Don’t venerate the nation state
Donald Trump’s 2007 book Think Big and Kick Ass is not normally cited in the study of international relations. But it contains a pithy summary of the zero-sum worldview of the most
Discussions with a stone wall
In 2010, Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, Britain’s biggest gay-rights group, said that the organisation took “no view” on whether same-sex marriage should be legalised. Set up in 1989 to
Dechristianity by the numbers
In 1959, Lou Groen, president of the Cincinnati Restaurant Association, opened the first branch of McDonald’s in the area. Immediately he ran into a problem: sales of hamburgers dropped sharply every Friday.
Dave and Davery
On the basis of the old adage that if you have nothing nice to say it’s better not to say anything at all, let me begin with a positive thought or two
Conservatives clear the way for Corbynite extremism
Conservatives are at their best when they are terrified. The fear of losing everything persuades them to give ground on some things. Disraeli and Bismarck knew they could not stop socialism without
Comes the reckoning
History was a weakness for communist regimes. Now it has become a weapon for populists
Charlie’s angels
The three daughters of Charlie Soong, an American-educated Chinese missionary, all wed historic figures: Ei-ling (known as “Big Sister”) married the billionaire finance minister H.H. Kung; May-ling (“Little Sister”) was wife to
Carrying water for freedom
‘The pro-democracy movement has managed to maintain undiminished stamina and intensity’ The four-month-old anti-China protest in Hong Kong, dubbed the Water Revolution, has been an extraordinary success. Required by circumstances to evolve
‘Capitalitis’ makes Celts cringe
The Scots are on the march. The Northern Irish are drifting south. The Welsh are roused from their slumber. A once-United Kingdom, goaded beyond endurance by Brexit, suddenly looks less united. The
Britain’s constitution needs respect, not rewriting
‘Accountability is the antithesis of independence. Judges who hold their positions at the pleasure of the executive will be expected to please the executive. Which, of course, is the whole idea’ Someone