Israel
Niall Ferguson's biography of Henry Kissinger is a masterpiece
I have met Dr Kissinger, properly, only three times. First, in Cairo, in 1980, when, as a junior diplomat escorting…
Feels like Chekhov scripted by a Chekhov app: Three Days in the Country at the Lyttleton reviewed
Chekhov so dominates 19th-century Russian drama that Turgenev doesn’t get much of a look-in. His best known play, A Month…
Mission near impossible
Operation Thunderbolt was, Saul David contends in this gripping book, ‘the most audacious special forces operation in history’. In June…
Let’s read the riot act to the kleptocrats who are buying us out
I have signed an affidavit for a hearing in the High Court stating that Janan Harb was, to my knowledge,…
Why I still have a deep attachment to the BBC
After I failed my O-levels and decided to leave school, my father suggested I go to Israel to work on…
How Ed Miliband lost the Jewish vote
Labour’s leader would be the first Jewish prime minister since Disraeli – so how has he alienated so many Jewish voters?
Birmingham Royal Ballet review: A Father Ted Carmina Burana
We ballet-goers may be the most self-deceiving audiences in theatre. Put a ‘new work’ in front of us and half…
Bad Jews at the Arts Theatre reviewed: strange, raw, obsessive and brilliant
Bad Jews has completed its long trek from a smallish out-of-town venue to a full-scale West End berth. Billed as…
The Conservatives should be the party of immigrants — and here’s how they can be
For a long while, the Conservatives have been puzzled about their lack of popularity among immigrants. In theory, the Conservative…
Portrait of the week
Home In a Budget intended to have ‘no gimmicks, no giveaways’, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, offered pensioners…
It’s not Netanyahu’s fault that Jews in Europe are afraid
Have you seen the prices for houses in Israel? Astronomical, mate. You wouldn’t believe it. An arid and perpetually embattled…
Tony Judt: a man of paradox who made perfect sense
Tony Judt was not only a great historian, he was also a great essayist and commentator on international politics. Few…
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
What Julie Burchill's ex-husband thinks of her new memoir
Unchosen is the journalist Julie Burchill’s account of how she — a bright and bratty working-class girl from Bristol —…
What is to be done about a world where everything is for sale?
Next time you read about an auctioneer’s gavel coming down on a $150 million painting bought by some flunkey representing…
David Frum’s diary: When Hamas shoots at Israel, they’re shooting at my kid
Wellington, Ontario A British visitor to this village might be disoriented by the flags. They look almost exactly like the…
What our leaders would say if they really cared about defending Britain's Jews
What our political leaders would say if they really cared about halting anti-Semitic attacks
Even Switzerland is turning lefty. Am I going to have to move to Wyoming?
Gstaad I am looking out of my window at the green landscape and forested mountains rising beyond, as peaceful a…
Our spies have stopped chasing subversives. That's why we're in so much trouble
Peter Clarke’s powerful report on the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham schools is confirmation of the weakness of David Cameron…
Sanctions won’t tame Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Talking might
Sanctions won’t help. One thing might
My love for that heroic country Poland
One event I regretted missing on my last visit to London was a party at the Polish Club, which has…
Do Israel's critics think there are not enough dead Jews?
The anti-Semitic West almost seems to want Israelis to suffer
In Gaza, the siege mentality is helping Hamas
Gaza The main entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital was crowded with what seemed to be journalists. This wasn’t unusual. They…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Home Secretary, ordered a review, taking perhaps ten weeks, by Peter Wanless, the head of the…
You’ll mock me, but I have to ask: why don’t any of my friends have holiday homes?
Hugo Rifkind 9 August 2014 9:00 am
This is to be one of those columns that makes the writer faintly wish there wasn’t an internet. It would…