World

Tuesday

Bronwyn Jones

Did Blair really rebuild Kosovo?

Donald Trump seems to be questioning Tony Blair’s inclusion in the so-called ‘Board of Peace’ to rebuild Gaza. On Monday, speaking on Air Force One, the President said, ‘I like Tony, I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody’. Those backing Blair’s bid to be involved in the peace plan point to his role in rebuilding Kosovo. If he did it there he could surely do the same in Gaza, they argue. But is Kosovo really an example of successful nation building? And how much credit should we give to Tony Blair if it is? Blair may have created a plan

Monday

James Tidmarsh

Macron has to choose: humiliation or defeat?

Emmanuel Macron’s presidency is imploding, squeezed between enemies he can no longer outmanoeuvre. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise, joined by the Socialists, have united to force yet another no-confidence vote, this time set for Thursday. Once the master of France’s centre, Macron’s political survival hinges on a humiliating surrender of his flagship pension reform, or a headlong rush into legislative elections his party cannot win. Macron presents every decision as an act of duty, then retreats when his own powers are threatened. The result is a presidency that has lost its moral centre as well as its political one The Lecornu government 2.0 was meant

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Donald Trump is the real anti-fascist hero

Tell me: who has done more for the cause of anti-fascism? Real anti-fascism? Those masked mummy’s boys of the Antifa movement for whom ‘fighting fascism’ means little more than hurling abuse at blue-collar oiks who voted for Donald Trump? Or Donald Trump himself, the man they love to loathe, who today accomplished the miraculous feat of liberating 20 Israelis from the anti-Semitic hell of Hamas captivity? It’s Trump, isn’t it? Today should be the day that Trump Derangement Syndrome is laid to rest As of today, following the soul-stirring emancipation of the last living Israeli hostages, whenever I hear the phrase ‘anti-fascist’ I will think of Trump. Forget those sun-starved

Jonathan Sacerdoti

The relief, joy and grief of Israel’s hostage homecoming

This morning in Israel began like no other: layered, dissonant, momentous. A collision of spectacle and salvation, of grief and hope, of noise and meaning. It was a morning composed of many parts: part show, part hope, part illusion, part bluster, part redemption, part commercial deal, part peace plan, part threat, part diplomacy, part war. For a few hours, all those contradictions briefly aligned to form a kind of harmony. They may yet fall apart again but, for now, they have converged in one extraordinary sequence of events. Palestinians not aligned with the regime’s grip are being hunted down, tortured, and silenced On one side of the news screen, Donald

Sunday

Tom Gross

The folly of releasing Hamas terrorists for peace

Sorry to spoil the party, but there’s one aspect of this week’s Middle East peace deal which is pure madness. As part of the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Israel is set to free 250 Palestinian terrorists serving lengthy prison sentences for murder and other serious offences. Many of them have boasted of their crimes and said they would happily carry them out again. (Up to 1,700 Hamas fighters captured during the current war are also set to be freed, but may be worth releasing if this deal brings an end to the conflict.) This kind of terrible deal-making will surely only encourage the future kidnapping of other innocent people by

David Cohen

Why the Maori party keep doing the haka in parliament

Parliamentary proceedings in New Zealand once again screeched to a halt this week after an unsanctioned performance of the haka caused bedlam in the country’s normally genteel debating chamber, forcing the speaker to suspend the House. The latest war dance took place on Thursday after a new MP, Oriini Kaipara, 42, of the nativist Maori party, finished her maiden speech in the House of Representatives with a deafening flourish. On cue, supporters in the gallery leapt to their feet and broke into a ferocious haka to show their support for the television presenter turned politician, with Kaipara herself joining in the ruckus. The haka may generate online clicks, but for

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Japan has a bear problem

In a scenario out of a horror film, or Werner Herzog documentary perhaps, Japan is experiencing a spate of bear attacks, including a series of fatalities. Over the last few years, the number of encounters, attacks and deaths have all surged. This year alone, since April, 200 people have been attacked and six killed. The ongoing grisliness is threatening to seriously impact tourism in certain areas. Most attacks are in the northern island of Hokkaido, known as ‘Japan’s last frontier’ Some of the stories are the stuff of nightmares, such as when an 81-year-old woman in Iwate was mauled to death inside her own home in July – or the

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

What does it mean ‘to forgive’?

34 min listen

The announcement by Erika Kirk – the widow of assassinated political activist Charlie Kirk – that she forgave her husband’s killer, has led many to question the nature of Christian forgiveness. Granting forgiveness can seem hard for the smallest of crimes, let alone the murder of a close family member, so how can other people follow Erika’s example? One person who sadly knows better than most is Professor Everett Worthington. Prof. Worthington is Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University and a clinical psychologist who has studied forgiveness throughout his career. However, it isn’t just through academia that he understands forgiveness; when his mother was murdered, he also made the decision

Friday

Madeline Grant

When will Labour be honest about its China spy problem?

Yvette Cooper managed to say ‘let me be clear’ twice, in a couple of minutes during her interview with Nick Robinson on the Today Programme this morning. For seasoned Labour-watchers, the phrase ‘let me be clear’ was one inherited from the grand panjandrum of political deceit – Tony Blair himself – and is almost always an indicator that the person saying is it about to be as unclear as possible. They might as well walk around with the phrase ‘I’m lying’ written on their foreheads in red paint, so obvious an indicator of incoming deceit it is. If these are the grown ups, then send in the clowns The Foreign Secretary

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is AI satanic?

28 min listen

Max Tegmark is an author and professor doing AI and physics research at MIT. He joins Freddy to discuss the moral and spiritual dangers of artificial intelligence, the rise of Silicon Valley’s ‘tech overlords’, and why he believes technology must remain a tool – not a master.

Jonathan Sacerdoti

The real Gaza deal unfolds in the next 72 hours

The machine is beginning to turn. The ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas, brokered with the direct involvement of President Trump, his envoy Steve Witkoff, and adviser Jared Kushner, has now formally taken effect. Hostages are not yet returned, but the mechanism for their release is in place. According to the agreement, Hamas must release all 20 living hostages within 72 hours. The countdown has begun. Hamas must release all 20 living hostages within 72 hours. The countdown has begun Israel is redeploying troops along new lines in accordance with the terms. American forces, around 200 personnel, are arriving in Israel to support a joint control centre intended to coordinate

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

The Nobel snub won’t bother Trump

Of course, Donald Trump has not won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Scandinavian grandees on the committee wouldn’t dream of honouring him. It was silly to think that they would. The award has gone instead to María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure, so well done to her. Still, it speaks to the fundamental vanity of our age that the Nobel is today’s big story, as if the complexity of world affairs can be boiled down to a yearly episode of Peace Has Got Talent. The Nobel is a joke and has been for some time The headlines chirp that Trump has ‘failed in his bid’ to secure the prize. And

Stephen Pollard

Donald Trump is an awful person – but a brilliant president

Donald Trump is a bully. He is a braggart. He is venal. But, as this week’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas shows, he is also capable of acts of uniquely brilliant statecraft. The US president is a master at using the hard power of his office to force changes that make the world a better place. Trump and LBJ both demonstrate how loathsome people can do good things Fascinatingly, because it shows how we tend to look at politicians through a two-dimensional prism, those words could also be applied to another, relatively recent, US president: Lyndon B Johnson. Trump and LBJ both demonstrate how loathsome people can nonetheless do

Sam Goodman

Britain should be wary of BYD, China’s EV powerhouse

From Thailand to Brazil, a surge of imports from Chinese electric vehicle (EV) producer BYD has the familiar pattern of being followed by the destruction of domestic automotive jobs. The UK is unlikely to be the exception. This week’s news that Britain has become the number one market for BYD should ring alarm bells. Our domestic automotive producers, that have already announced thousands of job losses this year, are unlikely to emerge unharmed. BYD increased its sales in the UK by 880 per cent in September For two years, analysts and policymakers have warned of the economic risk Chinese EVs pose to the legacy automotive industry through a new wave of deindustrialisation and

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

What will the Israel haters do now?

Normal people are cheering the prospect of peace in Gaza. Some might even raise a glass to Donald Trump for his valiant efforts to end this horrible war Hamas started. But there are others who will be feeling forlorn. The anti-Israel mob, to be specific. Won’t you spare a thought for this tragic community that built its entire personality around hating Israel – what are they going to do now? There is an eerie silence in anti-Israel circles There is an eerie silence in anti-Israel circles this morning. The people who spent the past two years hollering ‘Ceasefire now!’ seem strangely downbeat about the prospect of a ceasefire. No doubt

Thursday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Does Pete Hegseth know what he’s doing?

35 min listen

Pete Hegseth has declared war on ‘fat generals’ and DEI in the US army – but why have standards slipped? Chris Caldwell joins Freddy Gray to discuss why the current administration feels so passionately about forcing a ‘major cultural shift’ in the military, plus the legacies of Bill Clinton’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy and Joe Biden’s acceptance of transgender troops. They also talk about the differences between America’s ‘Marshal spirit’ and British ‘obsession’ with World War Two, and why one country is more deferential to their veterans than the other.

Magdalena Farrell

Papà, you are wrong: Meloni is complicit in genocide

On Saturday, our Italy correspondent Nicholas Farrell asked readers for their help in persuading his Italian wife and six children that Israel is not guilty of genocide in Gaza, a genocide they believe Giorgia Meloni is complicit in. His daughter, Magdalena, 18, has asked for a right of reply, which we are publishing below: Dearest Papà, Sorry but I’m not going to let you get away unchallenged with speaking behind our backs in The Spectator about me, mamma and my five brothers and sisters. Here’s my response, on our behalf, to your rat-like plea for help from readers on how to persuade us we are wrong about the genocidal behaviour of the

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Can Trump’s Gaza peace deal last?

There is no office more burdened by impossible choices than that of the Israeli prime minister. When Benjamin Netanyahu steps into the cabinet room today to present the Gaza ceasefire deal, he does so not as a tactician manoeuvring for political points, but as a statesman carrying the unbearable weight of a people’s pain, fear, and moral resolve. By contrast, the commentator’s role is easier. We have the luxury of analysis, the freedom to err, and none of the irredeemable consequences. He does not. The Palestinian movement has not earned peace. It must show that it wants more than survival, more than revenge, more than martyrdom. That it wants a

Sam Olsen

What the China spy case farce says about Britain

Only in Britain could a spy trial collapse because no one in government could decide who the enemy was. The case against two men accused of passing secrets to China did not fail for lack of evidence or investigative effort, but because the Crown Prosecution Service could not extract from Whitehall a simple statement that China was, at the time, a ‘threat to national security.’ Without that label, the law would not allow the case to proceed. A nation that once prided itself on clarity of purpose now finds itself paralysed by its own semantics. A nation that once prided itself on clarity of purpose now finds itself paralysed by

Ian Williams Ian Williams

Did Jonathan Powell torpedo the China espionage trial?

The antics of Keir Starmer and his top security adviser over the collapsed China espionage case bring to mind the slapstick British movie Carry On Spying – which is precisely the message it will have conveyed to Beijing. Instead of Bernard Cribbins, Kenneth Williams and their team of fictional incompetents, the real-life Whitehall farce has Jonathan Powell on a single-minded mission to appease China. Powell, Starmer’s national security adviser, has been accused of torpedoing the trial to avoid embarrassing China at a time when he is leading efforts to rebuild diplomatic ties with Xi Jinping. One can only imagine the despair in Britain’s security agencies and the Crown Prosecution Service,