Trump is back, as garish and triumphant as ever. But this time, and far more than his victory in 2016, he comes with friends. I don’t just mean the Hegseths and Lutnicks of the world — I mean intellectual backers, …
Trump’s new world order
When Donald Trump first visited Paris when President in 2017, he appeared as something of a passing curiosity; the apparent manifestation of America’s inexorable decline, captured in all its spray-tanned vulgarity. Seven years later he has returned to Paris as …
Will Tehran be next?
Damascus has fallen — something that has as much to do with Iran as with Syria. Tehran had long kept the Assad dictatorship in power, with its Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, the largest non-state army on Earth. But starting in …
Why we want regal overlords
Big statues, fanfares, fancy costumes and military parades: we Brits don’t do that stuff. Since 1945, Europeans have considered it all in very poor taste. The kind of leaders who go in for it are tyrants like the late Muammar …
Emmanuel Macron is no de Gaulle
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 …
Javier Milei: Argentina’s Darwinian disruptor
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 …
Joe Biden’s moral void
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 …
The radicals are coming for Macron
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 …
Labour’s politics of polite automatons
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 …
How McKinsey could exploit DOGE
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 …
Keir Starmer has no dream
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 …
Russia’s plan for Tulsi Gabbard
With Syrian rebels storming Aleppo, reigniting a civil war widely presumed to be over, Donald Trump’s appointment of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence is more controversial than ever. Rumours are swirling that the outspoken Gabbard is incapable of …
American politics will be born again
Whenever I return to Britain from the United States, I am always struck by the compactness of the landscape. The tidy square fields, the orderly rows of homes with little gardens, the narrow ribbons of road curving between hedgerows, small …
Europe’s techno-populist nightmare
As Ursula von der Leyen begins her second term as President of the European Commission, she does so as a colossus, enjoying sweeping authority over the European Union and its 450 million inhabitants. The Empress rules a bloc that’s undemocratic …
Trump could make education great again
Linda McMahon’s nomination to head the Department of Education was a characteristic move from Donald Trump, host of The Apprentice, who ended every episode with the words “You’re fired!”. McMahon, who co-founded the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is no stranger …