Issue: March 2025
Oxford on the spectrum
Why do so many bright undergraduates claim to be “neurodiverse”
Speak softly and carry a big stick
A prudent fear of the unpredictability of war has been the touchstone of realist thinkers
Catch of the Edwardian day
Fine food without the fawning
Faith and free speech
The law on blasphemy is toxic: It protects free speech until you provoke others to use force.
Dismal bytes
Despairing at “food” on the web
Ed Miliband’s undimmed Green zealotry
Labour insiders are concerned by the energy secretary
Time to bite the crypto-bullet?
Compared to Rachel Reeves’ dubious record, Bitcoin looks like a storm-proof harbour
Glorious half-century
When it’s good it’s very good indeed
Troubling Admissions
According to their own statistics, almost one in five Oxford students are disabled.
“Efficiency” is masked racism
If someone isn’t behaving like a Nazi, They’re definitely a Nazi
Most Read
American strategy in Iran is wiser than it seems
President Trump’s intervention will leave the world safer than it was
Saint Nicola
Nicola Sturgeon wants sympathy for her husband’s crimes—but after years spent avoiding awkward questions, her latest reinvention may be the hardest sell yet.
The lonely death of Henry Nowak
We must draw lessons from a horrendous and disgraceful case
Rewatching the English
English identity has become too surreal and discomfiting to define
A failed war on fags
The black market has taken over the tobacco trade Down Under
A below-par Riley is still better than most
The Palm House by
Gwendoline Riley; My Death by Lisa
Tuttle; Still Talking by Lore Segal
Hard rain in Spain
Domestic scandal has rocketed back to the forefront of Spanish politics
Offence archaeology and the future of elections
We have to ignore the cheap and disingenuous politics of offence archaeology
A magnificent navy on land
The state of the British Armed Forces triumphantly vindicates Parkinson’s Law
Our new five-party system
First-past-the-post no longer means
an electoral carve-up between the
Tories and Labour, allowing “fringe”
parties real political influence
Reform has the real “Shadow Cabinet”
Establishment gatekeeping is as futile as it is absurd
We need a loud revival
The dream of a “quiet revival” always misunderstood the problem faced by British Christians
The Arctic circle: a game of ice and fire
The Arctic is fast becoming a hotspot for great power competition
Eroticism and intrigue
Out of Vienna (Alpha-Classics)
Louis Through
The left-leaning media has lost its moral and institutional authority
Keir Starmer is causing trouble over the Troubles
The government should stop caving in over Northern Ireland legacy issues