South Africa’s warning for Britain
As Britain reacted to an eruption of anti-migrant violence in Belfast earlier this month, seeing images of burnt-out terraced housing and hearing accounts of African nurses apprehended at checkpoints, a…
The myth of the King of the North
“Too Northern”; “Not really Northern at all”; “Strategically Northern”; “A plastic Northerner”; “A professional Northerner”; “A Northern soul populist.” Not since Jon Snow rode South in Game of Thrones has…
Does America deserve a happy ending?
Until recently, I had never seen Ewan McGregor’s movie adaptation of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral. I had hardly heard of it. And when I researched it, I found that it…
Jeffrey Donaldson’s wicked crimes
Jeffrey Donaldson, one of the most notable politicians in Northern Ireland, was convicted of child rape on 22 June. The BBC’s News at Six bulletin made no mention of it,…
All hail, Mel Brooks
No filmmaker better captures the spirit of America at its best than Mel Brooks. His life and work embody its can-do confidence and joyful exuberance, its promise as a melting-pot…
Why Britain needs code-switchers
Everyone knows there are certain things in life that politicians should never own two of: kitchens, romantic partners, bean-to-cup coffee machines. To this list it seems we can now add…
In defense of data centers
Should the construction of new AI data centers be banned in the United States? The Democratic state legislature of New York thinks so: it has passed a law imposing a…
JD Vance: Our new relationship with Iran
JD Vance looks tired, but he’s feeling upbeat. I’m sitting with the vice president in his office aboard Air Force Two, somewhere over Western Europe, heading home after marathon peace…
The sun gods are punishing Britain
We think we want hot, then we get hot and we’re not so sure. We’ve got heat in our politics this week, and heat on our streets. We have people…
In defense of supersized America
The first Englishman to reach the New World brought home chips and fags. Or so we were told: many of us will remember primary-school lessons on Sir Walter Raleigh, fresh…