I am standing in a smoke-filled cellar in Vienna at midnight, braced for my first duel. I am new to the sport, so I am wearing a motorcycle helmet, while my opponent dons a pair of steampunk metal goggles. Even …
How von der Leyen sold out the farmers
This is a story which exemplifies the vicious, anti-democratic cycle that underpins the EU’s political dynamics. It is about decision-making processes which alienate voters and lead to weakened and discredited governments. It is about Ursula von der Leyen finally managing …
Let’s talk about Ariana Grande’s body
Let’s talk about Ariana Grande’s body. It’s difficult, not least because Ariana, 31, would rather you didn’t. She released a three-minute TikTok last year addressed to fans who were concerned that she was “too thin”. “I think we should be …
Here comes the anti-woke economy
PublicSquare, America’s finest anti-woke online marketplace, is spreading the Christmas cheer. It’s been hocking “Right to Bare Arms Christmas Ornaments” and, in the spirit of good will towards men, a kid-sized, ride-on Toyota Land Cruiser in combat colours — as …
Will Syria re-open Lebanon’s wounds?
For most of Lebanon’s modern history, the Assads have been as immovable as its mountains. As far back as 1976, early in the Lebanese Civil War, Hafez al-Assad ordered Syrian troops over the border. And there they remained, for 29 …
Digital Phantoms: The Mysterious World of Internet Ghosts
In the vast digital landscape of the internet, strange phenomena occasionally occur that leave users questioning their own eyes. These digital apparitions, often called “internet ghosts,” are fleeting moments where content appears briefly before vanishing without a trace, leaving bewildered …
Luigi Mangione is America’s Everyman
The assassination of a prominent figure in America always ends up being a riddle on the order of the enigma the Sphinx poses to Oedipus: “What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three …
Will Erdoğan crush the Syrian Kurds?
Syria’s two million Kurds have every reason to loathe Bashar al-Assad. His Baathist regime long repressed their identity, and there are many Kurdish activists among the countless people emerging, dazed and stumbling, from the dictatorship’s dungeons. But even as Kurds …
The dirty secret about OnlyFans
Haven’t you heard? Prostitution is empowering. Liberated super-vixen and self-described feminist Lily Phillips, 23, has declared she is to embark on the sticky Sisyphean task of bedding 1,000 men in one day. Other OnlyFans “models” — a tellingly bashful euphemism …
Trump’s intellectuals will betray his base
Trump is back, as garish and triumphant as ever. But this time, and far more than his victory in 2016, he comes with friends. I don’t just mean the Hegseths and Lutnicks of the world — I mean intellectual backers, …
Syria has exposed Russia’s frailty
Five months ago, Vladimir Putin declared that the so-called “multipolar world” had become a reality. He surely imagined this meant Russia would be one of only a handful of powerful nations able to dominate 21st-century global politics. But if the …
Trump’s new world order
When Donald Trump first visited Paris when President in 2017, he appeared as something of a passing curiosity; the apparent manifestation of America’s inexorable decline, captured in all its spray-tanned vulgarity. Seven years later he has returned to Paris as …
Will Tehran be next?
Damascus has fallen — something that has as much to do with Iran as with Syria. Tehran had long kept the Assad dictatorship in power, with its Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, the largest non-state army on Earth. But starting in …
Why we want regal overlords
Big statues, fanfares, fancy costumes and military parades: we Brits don’t do that stuff. Since 1945, Europeans have considered it all in very poor taste. The kind of leaders who go in for it are tyrants like the late Muammar …
Viktor Orbán’s architectural ambition
Turning back the clock is proverbially impossible in history, but apparently not in architecture. Witness the Hungarian capital of Budapest, where since 2010 Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz government has been carrying out ambitious renovations. At several symbolic points in the city, …