Obama
Why is Biden copying Obama's mistakes with Iran?
There was a picture taken today that says more than just a thousand words. The photograph was snapped in Sharm…
Is Joe Biden’s administration fit for the 2020s?
Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees have been warmly received by the massed ranks of anti-Trumpists in Washington. But the warmth stateside…
Wholesome, intimate and suspiciously vague: The Michelle Obama Podcast reviewed
Back in March, I made a long-odds bet that Michelle Obama would be the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. I knew…
What the world looked like after my brain haemorrhage
When your mind suddenly goes wonky, you may be the one person who doesn’t realise that there is something wrong…
Why is Obama so obsessed with transgender toilet rights?
Who’d have thought that one of Obama’s last great battles would be over toilets? Last week he issued a strict…
An object lesson in PR from David Cameron and Justin Welby
I don’t think there is a Royal College of Public Relations, but if there were, it should teach a course…
Further dispatches from Syria’s maelstrom
The mechanic, blinded in one eye by shrapnel, spent three days searching for his family in the destroyed buildings and…
I want to see President Trump – if only because of who he’d annoy
I suppose spite and schadenfreude are thinnish reasons, intellectually, for wishing Donald Trump to become the next American president (and…
What I learned from arguing about gun control with my Texan uncle
Whenever there’s another mass shooting in America, like the massacre in San Bernardino last month, I think immediately of my…
The pretend war: why bombing Isil won't solve the problem
Britain, France and America are in a protracted fight against Islamic radicalism. Pity our leaders have no idea how to win it
Portrait of the week
Home In his speech at the Labour party conference, much of it taken from material that had been on the…
I lived next to St Paul’s Cathedral as a baby in 1940 – it’s a miracle I am alive
While the Germans were raining bombs on London during the second world war, the architects’ department of London County Council…
Portrait of the week
Home A man died when 1,500 migrants tried to enter the Channel Tunnel terminal in Calais in one night. The…
Wrangles over the Rust Belt
In the opening sentence of this subtle and finely poised novel, the narrator, Greg Marnier, known as ‘Marny’, admits that…
Portrait of the week
Home The British economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, the slowest quarterly growth for…
The Heckler: down with the actor-commentariat!
I’ve never been terribly keen on actors. I prefer hairdressers and accountants. And teachers and builders and lawyers. I may…
Portrait of the week
Home The man seen in several Islamic State videos of hostages being beheaded, nicknamed Jihadi John by the British press,…
Portrait of the week
Home More than 1,100 imams and Islamic leaders received a letter from Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, and Lord Ahmad…
The real winner at the US mid-terms: Hillary Clinton
Taking control of both houses of Congress may hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton in 2016
BP's been punished enough – but not because Americans hate the Brits
I should declare two connections before I start offering opinions about the latest US judgment against BP relating to the ‘Macondo’…
When the Welsh go it alone, blame me
Oh dear. I think I may have inadvertently contributed to the dissolution of Great Britain. I’m not claiming sole responsibility.…
Is America headed for tyranny? It is when the other side's in charge...
For the last 50 years Americans have been decrying the increase of presidential power whenever the party they oppose is…
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,…
The West isn't the solution in Iraq. It's the problem
Hawks are mistaking military action for strategy
A world crisis with no world leader
No one wants to pay the price of speaking for the free world
