World

Friday

Sam Meadows

Milei freed the peso. Argentina’s economy survived

It was Argentina’s ‘liberation day’, Javier Milei proclaimed last week after meeting US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Pink House, Argentina’s presidential palace. On Friday, he had shocked the country by lifting the cepo – ‘clamp’ in Spanish – which has restricted currency trades in South America’s second-largest economy for so long. ‘After 15 years of capital controls, we have cast off the anvil to which we were chained,’ Milei said. Lifting the cepo was a key part of Milei’s policy agenda. Nevertheless, few expected him to do anything before mid-term elections in October. But doing so was a key requirement of the disbursement of $20bn from the International Monetary Fund, also announced on

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Is the US getting closer to a Ukraine deal?

US special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia this morning to meet with Vladimir Putin, as Donald Trump ploughs ahead with his plan to secure a peace deal in Ukraine by hook or by crook. This is the pair’s fourth meeting in nearly as many months. Putin and Witkoff are expected to discuss Trump’s final proposal for a ceasefire in the conflict, which is believed to include American recognition of Russian control over Crimea, along with all territories occupied by Moscow since February 2022, a ban on Ukraine joining Nato and the lifting of all sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated earlier this week that

Jim Lawley

Spain’s defence spending boost pleases nobody

Just a week after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Spain to spend more on defence, the country’s socialist prime minister, has unveiled a massive defence development initiative costing over ten billion euros (£8.5 billion). This new plan raises Spain’s defence budget from a mere 1.4 per cent of its GDP, the lowest amongst Nato’s 32 members, to Nato’s current target of two per cent. When announcing the measure, prime minister Pedro Sánchez notably refrained from mentioning Bessent’s directive or US president Donald Trump’s pointed observation that ‘Spain is very low’ in defence spending. He did, however, frame the decision as a necessary response to new global realities: ‘We are

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

What Pope Francis got wrong about illegal migration

Migrants have been pouring into the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa this month. Over 100 on Monday and 344 on Wednesday; the previous week 269 landed, and at the start of April more than 1,000 arrived in a 48-hour period. They are Eritreans, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Guineans, Moroccans, Syrians, Malaysians, Somalis and Senegalese but the three nationalities most heavily represented are Bangladeshis, Egyptians and Pakistanis. Most told their rescuers that they set out from Libya. So much for Giorgia Meloni’s efforts to persuade Libya to work with her to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean. Last year the Italian PM, supported by the EU, signed deals with Libya and Tunisia;

Terry Barnes

Do young Australians still care about Anzac Day?

Today is Anzac Day, arguably the most solemnly sacred day in the Australian calendar. At dawn on this day in 1915, as part of an Anglo-French operation, men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on a rocky beach on Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula in the face of murderous fire from Turkish defenders. Many died then and there. Many more were doomed to fight, suffer and die in a losing campaign, pitted against an enemy they scarcely knew, in a European war that could have, should have, been averted in July 1914. The greatest Anzac military achievement of the Gallipoli campaign was a masterly overnight withdrawal, without a single

Samaan Lateef

Will India strike back after the Kashmir terror attack?

India is bracing for a potential military confrontation with Pakistan after a deadly terrorist attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir left 26 people dead, triggering a wave of national outrage and sharpening regional tensions. The assault – described by authorities as the deadliest attack on civilians in the region in recent years – claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one foreigner. While no group has claimed responsibility, Indian officials have pointed fingers across the border, reigniting old hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Addressing a rally in Bihar, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking unusually in English, delivered a fiery speech signalling retaliation. ‘India will identify, trace, and

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The EU’s new travel rules won’t stop illegal migration

Like it or not, for ordinary people, Brexit is about to make itself felt in a way which it has not done so far. MEPs have finally given their approval to the EU’s much-delayed Entry and Exit System (EES), which will now be introduced over a six month period starting in October. It means that from that date, all visitors with a UK passport will have to have a facial scan and their fingerprints taken at the border when they travel to the EU. In the case of Eurostar passengers and those taking Eurotunnel or sea routes, the biometric information will be collected physically in Britain before you leave –

Eliot Wilson

Trump should be allowed to address Parliament

Labour MPs have been busy this week. No, not running the country – but voicing their opposition to Donald Trump’s state visit. Diane Abbott, Nadia Whittome and Clive Lewis are among 17 parliamentarians campaigning to ensure the US President isn’t allowed to address the Houses of Parliament. Their Early Day Motion rehearses various criticisms of the President – ‘misogynism, racism and xenophobia’ and his treatment of Ukraine – and says it would be ‘inappropriate’ for Trump to be given the honour when he comes to the UK in September. Like him or loathe him, MPs must treat Trump with respec This legislative stunt is unlikely to trouble Trump. The Early Day Motion

Owen Matthews

Owen Matthews, Matthew Parris, Marcus Nevitt, Angus Colwell and Sean Thomas

31 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Owen Matthews reads his letter from Rome (1:21); Matthew Parris travels the Channel Islands (7:53); Reviewing Minoo Dinshaw, Marcus Nevitt looks at Bulstrode Whitelocke and Edward Hyde, once close colleagues who fell out during the English civil war (15:19); Angus Colwell discusses his Marco Pierre White obsession, aided by the chef himself (21:26); and, Sean Thomas provides his notes on boredom (26:28).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

James Tidmarsh

The African cardinal who terrifies Macron

Cardinal Robert Sarah from Guinea in West Africa has been named among the potential successors to Pope Francis and the prospect is sending a jolt through the French establishment. He has accused the West of betraying its Christian roots and described mass migration as a form of ‘self destruction’. He has spoken of immigration as a ‘new form of slavery’ created by Europe’s failure to defend its identity and has called on young Africans to remain in their own countries and build their futures at home. In 2021, during an interview on French radio, he made one of his most quoted comments: ‘If Europe continues in this way, it will

Thursday

Owen Matthews

‘Vladimir, STOP!’ – Trump is being humiliated by Putin

Theodore Roosevelt was a believer in speaking softly but carrying a big stick. But where does that leave Donald Trump, who today resorted to all-caps plea, or perhaps demand, that Putin ‘STOP!’ his offensive operations against Ukrainian cities – yet backed up his entreaty with precisely nothing?  ‘I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV.’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social after footage emerged of civilians buried under rubble in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa. ‘Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!’  The message was a rare instance of Trump directly criticising Putin. Indeed, just a few hours before the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine’s capital, Trump

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Can Rachel Reeves woo Trump’s team – without alienating the EU?

The government is on a charm offensive in Washington. Tonight, Britain’s ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson, will host officials from Donald Trump’s government and American business figures at the British embassy. Tomorrow, the Chancellor will meet her counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Rachel Reeves is looking to permanently end the punishing 25 per cent tariff on British cars and 10 per levy on other exports. Reeves has given an interview to one of Trump’s favourite channels, Newsmax, in which she was asked about her upcoming meeting with Bessent. In response, Reeves said she believed ‘there was a deal to be done’ and that both Keir Starmer’s and Trump’s governments

Michael Simmons Michael Simmons

Who do voters trust most on the economy?

12 min listen

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been in Washington D.C. this week at the IMF’s spring meetings, and will meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tomorrow. Cue the ususal talk of compromising on chlorinated chicken. Not so, reports the Spectator’s economics editor Michael Simmons, who explains that Reeves may offer a reduction in long-standing tariffs already imposed on American cars. But, it’s been a bad week of economic news for the Chancellor as the IMF downgraded the UK’s growth forecast.  We’re also one week away from the local elections – Starmer’s first big test since last year’s general election. The economy isn’t usually the number one issue at local elections but, as More in

Matthew Lynn

Can Rachel Reeves get a US trade deal over the line?

As the Chancellor Rachel Reeves flies into Washington for a series of high-level meetings, there is lots of spin from the Treasury that she is about to tie up a trade deal with the United States. The plan is that it would save the UK from tariffs and may even give a much needed boost to the British economy. But all the evidence we have tells us that Reeves is a terrible negotiator who constantly overestimates her own abilities. It is far more likely she will blow the deal at the last minute.  It hardly sounds like a very promising meeting. On Friday, Reeves is due to meet with President

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

What the exploding DHL packages tell us about the Kremlin

The unfolding tale of incendiary devices planted in DHL packages across Europe not only highlights the dangers of Moscow’s campaign of direct measures against the West. It also suggests that, contrary to more alarmist claims, it is possible for such threats to be deterred and limited. In July of last year, a package bound for Britain ignited in the section of Leipzig airport devoted to DHL cargo freight. Another caught fire later that month in a DHL depot in Birmingham. Two more were found in Poland, one of which set light to a warehouse in Warsaw, while the other was successfully intercepted. After the US government’s quiet intervention, Moscow did

Henry Hill

Conservatives all over the Anglosphere are paying the price for Trump

It is the great good fortune of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to be united by a common language, and a misfortune of even greater magnitude that they share that language with the United States. America is a very different country to the four Commonwealth realms sometimes brigaded together under the ugly acronym ‘Canzuk’. It has a different constitution, a different culture and a very different history. Where for many years the four were partners (if hardly equal partners) in the common project of the Empire, the United States was, from its foundation, a determined and eventually successful enemy of the same. For Conservatives who tend to dream of

Wednesday

Yossi Melman

Netanyahu is facing a brewing military rebellion in Israel

On Monday this week, Ronen Bar, head of Israel’s security service Shin Bet, challenged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire him in the country’s Supreme Court, blocking it – at least temporarily. He was supported in his claim by a number of civic groups and former military generals, including the former senior air commander Nimrod Sheffer, stating that Netanyahu wanted to get rid of him after suspecting that Bar was not loyal to him. The Shin Bet chief provided the court with classified documents showing that Netanyahu wished to turn the agency into his private secret police, like those in some dictatorial regimes. Bar also wrote in his

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Why Trump’s team snubbed the London Ukraine peace talks

Has the moment arrived when Donald Trump abandons the last iota of his support for Ukraine in the war against Russia? Taking to his social media platform, Truth, the American President appeared to suggest so. Referring to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump wrote, ‘He can have peace, or he can fight for another three years before losing the country’. The latest trigger for Trump’s ire against Zelensky appears to be the Ukrainian President’s firm rejection of any peace deal that included Ukraine having to concede Crimea – illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 – as legal Russian territory. ‘Ukraine does not legally recognise the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Parliament’s moral posturing on Israel is delusional

What’s the point of parliament’s foreign affairs committee holding mock-trial style hearings about Israel’s defensive war against Iranian-backed terror groups? Do its members genuinely believe that such performative enquiries contribute to peace in the Middle East? One wonders how Britain might respond if the Israeli Knesset held public hearings into British issues – on Muslim rape gangs, on two-tier policing, or on the stifling of political speech through Orwellian ‘non-crime hate incidents’. The UK would howl in protest. Yet it presumes the right to dissect Israel’s wartime conduct as if from a position of moral superiority, devoid of historical context and strategic understanding. Some seemed more intent on using me

Ian Williams Ian Williams

China smells victory in its tariff war with Trump

It was an extraordinary statement, given all the bluster that had gone before it. Tariffs on Chinese goods will ‘come down substantially’ from their current level of 145 per cent, Donald Trump said on Tuesday, adding that ‘We are doing fine with China … We’re going to live together very happily and ideally work together’. Perhaps the message was aimed at placating the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings taking place in Washington this week. The IMF slashed its growth forecasts for the United States, China and most other countries, blaming US tariffs and warned that things could get a lot worse. Xi is calculating that Trump is