UK defence readiness is indefensible
Silence is no longer an option — Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff must resign
Deciphering the royal dress code
Fashion, in royal hands, became a form of branding
Clarifying the fog of the gender wars
Michael Foran’s new book will undoubtedly be celebrated, but is it essential?
Nowhere left to go
Labour is running out of cash, authority and time.
Zack Polanski’s war on carrots
Cheap food is not evidence of exploitation but of competition — something Adam Smith understood long before Zack Polanski
Fear and fury in Belfast
Violence spiralled out of control in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of a shocking crime
Questioning Islam should not be policed
Luke Salmons’s legal victory should lead to a change in police culture
Get ready for the worst World Cup ever
FIFA is scoring a pathetic own goal with its treatment of football
The case for coal
We need more energy, quickly, and where else to get it from?
Kemi always gets it right
Whatever the crisis, the Conservative leader invariably discovers that events have vindicated her.
Contra Kemi
Is Kemi Badenoch a principled opponent of identity politics or an anti-woke opportunist?
The global risks of the AI illusion
What if AI turns out to be a lot less profitable than we have been told?
Lost in translation
Attempting to understand the lives and thought of our ancestors can teach us about ourselves
Dear Prudence
A reflection on the Tory Party’s historic suspicion of interventionism
Jorge Luis Borges
A giant of Spanish letters who was forged by childhood exposure to his father’s vast English library
Beware the British ICE
Mass deportation of Muslims will not solve antisemitism, but feed feelings of alienation
The testing of Giorgia Meloni
Italy’s first woman PM has proved a pragmatic conservative who has brought stability to her country
What makes an American?
What characterises a US citizen in the 21st century, beyond abiding by the country’s laws and supporting its constitution?
Save our green and pleasant land
It’s time to stop ruining Britain’s countryside with drab, identikit houses and instead build real places with focus, heart and purpose
The art of statesmanship
An exhibition at the Wallace Collection shows how Britain’s greatest wartime leader found solace and satisfaction in painting
Papal pressures
The Pope was well-received in Spain, but political tensions have been mounting
Badenoch in the bindweed
The Conservative Party leader might please no one by trying to please everyone
Nice Tice
Can Richard Tice clean up Reform’s image? Or a park?
The intractable problems pulling modern Britain apart
When does upholding free speech become an act of self-sabotage?
The flawed thinking behind state suicide
Kathleen Stock demonstrates the value of a philosopher’s analytical mind in a sharp critique of assisted suicide
Peeves and a weekend in Worcester
Thoroughly entertaining, darkly funny and humanely nasty
Time for change?
A new book might overstate the durability of Trumpian politics
Operatic satire is a Shaw thing
The old Art has an armoury of skunk-like defence mechanisms to keep the unwashed at bay
Knowingly crass and conflicted
This American culture is hegemonic because even to steal from it is to propel it
Fond portrait of an odd couple
Two irascible, elderly artists and two beautiful younger women in unusual relationships
Farewell to a gentle jazz-lover
Scholarship trumps zealotry, particularly when it is veiled by modesty
Hurry hurry to Chop Chop
Gambling on Cantonese cuisine
A king’s ramsons
Look after the woods, and they will continue to give
Outside the box
why traditional topiary is
making a comeback
Light my fire
A perfect spy requires a spark for his cigarette