On 28 June, the people of London were greeted by an unusual sight. That Friday, not far from the Iranian embassy, a woman filmed herself chasing an old lady across the street. “I am the daughter of Reza!” the attacker …
My day in the life of Boris Johnson
When Boris Johnson’s Unleashed was announced there were arguably grounds for believing it might be, in the Daily Mail’s hyperventilating guff, “Political Memoir of the Century!” Surely this self-caricaturing rogue, this Falstaff of British politics, would have some crazy stories …
What Harris learned from Hillary
With less than a month to go until Election Day, if the White House were awarded on the basis of professional political competence, then Kamala Harris would be the next president already.
The shrewd strategic moves began early. As soon …
America is grooming Meloni
Two years ago, a neo-fascist gained power in Rome. That, at least, is the impression you’d have gained from the Western establishment’s paroxysm of hand-wringing at Giorgia Meloni’s elevation. From her erstwhile praise for Mussolini to her fierce Euroscepticism, Meloni …
Do the Tories want an Everyman or an Ideologue?
In his essay on Tolstoy, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin divides the world’s great thinkers into “foxes” and “hedgehogs”. Remember, according to the poet Archilochus, the fox knows many things, while the hedgehog knows one big thing. The hedgehog, that is, …
Who killed Sue Gray?
And so, the power struggle is over: Sue Gray has lost and Morgan McSweeney has won. Keir Starmer did what he had to — but now there can be no more excuses.
The Prime Minister’s decision to replace Gray so …
Britain has learned nothing from Palestine
When I walk to my local supermarket in north Belfast, the journey takes me through a Catholic, Nationalist area, marked by Palestinian flags, to the edge of a Protestant, Loyalist area, where Israeli flags flutter, alongside Union flags, from the …
Britain has learned nothing from Palestine
When I walk to my local supermarket in north Belfast, the journey takes me through a Catholic, Nationalist area, marked by Palestinian flags, to the edge of a Protestant, Loyalist area, where Israeli flags flutter, alongside Union flags, from the …
What Jews can’t afford to forget
Some memories can be lethal to the psyche. Every reader of the Bible knows that Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt, the stuff of tears, when she turned to face the firestorm engulfing Sodom. Who can blame her …
Will revolution return to Tunisia?
Karim Benabdallah looks tired. The 48-year-old activist and blogger has been actively engaged in Tunisian politics for more than 20 years. Yet as he gazes up at a carob tree, at the Belvedere Park in the hills above Tunis, his …
MrBeast’s faux philanthropy
Jimmy Donaldson dropped out of a community college near his home in North Carolina at the age of 18 to crack one of the mysteries of modern life: what makes a video become a viral sensation on social media? Together …
The toxic empathy of the VP debate
“Everybody’s got a plan,” Mike Tyson once said, “until they get punched in the face.” The American media’s plan for last night’s vice-presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz was that the two running mates would, all …
How the Tories can crush Farage
After they limped through four failed leaders in quick succession, only to be wiped out in the general election result, it is hard to believe a new leader will solve the Tory existential crisis. For one thing, whoever finds themselves …
Can Kamala charm swing voters?
Never have two American presidential candidates been so different from one another. The Black-Indian daughter of Left-wing academics versus the white son of a wealthy Ku Klux Klan sympathiser. The woman who spent her entire career in public service versus …
The Miliband files
As acts of political fratricide go, few were as public — or petulant — as Ed Miliband’s defenestration of his elder brother David. After Ed beat David to the Labour Party leadership in 2010, the pair attempted an awkward hug …