Plumbing the depths of Boris Johnson’s incompetence
Anthony Seldon’s account of Johnson’s time in Downing Street confirms he was hopelessly out of his depth.
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Subscriber of the week: Sue Jackson
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Letter of the week: The levelling-up lie
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Why is Rishi Sunak giving his career in high finance such a low profile?
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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Europe’s focus is on Ukraine and the east – but relations with Africa are as important
By 2050 two in every five children in the world are projected to born in Africa. It is the continent…
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Why China and its trading allies are well placed to topple the dollar
After decades meting out sanctions and financial coercion, the US may soon feel its grip on world trade beginning to…
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A visit to Edinburgh, judging the Winner of Winners, and a case of mistaken identity
My fellow Baillie Gifford judges are formidable close readers: diligent, erudite, passionate, smart, committed. They made my job very easy.
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The death of the groupie
The original mega-fan has shaped pop culture since the 1970s – but our ideas of sex, power and fame have…
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Consider the noble octopus
The Canary Islands will soon host the world’s first industrial octopus farm. But there is no humane way to slaughter…
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Why the government’s court action against striking nurses is an act of vindictive idiocy
Also this week: a guitar from Sting, and a literary reminder of why being 16 was never sweet.
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King Charles III’s secret kingdom
For decades, as he awaited his turn to ascend the British throne, Charles presided over another kingdom: rural Transylvania. What…
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The secret history of how we measure time
Did you know the 24-hour day is likely the result of humans counting with their fingerbones?
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This England: Block and awe
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain –…
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Why Britain needs to have an honest conversation about rising migration
Few things are more corrosive of public trust than pretending a problem isn’t there. Sooner or later the public notices.
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A generation locked out
Those who cannot afford to buy a property have been forced into the under-regulated private rental market.
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The invention of God
David Baddiel’s new book argues that a deity that saves us from death is confected from human desire.
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The politics of the new space race
Tim Marshall’s The Future of Geography shows how great powers – and Elon Musk – are looking to the stars…
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From Fernanda Melchor to Rafael Behr: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring My Father’s Brain by Sandeep Jauhar and The Seaside by Madeleine Bunting.
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The NS Poem: on the sheep track
A new poem by Lutz Seiler, translated by Stefan Tobler.
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Westminster is broken
Ian Dunt’s new book reveals Britain as a country of inept civil servants, deluded ministers, blinkered journalists and unscrutinised power.
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