheerful in the face of such a multitude of scares
I don’t think I can remember a time when there have been so many scares about. They come at us…
What will it take for us to stop doing business with Qatar?
Qatari money has flooded into London – but also into much less savoury places
Dot Wordsworth on language: Why do we call it ‘Islamic State’?
I’m puzzled by the dropping of the one part of the name of the Islamic State that seems certain. That…
What Romans would have made of Obama's Syria strategy
President Obama was assailed for saying that the USA had no strategy on combating Isis. Vegetius (late 4th century AD), the…
The brutal truth? Britain lacks the reach to bring any ISIS killer to justice
Politicians’ promises to bring those who murder British hostages to justice almost never come true
Portrait of the week
Home Britain’s terror threat level was raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ in response to fighting in Iraq and Syria, meaning…
The lesson of the young men fighting for Isis: evil is in all of us
I had an interesting discussion with my friend Aidan Hartley earlier this week about whether the young men fighting for…
Andrew Marr’s diary: Seeing shadows of Syria in Limousin’s ghost village
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
Six rivals for the name Isis
Not in their name The BBC decided to start calling the Islamic terror group Isis by the acronym IS instead.…
The wars that really are about the oil
You can’t understand any of the world’s crises without understanding petropolitics
Violence, fear, confusion: this is what comes into a leadership vacuum
The old cliché that ‘nothing happens in August’ has again been brutally disproved. From the centenary of the outbreak of…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, resisted calls for Parliament to be recalled to debate the crisis in Iraq. Philip Hammond,…
We can't afford to let Isis run wild in Iraq
The West can’t afford to give up on Iraq
