There was a brief moment, at the very beginning of the MeToo movement, when it seemed as if real change was in the air. Five years ago this week, the New York Times released its first report on the alleged …
How the Tories were radicalised
In line with her determination to offer the public a new vision, Liz Truss seems intent on styling herself as a conviction politician. But this posture is not without irony: Truss’s convictions have notoriously fluctuated, forcing her to emphasise the …
Hysteria has derailed Kwasi Kwarteng
No doubt Kwasi Kwarteng expected to spend yesterday morning putting the finishing touches to his Party Conference speech. Instead, 10 days after he announced his plan to scrap the top rate of income tax, Britain’s Chancellor found himself being schooled …
MeToo lost me the love of my life
Dear Taylor,
Please, please don’t shove this in recycling and do hear me out. I apologise for disguising this letter in a NatWest envelope to make it look like one of your bank statements. I realise that appears duplicitous. But …
Is China about to turn on Russia?
After managing a strained smile and handshake for the cameras, President Xi Jinping walked away from Vladimir Putin with a face like stone. By most accounts, the recent meeting in Uzbekistan between the two leaders, who once spoke of each …
How far-Right are you?
A common form of classroom cruelty when I was at school involved a game we called “Contagion”. The instigator would touch the person next to them, having chosen a low-status scapegoat — usually “Holly”, who wore thick glasses and was …
Is this the end for Liz Truss?
“You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off,” the markets replied to one of the most fiscally expansionary speeches a Chancellor of the Exchequer has ever given to the House of Commons. Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng could …
What Western feminists can learn from Iran
Is this it? Could this, finally, be the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran? As huge crowds of women and men surge through the Iranian streets, burning hijabs and calling for “Death to Khamenei!”, is an impossible dream finally …
The last days of Jeremy Corbyn
As recently as a year ago, the hard Left had a pulse. They heckled Keir Starmer on the floor of the last conference, and they troubled his attempts to change Labour party rules. This year they didn’t even bother to …
The EU is sleepwalking into anarchy
All eyes may be on the Italian election results this morning, but Europe’s got much bigger problems on its hands than the prospect of a Right-wing government. Winter is coming, and the catastrophic consequences of Europe’s self-imposed energy crisis are …
American Gigolo is no longer sexy
Julian Kay is a thrillingly charming escort, as comfortable at international art auctions as he is on the pull-up bar. His speciality is older women, and when one asks him, in one of those old hotel restaurant booths so cushioned …
Will Putin’s gamble pay off?
“Let that motherfucker send as many slaves as he wants. It won’t make any difference. We will send them back to Russia in boxes, like we did to the ones he sent already.”
“Ivan” pauses. He is involved in civilian …
The twilight of the Disney princess
On Sunday, as hundreds of thousands queued to see the mortal remains of our Queen lying in state, I stood in a shorter queue, to see a different queen in the flesh. The occasion was my daughter’s long-planned birthday excursion …
Liberals have a fetish problem
Under what conditions should a person be free to indulge his sexual fetishes in public? This question was brought into stark relief last week at a school in Ontario, where the attire of a male teacher now identifying as a …
The history wars target Dahomey
The historical epic The Woman King, which has just opened at the US box office to an ecstatic reception, is a truly remarkable film. Set in 19th-century West Africa and starring Viola Davis and John Boyega, it’s a tale of …
