Syria
Britain and its allies are opening the way for yet another Iraq war
After the most intensive street-by-street combat since 1945, Isis’s so-called caliphate is no more. Last weekend, the Iraqi government won…
Putin the peacemaker
When Russia entered the Syrian civil war in September 2015 the then US secretary of defense, Ash Carter, predicted catastrophe…
Seeing the light
‘You can’t lie… on radio,’ says Liza Tarbuck. The Radio 2 DJ was being interviewed for the network’s birthday portrait,…
Straight to hell
No, The State (Channel 4) wasn’t a recruiting manual for the Islamic State, though I did feel uneasy about it…
The many sides of satire
Brexit the Musical is a peppy satire written by Chris Bryant (not the MP, he’s a lawyer). Musically the show…
Dark night of the soul
As bombs fall everywhere in Syria and IS fighters destroy Palmyra, a musicologist in Vienna lies awake all night thinking…
How Recep Erdogan became the most powerful man in Europe
President Erdogan has the EU’s leaders exactly where he wants them
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…
Could radio save Syria?
Could radio, and in particular a weekly soap, have a role to play in the Syrian crisis? You might think,…
Putin has shown the West up as a paper tiger
On 17 November 1813, Marshal Ney, the bravest of the brave, had been the last to march out of Smolensk…
Supporting Assad against the ‘invaders’
Four programmes, four very different kinds of radio, from a classically made drama to weird sonic ramblings, via the best…
The EU's deal with Turkey exposes the moral vacuum at its heart
Looked at from the narrow perspective of how to deal with the lethal business of human trafficking across the Aegean,…
Portrait of the week
Home The Bank of England arranged for banks to be able to borrow as much money as they needed around…
Portrait of the week
Home An official analysis by the Cabinet Office said that if Britain left the EU it would lead to a…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, having continued talks through the night in Brussels, announced that he had achieved a ‘special status’ for…
The myth of the plucky Kurdish warrior
Western powers’ favourite allies in Iraq and Syria have problems – and divisions – of their own
Farty, smelly and in love with Putin? You must be middle-aged
There are things that happen when you grow older — bad things, harbingers of death and decay. Past the age of…
Putin’s winning in Syria – but making a powerful new enemy
In Syria, the Russian leader is on the verge of his biggest – and riskiest – coup yet
Britain’s determination to kill itself makes my blood boil
Gstaad The locals here in the beautiful Saanen valley are split over the migrant crisis. Switzerland does not belong…
Aleppo Notebook: the city’s terrorist besiegers will now be besieged
I had been trying to get to Aleppo for ages, but was unable to do so because rebel activity had…
What to do about Syria – the view from 1916
From ‘The future of Syria’, The Spectator, 5 February 1916: We say with all the emphasis at our command, and…
On Europe, Iraq and Syria why can’t our politicians just tell the truth?
It has been over a month since Parliament voted to bomb Isis in Syria, yet in that time there have…
The truth about Islamic State: it's in crisis
Disillusioned Islamic State recruits are deserting the bloodthirsty terror group as it loses territory
'The tide is turning': Justin Welby interviewed by Michael Gove
An interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
Radio is flowering because it’s so much more potent than TV
Who would have thought in this visually obsessed age of YouTube, selfies and Instagram that radio, pure audio, no images…
