Obama
Why is Biden copying Obama’s mistakes with Iran?
There was a picture taken today that says more than just a thousand words. The photograph was snapped in Sharm…
Is Joe Biden’s administration fit for the 2020s?
Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees have been warmly received by the massed ranks of anti-Trumpists in Washington. But the warmth stateside…
We-ness rising
Back in March, I made a long-odds bet that Michelle Obama would be the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. I knew…
Long life
When your mind suddenly goes wonky, you may be the one person who doesn’t realise that there is something wrong…
Obama’s last great battle is in the bathroom
Who’d have thought that one of Obama’s last great battles would be over toilets? Last week he issued a strict…
The Spectator’s notes
I don’t think there is a Royal College of Public Relations, but if there were, it should teach a course…
Trapped in hell
The mechanic, blinded in one eye by shrapnel, spent three days searching for his family in the destroyed buildings and…
What fun it will be if Trump becomes president
I suppose spite and schadenfreude are thinnish reasons, intellectually, for wishing Donald Trump to become the next American president (and…
Sticking to his guns
Whenever there’s another mass shooting in America, like the massacre in San Bernardino last month, I think immediately of my…
The pretend war: bombing Isil won’t solve the problem
Britain, France and America are in a protracted fight against Islamic radicalism. Pity our leaders have no idea how to win it
Portrait of the week
Home In his speech at the Labour party conference, much of it taken from material that had been on the…
Long life
While the Germans were raining bombs on London during the second world war, the architects’ department of London County Council…
Portrait of the week
Home A man died when 1,500 migrants tried to enter the Channel Tunnel terminal in Calais in one night. The…
Detroit’s new colonials
In the opening sentence of this subtle and finely poised novel, the narrator, Greg Marnier, known as ‘Marny’, admits that…
Portrait of the week
Home The British economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, the slowest quarterly growth for…
The actor-commentariat
I’ve never been terribly keen on actors. I prefer hairdressers and accountants. And teachers and builders and lawyers. I may…
Portrait of the week
Home The man seen in several Islamic State videos of hostages being beheaded, nicknamed Jihadi John by the British press,…
Portrait of the week
Home More than 1,100 imams and Islamic leaders received a letter from Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, and Lord Ahmad…
Republicans running amok
Taking control of both houses of Congress may hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton in 2016
BP has been punished enough for Macondo, but is US justice really anti-British?
I should declare two connections before I start offering opinions about the latest US judgment against BP relating to the ‘Macondo’…
If the Welsh secede next, blame me
Oh dear. I think I may have inadvertently contributed to the dissolution of Great Britain. I’m not claiming sole responsibility.…
An aura of sovereignty
For the last 50 years Americans have been decrying the increase of presidential power whenever the party they oppose is…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, resisted calls for Parliament to be recalled to debate the crisis in Iraq. Philip Hammond,…
No we shouldn’t
Hawks are mistaking military action for strategy
Where have all the leaders gone?
No one wants to pay the price of speaking for the free world
