It’s a tricky time for the special relationship. Offering a sweepingly negative assessment of Europe’s fighting capability this week, JD Vance may or may not have called us “some random country that has not fought a war in 30 or …
‘Islamophobia’ has always been a weapon
What do Tommy Robinson, LBC Radio, the Conservative Party and Sadiq Khan have in common?
The answer is that they have all been shortlisted for Islamophobe of the Year awards by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), a British campaign …
Why JD Vance offends us
James David Vance is the epitome of what so many Europeans loathe about America: brash, insular, moralising and imperious. And yet — even more annoyingly — like America itself, he combines this with intelligence, education, wealth and, ultimately, power. Vance …
Do you hate your job?
Listen to enough people talk about work, and you start hearing the same ideas repeated in a chorus of different voices. One common refrain is a distaste for corporate slogans, things like “Show backbone and speak out!” adorning the walls …
Can Keir Starmer trust his generals?
On 31 March 1982 Henry Leach, the First Sea Lord and the professional head of the Royal Navy, walked into a meeting in the House of Commons in an admiral’s full uniform. Tension was rising over the Falkland Islands, and …
How Britpoppers killed patriotism
Are the Britpoppers okay? Britain’s distinctive post-boomer bulge generation, they of Jamie Oliver, the 00s London property boom, Posh Twee and “proper chips”, Bloasis and floral shirts and gentrifying Hackney, have gone bananas en masse.
Over the weekend, Trump and …
Britain’s information war on America
European and British politicians appeared shocked by J.D. Vance’s blunt speech in Munich last month. The US Vice President declared Washington’s top security concern to be “the threat from within” the Nato alliance and castigated assembled leaders for their increasingly …
The true cost of Net Zero
If you think your energy bill is already high, brace yourself. Labour may have promised a Net Zero electricity system that would cut average bills by £300 — but as new research reveals, the opposite is going to happen. We …
Trump’s angry imperialism
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” observed Joan Didion. Yet politicians are different. They tell stories not so much to live, but to survive. Stories give leaders an aura of purpose and control, imbuing their decisions with great …
Trying to forgive Ash Sarkar
“Always forgive your enemies — nothing annoys them so much” said Wilde; but still, Novara star Ash Sarkar’s latest publicity drive is a test of mettle, even for a strategically magnanimous softie like me.
Ash Mark I — the cheeky …
Who polices the paedo-hunters?
It began on Friday night, when a self-proclaimed “online child protection team” live-streamed claims about Adrian Smith, an alleged paedophile, on social media. The man was swiftly arrested — though the police soon released him. Yet by Saturday, at about …
How the BBC backs the Taliban
Taliban. The word is synonymous with religious fundamentalism — vividly clear since the militants swept back into Kabul in August 2021. Amid public executions and gender apartheid, there has been an intensifying war on free speech. Since the Taliban returned …
NHS fat cats have blood on their hands
So, NHS England chief exec Amanda Pritchard has finally fallen on her sword. After less than four years in her £270k-a-year post, bruising criticism of her leadership by two influential Commons committees, and a series of meetings with health secretary, …
The fate of Britain’s tenant farmers
On a clear day in February, Patrick Greed takes me to the brow of a hill overlooking what used to be his farm. Around us stretches the green countryside of Devon’s Killerton estate, radiant in the winter sun. Nestled in …
Britain is stronger divided
Simon Schama’s latest television series, Story of Us, raises a number of awkward questions — beginning with its title. The series reflects, among other things, on the divisions in British society and the role of culture in trying to heal …
