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This piece was first published in September 2022.
“The industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.” Writing those words as the introduction to his 1995 anti-technology manifesto Industrial Society and its Future, Ted Kaczynski …
With France facing its worst political crisis since 1968, most of its citizens know exactly whom to blame: President Emmanuel Macron, whose tumbling approval levels hit just 23% even before the no-confidence vote that toppled his latest government. Across the …
Behind the feline eyes, the serrated cheekbones and campy glamour, there is a hint of pain to Melania Trump. She displays a vulnerability, a sense of betrayal and a frustration at being misunderstood. She has described herself as “the most …
An apocryphal British newspaper headline once read: “Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off”. It’s a nice phrase — but, in theory anyway, its whiff of British exceptionalism has long-since evaporated. Many educated people, if you asked them, would these days …
It was the clock tower that settled it. The images of rebels driving around the central square of Homs, its famous clocktower visible, confirmed they had taken the city. This meant they could now sever Damascus from the coastal regions, …
Who, save for the most embittered cynic or those who ritually deprecate Western culture, could do anything other than raise a cap, beret or biretta, metaphorical or real, to those who have rebuilt Notre-Dame? Who is unable to salute the …
It is easy to mock Argentina’s president Javier Milei with his crazy hair, cloned dogs and claims of expertise at tantric sex. He was, after all, nicknamed El Loco (The Madman) as a teenage goalkeeper and seems often determined to …
On 20 August 1989, 21-year-old Lyle Menendez and his 18-year-old brother, Erik, burst into their parents’ Beverly Hills mansion and shot them dead. They later claimed to have done it because their parents had sexually abused them. In 1996, following …
Weeks after being sworn into office, Joe Biden made a striking proclamation. With the drama of January 6 still fresh, the new President announced that his tenure would encompass the “restoration of democracy, of decency, of honour, of respect, the …
After three months of a Barnier government, it seems that France is back to square one. This week, as predicted, a coalition of the Left allied with Le Pen’s far-Right acted to bring it down. It was not an auspicious …
What is your most shameful memory of an argument over a board game? Though the details are blurry, mine involves the mid Nineties, a sister, a boyfriend, a bottle of tequila and a game of Trivial Pursuit. The subsequent emotional …
The foundations. The missions. The milestones. The targets. The earnest gestures and the hand-clasped, feigned intensity. In the end, none of it matters. Keir Starmer’s “plan for change” — resetting his government after months of drift — only proves one …
Soon after the presidential election, TD Cowen rated the stock of defence and IT consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton a “buy”. At first glance, the bank’s assessment seemed strange: the Trump administration plans to scale down American involvement in Ukraine …
There are periods in history when old certainties and settlements suddenly begin to fracture under the weight of their own contradictions. In the Thirties and Seventies the very nature of the system seemed to be collapsing in on itself. Yet …
Discussing Donald Trump’s election victory with a panel of TV pundits, Princeton professor Eddie Glaude explained it with reference to race. “There’s this sense,” he said, “that whiteness is under threat.” He went on to elaborate, if not elucidate, what …