Kamala Harris may have succeeded in convincing America that she’s a hip, “joyful” alternative to Sleepy Joe, but those outside the US shouldn’t be fooled. When it comes to foreign policy, all the signs suggest that Harris will follow the …
How to read like a man
A strange and telling bit of literary trivia is that two of the greatest English-language novelists of the last half-century — Cormac McCarthy and Don Delillo — were not big readers when they were boys. Both took up reading as …
Assisted dying killed my family
In February, I watched my mother be euthanised. I travelled to Australia to see it. She was ready to go: she lived in a care home, and was in terrible pain from spine cancer and terribly embarrassed by her lack …
The tragic life of Brian Clough
The winter of 1962-63 was bitter. So many football matches were postponed that the FA Cup final had to be put back three weeks. In Sunderland, Boxing Day was raw and cold, “the kind of day when seagulls flew backwards …
The reason people want to kill Trump
“Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”, asked Henry II in 1170, to no one in particular. He was referring to his fractious Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket; in turn, some of Henry’s knights took his remark as …
The Third Temple movement could doom Israel
The most dangerous piece of real estate on earth can be found in the Old City of Jerusalem. An elevated piazza, looming over the warren of lanes below, it’s known as Temple Mount by Jews and the Haram al-Sharif by …
William Dalrymple’s colonial complex
There was a time, still hovering on the limits of living memory, when Britain specialised in the manufacture of William Dalrymples. Eton and Harrow squabbled annually over who had produced the most William Dalrymples; Oxbridge was little more than a …
The future belongs to Fabians
In the 3rd century BC, the Roman Empire was on its knees. Hannibal had smashed its armies, and Rome itself seemed within his grasp.
And yet, the Eternal City didn’t fall. Under General Quintus Maximus Fabius, the Romans abandoned their …
America will have to dodge the draft
What do Napoleon, America’s Army War College and the liberal media have in common? The centuries-old belief that conscription is the “vitality of the nation”. With the US military hamstrung by a catastrophic personnel problem, the “draft” is being handed …
Will a new generation of jihadis flock to Somalia?
On 14 July 2024, as football fans gathered to watch the Euro 2024 final, a fireball ripped through a café in Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, later claimed responsibility for the blast and the five lives it extinguished. It …
What Orwell owes to Yevgeny Zamyatin
It’s difficult to imagine this quiet bucolic corner of London being the point of origin of the defining dystopia of modern times. Yet, according to literary folklore, it was here in a Canonbury beer garden, in the shadow of a …
Bad omens for Neil Gaiman
“Men must not close our eyes and minds to what happens to women in this world. We must fight, alongside them, for them to be believed, at the ballot box; with art; by listening, and change this world for the …
Inside Starmer’s feuding No. 10
“Who is gripping?” With these three words, the late Jeremy Heywood ruled Whitehall. The demand would stir his aides into action: calls would be made, emails sent, each carrying the imprimatur of the Cabinet Secretary and with it, the person …
Inside Starmer’s feuding No. 10
“Who is gripping?” With these three words, the late Jeremy Heywood ruled Whitehall. The demand would stir his aides into action: calls would be made, emails sent, each carrying the imprimatur of the Cabinet Secretary and with it, the person …
The cult of kindness
Last June, I walked down to our local public school here in the foothills of Los Angeles to pick up my son from his last day of kindergarten. As we were leaving, I snapped a picture of a sign on …