Piddington’s very English revolution
At a packed village hall meeting in picturesque Piddington, parish council leader Tim McNally railed against the British state. “The Government has stacked all of…
How to end the Brexit shitshow
In European history, there is a pattern: every 50 or 75 years or so, the international order of its time, the institutions and the ideas, gradually drift out of alignment…
Andy Burnham: king of normie populism
What is the point of Andy Burnham? He’s a serial flip-flopper. A chameleon. And he’s a prime example of that most hated of people: a career politician. Take a look…
The man who got rich off affordable housing
The Design Center in London’s Chelsea Harbour is an unlikely base from which to operate a social housing empire. It’s an ultra high-end shopping mall for interior design, built in…
In defense of gossip
Women love hearing about other women’s misfortunes, and this week we were given a treat. “This story starts in a bathroom in Venice,” wrote the former TV presenter and author…
Against ‘toddlercore’
New Yorkers have always waited in line for culture-defining memories and trinkets — admissions to nightclubs, fashion scores from sample sales, Sex and the City cupcakes, or an “I Voted”…
The Sikh sect linked to Henry Nowak’s killer
The air was thick with incense and tension. The hall was already bustling, as men and boys gathered under the shadow of ceremonial weapons and the resonant boom of a…
The Tories are dead and nobody cares
Today’s ballot will be a defining moment in British politics. Should Andy Burnham triumph in Makerfield, he’ll likely be our next prime minister. If Reform upset the odds, then Nigel…
How cars fuel the forever war
With the Iran war spluttering to a close, mavens of American decline will be sharpening their pens. We can already guess what they’ll say. Everyone now understands that the United…
Chinese livestreamers are hypnotizing the West
In a square in Chongqing, China, a phalanx of besuited men with floppy hair and thick, white foundation marches forwards and backwards. At the front is a couple dressed in…
A tombstone for Obamaism
The early reviews of the Barack Obama Presidential Center are in, and they’re deservedly brutal. The ex-president’s monument, opening on Chicago’s Southside this Juneteenth, has been compared to the Death…