Burnham is keeping his enemies close
Last Monday, Andy Burnham delivered what was perhaps the most ambitious statement of economic intent since 1997. Standing outside Downing Street, the Prime Minister spoke…
The end of Japanese pacifism
President Donald Trump’s aides will no doubt be delighted that his recent visit to China went off without drama or controversy. In Taiwan, however, there have been concerns. “We talked…
How Trump and the neocons beat Thomas Massie
Rep. Thomas Massie’s decisive loss in a Kentucky Republican primary is proof that President Trump still dominates the Republican Party. It will be his party until he is no longer…
Is this the end of Hezbollah?
Seven. That’s how many times Israel has invaded Lebanon since 1978, yet this latest incursion could prove the most momentous of all. Unlike previous assaults, changes inside Lebanon itself mean…
Aboriginal violence is Australia’s blind spot
Last month, as Australia commemorated Anzac Day and the disaster at Gallipoli, a very modern tragedy was unfolding in the country’s Red Center. Kumanjayi Little Baby, a five-year-old Aboriginal girl,…
Can SNL save British comedy?
Donald Trump is no friend to American comedians. When they mock or criticize him, he fires back on social media, reveling in the subsequent downfalls of, for example, Jimmy Kimmel…
On astonishment and angels
On 28 September 1915, my hero, the Swiss-Scottish author Blaise Cendrars, had his right arm blown off during the Second Battle of Champagne while serving as a corporal in the…
Why Iran is right to be paranoid
For the spiritual head of a militant theocracy, Ali Khamenei was a remarkably prolific poster on social media. At the start of February, as pressure from Washington started to build,…
Alasdair MacIntyre was right all along
“The project of providing a rational vindication of morality had decisively failed,” wrote Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue (1981). Enlightenment philosophers like Immanuel Kant had attempted to justify rationally what…
Can Andy Burnham save my town?
Strategy. It’s a word mystically intoned by self-help influencers, business podcasters and sports pundits alike — often carrying a whiff of bullshit. But good strategy is real. It’s something you…
The joy of Jilly Cooper’s naked snobbery
There’s a form of therapy for dementia sufferers which immerses them in a comfortingly familiar Fifties town, complete with retro-style diner, vintage department store, and bowling alley. Rivals functions a…