“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind,” said Winston Churchill. And judging by the state of education in America, it seems both of those empires could soon crumble. The dysfunction is evident from top to bottom: …
My torment as a gamer girl
Until recently, I did not consider myself a “gamer”. I still flinch at the term, probably because the reputation of gaming is impossibly, incorrigibly lame — adolescent, feverish, and with the stale whiff of the teenaged bedroom. I, conversely, am …
The repression of Soviet Ukraine
“Whichever way this war ends,” thought Volodymyr Ishchenko on 24 February 2022, “I will no longer have a homeland.” In the preface to his new book, Towards The Abyss, the iconoclastic sociologist outlines his Soviet-Ukrainian identity as distinct from Ukraine’s …
Why I never gave up on Manchester United
I wondered if we would ever do this again. Sachin, Carlo, Kier and I watching a Manchester United game in my living room. The dog barking randomly, knocking things over with its tail. Pizza on its way. Not unexpectedly, Wolves …
Who’s afraid of a female brain?
For decades now, an axiom of middle-class feminism has decreed that there are no important inbuilt differences between male and female brains. In fact, so the favoured story goes, there are no male and female brains at all, except in …
How Europe can lead Ukraine to victory
The assessments of Ukraine’s prospects in its war of defence against Russia, which enters its third year tomorrow, are noticeably less upbeat than they were last summer. Back then, the Ukrainians were riding high. Given little to no chance when …
Black panthers are roaming Britain
Last summer, I was driving along a country road at dusk when a great, black cat appeared in front of me. Far longer than any Labrador, it slunk demurely across the path and into a hedgerow. I turned at once …
The Nigel Farage of Edwardian England
Horatio Bottomley was never taken very seriously by political commentators. Even his “remarkable conjunction of names is quite enough to create mirth”, mocked one newspaper. But for 15 years or so, either side of the First World War, he was …
The dawn of America’s monarchy
When James II was deposed in 1688, and replaced by William of Orange, it was a bloodless affair. That so-called “Glorious Revolution” gave England a constitutional monarchy — as well as a remarkably nonviolent political order.
In the centuries that …
It’s easy to mock Andy Burnham
If Manchester’s ultra-mayor Andy Burnham really is King of the North — as Labour’s bobble-hatted folklorists believe — then Steve Rotheram, metro mayor of Liverpool, is his regent and champion. These two old Scouser pals have a lot in common: …
Inside Marseille’s drug wars
Ouassila Kessaci, 57, will never forget the agonising wait to confirm the death of her eldest son. On 29 December 2020, 22-year-old Brahim left the apartment saying he would be back — but the next day, Kessaci received a panicked …
Julian Assange is no fool
Earlier this month, the Russian dissident artist Andrei Molodkin announced that he would seal a number of masterpieces — including a Picasso, Rembrandt and Warhol — in a safe designed to destroy them with acid were Julian Assange to die …
Why Ozempic is cheating
Ten years ago, I was moved to tears by a fruit salad. I was on a stationary bicycle at the gym, half-heartedly scrolling Tumblr while my feet pushed the pedals, and suddenly, there it was: a tapestry of blueberries, blackberries, …
The tragedy of Britain’s school-refusers
Harry Hocking was just 14 when he texted his mother to tell her he was in desperate trouble and needed help. On the way to school, he had become frozen with anxiety and unable to breathe or walk. Such was …
Employee activists are destroying capitalism
Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy may have failed to charm Republican voters, but their wildly successful war on “woke capitalism” has taken on a life of its own. And the two most controversial three-letter acronyms in American life — DEI …