The imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House has dramatically reframed the discussion about the Ukraine war. After years of insisting on a Ukrainian military victory at any cost, the Western political and media establishment appears to be …
How Europe crashed its car industry
The Mirafiori car plant is the last surviving automobile factory in Turin, the historical engine of the Italian car industry. At Mirafiori’s post-war peak, Fiat manufactured one million vehicles a year, employing 60 000 people. For much of this past …
The scandals haunting Pope Francis
The cardinals are already meeting to discuss who should be the next pope. Some of the liberal ones, who feel safe because they’re in favour with the ailing Pope Francis, can be seen comparing notes in a bar near the …
Who governs Georgia?
On Rustaveli Avenue, just outside the dappled cream facade of the Georgian parliament, people in the crowds of protesters are kicking footballs around. They stand in circles, pinging the ball between them; pairing off, they pass it rapidly to one …
The Leopard holds a warning for Europe
The great unification processes of the late 19th century inspired some of the world’s most famous authors. In 1886, Henry James explored the triangular relationship between a Confederate War veteran from Mississippi and two New England feminist abolitionists in The …
Why Irish mumming endures
Winter now. All the old sounds again. Mist beading on the bough and tap tap tapping to the ground. The Velcro scratch of dead leaves. Bleurgh, says the sodden bird. Wind lurches off the Atlantic and trips on this little …
How China burned German industry
“Today’s Germany is the best Germany the world has seen.” So effused the Washington Post columnist George F. Will five long years ago. It’s hard to imagine anyone — even a German — writing those words today. The country is …
The triumph of Gisèle Pelicot
In the end, Time magazine named Donald Trump 2024’s Person of the Year. Predictable, perhaps — but also ironic, in that Trump’s claim to that title rests on his power to represent an aggregate of people. He is Person of …
Is Britain sleepwalking into war?
The collapse of Assad’s regime in Syria has not changed the balance of power in the war between Russia and Ukraine. There is no doubt that the Ukraine war, after the deaths of hundreds of thousands, will end through negotiations, …
The duelling fraternity fighting the far-Right
I am standing in a smoke-filled cellar in Vienna at midnight, braced for my first duel. I am new to the sport, so I am wearing a motorcycle helmet, while my opponent dons a pair of steampunk metal goggles. Even …
How von der Leyen sold out the farmers
This is a story which exemplifies the vicious, anti-democratic cycle that underpins the EU’s political dynamics. It is about decision-making processes which alienate voters and lead to weakened and discredited governments. It is about Ursula von der Leyen finally managing …
Viktor Orbán’s architectural ambition
Turning back the clock is proverbially impossible in history, but apparently not in architecture. Witness the Hungarian capital of Budapest, where since 2010 Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz government has been carrying out ambitious renovations. At several symbolic points in the city, …
How Britain’s trains were derailed
An apocryphal British newspaper headline once read: “Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off”. It’s a nice phrase — but, in theory anyway, its whiff of British exceptionalism has long-since evaporated. Many educated people, if you asked them, would these days …
Notre-Dame won’t redeem Macron
Who, save for the most embittered cynic or those who ritually deprecate Western culture, could do anything other than raise a cap, beret or biretta, metaphorical or real, to those who have rebuilt Notre-Dame? Who is unable to salute 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 …