Among the most ingenious moments in Kraftwerk’s admirable oeuvre is the point in 1981’s “Pocket Calculator” when a human voice self-contentedly sings: “By pressing down a special key / It plays a little melody.” The melody follows in confirmation. The …
This was not Brazil’s January 6
Will Brazil have its own “January 6”? The question has been posed repeatedly over the past year in speculation as to what might happen should Bolsonaro lose the October 2022 election. Brazil’s moment finally arrived: two days late and two …
Did the West impose austerity on Africa?
The 21st century was supposed to belong to Africa: it heralded the start of the “Africa Rising” era, when the continent seemed destined to enjoy an extended period of economic growth and rising incomes. Two decades later, however, that narrative …
The slow death of the NHS
Every day, we’re told that the NHS is collapsing. It’s failing the sick and wounded at their hour of greatest need, leaving frail old people lying for hours without an ambulance, farming out patients to care homes, and forcing the …
Prince Harry’s Faustian bargain
One of the characteristics of fame is that it is essentially Faustian in nature; to become a celebrity, one must sell one’s soul to the devil. It’s a highly questionable idea — why should there be such a price for …
How we created a self-hating generation
I submit: the traditional concept of “building character” is out the window.
Once upon a time, a fully realised person was something one became. Entailing education, observation, experimentation, and sometimes humiliation, “coming of age” was hard work. When the project …
Why pick-up artists joined the Online Right
When did pickup artistry become criminal? Relying on online sex gurus for advice on persuading women into bed used to be seen as a fallback for introverted, physically unprepossessing “beta males”. And for this reason, in the 2000s, the discipline …
Will rural China survive the Covid wave?
As Chinese New Year approaches, there is apprehension in a part of China often overlooked by overseas news reports: the countryside. China’s now-abandoned Zero-Covid policy was always more focused on urban areas; locking down apartment blocks in Shanghai or smartphone …
New Year in a Ukrainian trench
Ochakiv, Ukraine
The sun rises on 2023. Its rays light up the trench, an unwelcoming black void into which we gratefully disappear to take cover from the artillery, rockets and Iranian Shahid drones that are launched daily from the Russian …
Jack Monroe: The acceptable face of poverty
For many of us, early January is a difficult time. Credit card and tax bills are looming, waistlines are bulging, and it’s dark by 4pm. As I write, the cost-of-living crisis is hitting hard and strikes are paralysing public services. …
Netanyahu is sacrificing Israel’s myths
Every country needs its myths — stories it tells both to its own people about themselves and to the world, even though upon scrutiny they don’t always fully hold up. Sometimes, however, these myths can be destructive, creating false expectations …
The secret millennial class war
“Kevs”, “Neds”, “townies” and “dobbers”. Do these labels mean anything to you? How about “pikeys”, “grungers”, “moshers” and “skate-punks”? If bells are starting to ring, then I’d wager my strongest Pokémon card that you went to a UK secondary school …
Race was invented by liberals
A little more than a year ago, I was sharing a boozy dinner with a prominent conservative pundit when the conversation turned to matters racial. Reflecting on the unrest that had roiled America in the summer of 2020, my companion …
The North East will rise again
My corner of England has long been regarded as a land apart: a sort of English ultima Thule, with a sociable and hedonistic outlook recognisably different from the rest of the nation. That culture is expressed in everything from the …
Sunak’s platitudes won’t save Britain
“The cost of living, too high! Waiting times in the NHS, too long! Illegal migration, far too much!” This could have been Keir Starmer thundering from the Opposition benches. Except it wasn’t. This was Rishi Sunak’s assessment of the government …