At the beginning of this year, I visited Lisbon for the first time, and thought I’d enhance the experience by reading some books set in Portugal’s capital. First, I read Nobel-laureate Jose Saramago’s The Year of the Death of Ricardo …
French farmers are the new Gilets Jaunes
When you think of the politics of farmers, what comes to mind? Perhaps the Countryside Alliance, and the people of Deep England, dressed in Tory tweed and protesting the fox hunting ban. Or maybe the agrarian populism of the Dutch …
Europe faces death by decadence
The past week of Swedish politics has been a mysterious case of a dog that should have barked, but then simply didn’t. In a barely covered press release, the Riksbanken — Sweden’s central bank — announced that it had lost …
The European village colonised by China
A tiny hay-cart blocks the path to a vast Chinese-owned copper mine. From it hangs a hand-painted sign that reads “life before profits”, a message for Serbia Zijin Mining, the subsidiary of a Chinese conglomerate, which is seeking to build …
Taxi drivers are corrupting Italy
Recently, an octogenarian couple from the UK came to visit me in Parma. Theirs was an all-day journey: a three-hour car trip, a two-hour flight, then a three-hour train journey. By the time they finally arrived, they were exhausted.
But …
Taxi drivers are corrupting Italy
Recently, an octogenarian couple from the UK came to visit me in Parma. Theirs was an all-day journey: a three-hour car trip, a two-hour flight, then a three-hour train journey. By the time they finally arrived, they were exhausted.
But …
The coming civil war on Europe’s Right
With the European Parliamentary elections just two months away, the final result seems all but decided. “A far-Right takeover is underway,” warn the experts of Foreign Policy. “This time, the far-Right threat is real,” add the prophets of Politico. And, …
How Germany learned to love weed
A group of African gentlemen, all dressed in hoodies, were posted at the entrance to Berlin’s Görlitzer Park, standing around idly until I passed by. “Hey, hello, you good?” they muttered, nodding in my direction. “Need some help?” As a …
The Dutch are facing their Holocaust demons
There is no tram line 8 in Amsterdam. You could see this as a silent admission of guilt — during the Second World War, it transported tens of thousands of Dutch Jewish people to the Westerbork transit camp, and then …
Is it time for a no-fly zone in Ukraine?
In his State of the Union speech last month, President Joe Biden told America that, while he strongly supports Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, he won’t have US troops deployed in Ukraine. “Killing Russians”, he has previously made clear, is a …
Is Meloni enabling Italy’s new blackshirts?
On a warm night in January, Romans staged a revival of their fascist past. At an event in the southern suburb of Acca Larentia, commemorating three fascist youths killed in 1978, hundreds of men in dark shirts were photographed doing …
Leo Varadkar’s ruthless pursuit of power
Leo Varadkar resigned as all political leaders do: dispirited and unpopular, the sheen of his early years long since wiped away by the grinding realities of government. His party, Fine Gael, now trails badly in the polls. Ireland’s housing crisis …
War didn’t destroy Russian football – Russia did
After Zenit St Petersburg won the Uefa Cup in 2008, beating Rangers in Manchester, the team’s coach Dick Advocaat strode proudly into the press-conference room, only for his phone to start ringing. He looked at the screen, seemingly about to …
Is Putin opening a second front in Europe?
Could another war be beginning in Europe? The past few weeks in Transnistria are worrying, not least because they are so familiar. The separatist government there is agitating against Moldova, accusing it of destroying the economy, and violating Transnistrian human …
The EU’s American Queen
Ask most Europeans what they think about the EU, and they’ll tell you it’s relentlessly dull. It’s all bureaucrats in statement eyewear overseeing arcane regulations about the curvature of cucumbers; impenetrable corridors in the staid outposts of Luxembourg and Strasbourg; …