How Britain maimed its military
Britain’s armed forces have undergone a very long recessional. In 1945, the Army alone had some three million men under arms, with millions more in…
What Versace learned from Rome
I It was not the first time I had been in South Beach. An earlier visit to Florida had come about by happenstance. A chilly autumn in the mid-Nineties, and…
The year of cosmic shock
President Trump jokingly posts a doctored photo of himself leading an alien in chains out of Area 51, while, on a more serious register, his administration releases a huge tranche…
The plot for a British caliphate
The Muslim Brotherhood is many things: a political organisation with global presence; a secretive society, with high-level connections into business and government; a missionary body that seeks to maximise the…
The railway dividing Mexico
I’m deep in the Mexican jungle, and it’s 40°C. All around me, the earth is torn up, and red clay bleeds out near diggers and bulldozers. It should, in short,…
Confessions of a grown-up tech addict
A few years ago, I lost my smartphone. After hours of searching, I noticed the washing-up bowl in the kitchen, still ominously full of soapy water from an earlier task.…
How the ‘American Way of War’ failed in Iran
America’s latest hot war with the Islamic Republic appears to be limping to its conclusion. Washington has resumed limited bombing in the Persian Gulf, even as a memorandum of understanding…
Why aristocrats are funny
A recent scientific study of professional speakers finds that two fifths of them told no jokes, and of the jokes they attempted two thirds fell flat. In an insight of…
Marilyn Monroe: cipher for pseuds
With stunning regularity, a breathless artiste sounds a klaxon: they humbly wish to inform you that they have discovered the Real Marilyn Monroe. Here, finally, is Marilyn unguarded: Marilyn unclothed,…
It’s time to bring back Blair
William Hague’s famous 2008 sketch of the return of Blair has suddenly returned as the fantasy of centrist dads everywhere. A motorcade sweeps into Downing Street. A man gets out,…
When cowboys fought capitalism
It’s the end of an era in Texas. Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary saw the truculent Attorney General Ken Paxton triumph over establishment stalwart John Cornyn. The Trump-loyal GOP base chose…