I have just spent a week in the US: one in which the main news stories were not about Gaza, but rather about university encampments and occupations protesting what is happening in Gaza. Everyone seemed fascinated by this strange shadow …
Westminster is devolving itself out of existence
In 1707, union with Scotland was the project of the Whigs, and Humza Yousaf’s unlikely fall from power last month is a vindication of their pet theory of history. Whig history: the idea that events are running irresistibly in one …
Why America needs a monarchy
Americans expect much from their president — some would say too much. He is not only regarded as head of state, but as an all-powerful economic wizard and social engineer, in addition to being a media celebrity. Candidates offer up …
The night Taylor Swift conquered Europe
I’m just off the train at Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris, and walking down a pedestrianised avenue to Paris La Defense Arena, a hulking, 40,000-capacity quadrilateral that’s the largest indoor arena in Europe. “Welcome to New York”, sings one …
The EU is turning into a Remainer nightmare
With the EU elections less than a month away, one can only imagine the cognitive dissonance that the pro-EU, anti-Brexit crowd must be experiencing. In a curious twist of fate, the EU is turning into everything Remainers feared Brexit would …
Who’s afraid of a big girl?
Like a lot of vintage B movies, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a bad product with a fantastic campaign. I would bet that, since its 1958 release, thousands have owned the poster without ever watching the film: a …
Columbia has learnt the wrong lesson of 1968
The barricades. The passion. The patchouli. A campus protest and student rebellion that threatens to engulf a tired establishment. This time round, the police used flash-bang grenades rather than tear gas to clear out Hamilton Hall. But this is a …
John Smith’s warning for Keir Starmer
It was May 1994, and the long period of Conservative rule finally appeared to be coming towards an end. After pulling off one of the most significant electoral shocks of all time in 1992 — confounding the pollsters, commentators and …
Ireland’s populist insurgency
The first thing that strikes you about Dublin is how different the political stickers on lamp posts are: while in Belfast the overriding theme is either pro-Palestine or Irish unity, in Dublin’s central O’Connell Street, it is “Defund The NGO …
In defence of our new student radicals
Back in the Sixties, it was easy enough for conservatives to take pot shots at radical students. Not only were they out to subvert the state, but their lifestyle seemed calculated to transgress all standards of decency. They were long-haired …
China is not the answer to Nato
The timing of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgrade yesterday was far from accidental: exactly 25 years before, Nato forces bombed the city’s Chinese embassy during Operation Allied Force, the two-and-half month campaign against what was then the Federal Republic …
The personal has consumed the political
“The 2016 election cycle will be remembered for many things, but for those who work in politics, it may be best remembered as the year that political data reached maturity.”
Andrew Therriault
In 2004, 22-year old Andrew Therriault wanted to …
The McSweeney Project
Walk into Labour’s strangely anonymous new office block home down a side street in Southwark, and you can’t help but notice who sits where. Keir Starmer’s office is to the right, along with his closest aides: chief of staff, Sue …
America’s new antisemitism bill will backfire
As May takes hold, the crisis brewing inside America’s political system shows no signs of abating; if anything, recent events have only confirmed how serious things have become. On May Day itself, the police moved in to quash the occupation …
The Met Gala is a Ballardian nightmare
For weeks now, a timer on the Vogue website has been ticking off the seconds, the anticipation within the fashion world bursting at the seams. But finally: the 2024 Met Gala is here.
There is, however, something different about this …