Largely unremarked amid the drama, risk and controversy of its reaction to the October 7 attack is that, over the past year, Israel has experimented with a new type of warfare: targeting its enemies’ entire command structures. The occasional tactical …
Von der Leyen’s authoritarian plot
The European Union is about to enter what could prove to be the most ominous phase in its troubled history. In a few weeks, Ursula von der Leyen’s new European Commission will officially take office, at which point she will …
Jilly Cooper knows what women want
How do you solve a problem like Rupert Campbell-Black? Since 1986, Jilly Cooper’s fictional show jumper has been mounting his way across the wives and daughters of her invented (but awfully familiar) county of Rutshire. Through 11 novels, the most …
Alex Salmond’s failed populism
In the end, Alex Salmond’s was a career of failure — not in the cliched use of Enoch Powell’s aphorism but in the absolute terms of failing to achieve his specific and declared political ambition. Alex — he was a …
The allure of American mysticism
American politics has given the wilder forms of American religion bad press lately. Senator J.D. Vance’s critics often identify his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 2019 as contributing to his lurch to pro-natalism and nativism. The journalist Kathryn Joyce recently …
There’s no dignity in assisted dying
It was the childishness that pushed me over the edge. As news broke of the forthcoming parliamentary vote on assisted dying, a slew of statements from politicians emerged, each one more simplistically emotive and Manichean than the last.
Labour MP …
San Francisco’s progressive racism
The ugly xenophobia that has cropped up in certain corners of the GOP has an unusual cousin in an unexpected place.
The progressive Mission District in San Francisco has become ground zero for a form of Lefty nativism that scorns …
The end of the Boris cult
Boris Johnson presented his memoir, Unleashed, at Cheltenham racecourse last week, amid the ghosts of bookies. They, at least, would appreciate him for who he is: a risk-taker who won, then lost, and hopes to win again. But the venue …
Donald Trump: new media king
It’s a tender, almost touching moment — not at all something you’d expect to see at the height of a presidential campaign and far out-of-keeping with the general perception of Donald Trump’s character. At the start of an interview, a …
Why Kamala’s gun is a powerful weapon
In America, the gun is freedom’s prosthetic (followed by cars and credit cards). Yet Kamala Harris’s admission, first during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, then in one with 60 Minutes, that she owns a gun sent liberal heads spinning. Went …
How DEI is harassing yoga
A man named Javier urgently needs my help. He’s just hired a new associate named Raphael at the company where he works as a manager. Raphael is openly gay, which Javier is fine with, he quickly assures me — but …
Keir Starmer’s insulting hypocrisy
Keir Starmer’s premiership is well and truly goosed. One policy misstep after another, punctuated by tone-deaf doom-mongering and a freebies scandal that refuses to go away, have exposed Labour as a thoroughly undercooked governmental prospect. Some wrongly chalk this up …
What Labour could learn from Japan
The new Labour government appears to be as relaxed about developing a “nanny state” reputation as it is about being seen as a purveyor of economic doom and gloom. From October next year, television adverts for junk food will not …
The Tory counter-revolution has begun
The Conservative Party has two instincts lodged deep in its soul, each battling for supremacy. The first is the desire for the reassuring comfort of what it sees as solid, sensible government. We might call this the conservative instinct. The …
Your awokening isn’t special
In late 2014, the journalist and sociologist Musa al-Gharbi fell victim to what would soon become known as cancel culture. A controversial article soon led to a Twitter spat, which then prompted a media outlet to draw attention to his …