World

It wasn’t so long ago when Beto O’Rourke, the punk-rock band member and three-term congressman from West Texas, was the man to beat. O’Rourke was the energetic, dashing politician who looked like a Kennedy and talked like a Kennedy. He may have lost his Senate campaign to the incumbent Ted Cruz, but he made history by scooping up over £64m ($80m) in fundraising in the process. His three-percentage point loss was the closest a Democrat in Texas came to winning a state-wide race in over 25 years. Beto is learning, however, that running a national campaign for president is a different animal—and that viral moments and smooth oratory on countertops

There’s nobody who writes true-life spy stories like Ben MacIntyre — and with his latest book The Spy and the Traitor out in paperback, Ben joins me to talk about the astonishing career of Oleg Gordievsky, a single spy who really did change the whole course of the Cold War. Ben tells me about Oleg’s rise, his downfall, his daring escape from Moscow — and how he lives now and what he thinks of the situation between Russia and the West these days. Plus, the peculiar role in the whole tale of Dire Straits’s Brothers In Arms…

There is fresh hope for Venezuelans this week as Norway seeks to broker a new round of talks between the Maduro regime and Juan Guaido’s opposition party. The hope is that if Maduro is offered a way to end his rule without international repercussions or imprisonment, he may be prepared to stand down. Norway has a long history of playing the middle man in these kinds of political talks. But is it being optimistic in thinking it can bring about change in Venezuela? After all, it isn’t simply a case of getting Maduro and Guaido to agree to a transition. Venezuela has become an international pawn, caught between the US’s

How utterly predictable that Extinction Rebellion should have re-emerged this week to block streets with its boats. You just have to ask yourself what happened last week: most universities broke up for the summer. The group’s activities have now settled into something of a pattern. When universities are on vacation we get these big protests, sucking in protesters from all over the country. During term-time, on the other hand, we get small protests in university towns as we had in Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh in May and June. It says all you need to know about Extinction Rebellion – it is, above all else, a movement of students and left-wing

When I last talked to Sir Kim Darroch, he was a slim young private secretary, so it was a long time ago; but I can categorically state that President Trump is wrong to call him ‘wacky and a very stupid guy’. His particular sort of mandarin ‘Rolls-Royce mind’ intelligence does, however, amount to a form of stupidity when confronted with Mr Trump. Intellects like Sir Kim’s are slower than those of ordinary mortals to spot Trump’s communicative genius. They cannot see that it keeps him ahead of the game. It is really remarkable that a 73-year-old man can be such a master of forms of social media which did not

When I last talked to Sir Kim Darroch, he was a slim young private secretary, so it was a long time ago; but I can categorically state that President Trump is wrong to call him ‘wacky and a very stupid guy’. His particular sort of mandarin ‘Rolls-Royce mind’ intelligence does, however, amount to a form of stupidity when confronted with Mr Trump. Intellects like Sir Kim’s are slower than those of ordinary mortals to spot Trump’s communicative genius. They cannot see that it keeps him ahead of the game. It is really remarkable that a 73-year-old man can be such a master of forms of social media which did not

Donald Trump is at it again. Only a few hours after his Twitter outburst last night, the president has taken another pop at the UK’s ambassador in Washington. This time, Trump called Sir Kim Darroch ‘wacky’, ’very stupid’ and a ‘pompous fool’. Trump didn’t stop there though, picking up where he left off yesterday by slating May’s Brexit negotiations – and, of course, recounting how the Prime Minister made a mistake by turning down his Brexit advice. Here is what Trump had to say: Mr S particularly enjoyed the sign off on this latest Trump Twitter blast: It’s good to see that the special relationship is alive and well…

As the Women’s World Cup drew to a close yesterday, the noise around the ground wasn’t just generated by fans celebrating the continued dominance of the United States. The crowd also chanted in support of equal pay and booed FIFA president Gianni Infantino.  Their problem? The lower prize money and pay earned by female players compared to their male counterparts. The prize money for the women’s tournament is £24m ($30m), while the total for the men’s competition last year came to £319m ($400m). So in the face of this seemingly undeniable inequity it seems Megan Rapinoe, captain of the US team, is right to back the chanting. But in fact

If you believe the American and British media, the people of Hong Kong have launched a democratic revolution and are being cruelly repressed. None of this is true, but let’s not let that get in the way of our principles. Western liberals assume that disorder is revolutionary and democratic, and that it tends towards liberal and egalitarian outcomes. These touching assumptions reflect the fading memory of twentieth-century American and British politics, and not the plentiful evidence that democratic revolutions usually tend towards tyranny — which is what happened in Russia in 1917, in Germany shortly afterwards, in Egypt more recently, and, pertinently, in China after 1949. Western liberals also assume

When the tanks were rolling into Tiananmen Square and the Cold War hadn’t yet formally come to an end, it seemed obvious: freedom and democracy were prerequisites for economic success. Yet over the past three decades, China has challenged that notion by creating a model previously unknown to the world: consumer capitalism combined with autocratic government. Under Xi Jinping’s rule, China’s new middle class now enjoys near-western living standards. So long, that is, as it does not question the legitimacy of its leaders. The success of the Chinese model has presented a conundrum for western governments: how to deal with a country that continues to have little regard for human

Of all the gestures calculated to provoke the Chinese government, protesters in Hong Kong chose one particularly bitter insult this week. The old British colonial flag, one quarter of it occupied by a splendid Union Jack, was draped across the furniture of the city’s legislative council as masked, helmeted activists smashed the place up and sprayed slogans demanding freedom. One can see why the average Communist Party cadre might not like the flag very much. Apart from the emblem of an imperialist foreign power, it is adorned by a rather charming coat of arms which shows a lion and a dragon, a crown, a fortress and two trading junks in

Israel Folau is taking Rugby Australia to the Federal Court, after his contract with the national rugby team was terminated in May over an Instagram post which warned that ‘hell awaits’ drunks, homosexuals, atheists and others. Launching the proceedings, Folau said that no Australian of any faith should be fired for practising their religion. Initial court filings revealed that he is seeking up to AUS$10 million in damages for unlawful religious discrimination. The case has already been mired in controversy after Folau attempted to raise AUS$3 million to fund his litigation through a campaign on the GoFundMe website. Many questioned whether it was morally justifiable for the rugby star to ask