Rampage shooters tend to be losers. The archetype of the modern school shooter, Eric Harris, frequently wrote in his diary about his feelings of alienation and resentment over his lack of social success. “I just want to be surrounded by …
Russell Brand’s latest addiction
The Opera House, the Winter Gardens, Blackpool: here, in this magnificent theatre, a metaphor as good as any for decline, Russell Brand meditates on the stage, which I think is another metaphor for decline: not of buildings, but of a …
Britain’s forgotten King of the North
Growing up in the Northumbrian village of Seaton Delaval, I lived in the shadow of the old aristocracy. The Delavals had hailed from Laval in the Loire valley, coming over with the Conqueror in the 11th century to settle the …
The Anti-Christ now rules us all
Throughout history, the poets, the prophets and mystics have usually done a better job of predicting the future than pundits, politicians or scientists. Generally the reward for their perspicacity is to be ignored or laughed at, but luckily they are …
Will this be the last Jubilee?
It was the spring of 2002, and in the Guardian, the satirist John O’Farrell was licking his lips at the inevitable failure of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. “Tragically,” he wrote mockingly, “this joyous anniversary seems to be regarded with widespread …
New York is betraying rape victims
“For far too long, this city’s answer to every societal problem was to throw people in jail.” In an impassioned speech in 2019, the Mayor of New York City announced comprehensive reforms to the criminal justice system (CJS). “We lost …
Ricky Gervais doesn’t punch down
The curse of the literal-minded strikes again. This time it’s Ricky Gervais’s new stand-up special SuperNature which has sent the congenitally humourless into conniptions. Predictably, Pink News led the charge with a report that disapprovingly quotes the most offending lines. …
The Taliban’s chaotic war on women
One would think Afghanistan’s Taliban government has plenty to keep it busy: the banking system is collapsing; it is the target of crippling sanctions; the economy has ground to a halt; Isis conducts regular terror attacks; and not a single …
How America went berserk
My sister is a teacher in America, which means she has had to teach her fourth-grade students about how to defend themselves against people who might walk into her public school with guns. Once, during a false alarm, her class …
The British weapons expert cosying up to China
His audience hung on his every word. Here was one of Britain’s foremost weapons experts chairing a prestigious, two-day conference devoted to exploring new ways of making arms more deadly. But the packed conference hall, its walls lined with oak …
Is Europe’s far-Right always wrong?
“In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t about Putin’s attack against Ukraine… It is about democracy, sovereignty — fundamentals like freedom of speech and human rights. It is about Western democracies’ ability to stand up for themselves and the …
Transnistria is too old for war
Tiraspol, Transnistria
The road is quiet, and the day is hot outside the administrative HQ of the Operational Group of Russian forces in Tiraspol. A few peeling murals of past triumphs can be seen over the wall. A notice promises …
How cities killed desire
Crossrail took 20 years, and ran billions over budget, and only one of the three lines is open so far. But it’s open. And that’s something. For over the past decade or so I’ve grown pessimistic about the prospect of …
Why Baltimore didn’t defund the police
In Baltimore the protests that followed the death of George Floyd felt less like an eruption and more like a mellow reprisal of events that had taken place five years earlier. The death of Freddie Gray in police custody had …
Australian Labor’s hollow victory
On the surface, the triumph of Australian Labor over the Liberal-National Coalition seems like a standard rotation between the same two parties that have alternated in power since the Second World War. Take a closer look, however, and it becomes …