World

Laura Freeman

Brits in Paris

‘Yes, it’s here!’ says the sign above the English épicerie in Paris. ‘Yes, at last,’ thinks the starved expat wandering in a desert of croissants, magret de canard and monts blancs. Now for some real food: Fray Bentos pies, Quaker Oats, Fentimans lemonade, HP Sauce, Marmite, Tetley’s, Twinings, Dorset cereals, Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut, Altoids mints and Macsween  haggis. As a sop to Americans: Pop-Tarts, Lucky Charms, Aunt Jemima’s pancakes and marshmallow fluff in a jar. I know an Englishman who walks the length of the Canal Saint-Martin for proper Yorkshire Tea. There is a Pont cartoon ‘The British Character: Importance of Tea’ which shows four doughty picnickers getting an

Stephen Daisley

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the left’s Sarah Palin | 9 January 2019

When the media falls in love, it falls hard. Its latest crush is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat congressgirl from New York. With Obama gone, she’s their new idol and how they gasp every time she flutters her Bambi eyes from behind those Deirdre Barlow-grade glasses. Brits find the deference US journalists show their president unseemly — all that standing to attention, Hail to the Chief stuff — but their slobbery swooning over every Great Progressive Hope that comes along is just creepy. There was the White House correspondent who offered to fellate Bill Clinton and the New York Times writer who blogged her shower dream about Barack Obama and claimed ‘many

Cindy Yu

‘Are you blind?’ – Chinese tabloid takes a swipe at the New York Times

This week, humanity made first contact with the dark side of the moon, thanks to China. A Chinese unmanned spacecraft, Chang’e-4, has been able to send back visuals of just what it looks like: Chinese media exploded in a burst of pride. Given this is the first time any human contact has been made with the back of the moon and the achievement had been lauded as ‘impressive’ by Nasa, you might expect the state newspapers to have been a little smug or superior. But coverage has been surprisingly gracious and lauded the moment as significant for mankind. The People’s Daily newspaper writes a technical front-page story, with the headline

Gavin Mortimer

Why Isis is a bigger threat to France than the yellow vests

Where ever one looks in France at the start of 2019 one sees only ominous signs. In his New Year’s message to his people Emmanuel Macron issued a robust warning to the gilets jaunes, elements of which he described as ‘a hate-filled crowd’. Accusing them of having attacked the police, the media, Jews and homosexuals, the president vowed that ‘Republican order will be ensured with no leniency’. That drew a swift retort from one of the self-styled yellow vest movement leaders, Maxime Nicolle, who in a facebook post, predicted an ‘armed uprising’, adding that ‘a lot of people are ready to lose their lives in the hope of a better future’.

The new boat people

When the migrant crisis started, about three years ago, it was seen as a mainly Syrian affair. Caught in the crossfire between Bashar al-Assad and sundry jihadist groups, ordinary Syrians were heading for Europe, part of the largest mass movement of people since the second world war. But as we now know, that analysis was wrong. Or rather, it was only one facet of the historical migration phenomenon that was unfolding then and still is today. As a reporter, I hit the migrant trail, following the new arrivals by foot, bus, train and ferry through the Greek islands and the Balkans. I heard many languages besides Arabic, among them Pashto,

Is Mitt Romney the NeverTrumpers’ great hope?

Is Mitt Romney the mouse that roared? Or does he pose a real threat to President Trump? In his Washington Post op-ed, Romney bludgeons Trump: ‘the president has not risen to the mantle of his office.’ Move over Elizabeth Warren. It looks like the real civil war will be in the Republican, not the Democratic, party. Romney has been all over the map when it comes to Trump, seeking his endorsement seven years ago, importuning him for the Secretary of State post, only to denounce him once he’s floundering. Romney’s pious conclusion — ‘the people of this great land will eschew the politics of anger and fear if they are summoned to

Lionel Shriver

What have migrants got against France?

Pitching your tent for weeks on end in the cold and mud, with no power or plumbing. Running in a pack after accelerating lorries and clutching frantically at the back door handles. Risking not only your own life but even the lives of your children by crowding into unseaworthy dinghies, in which to drift precariously across the busiest shipping lane in the world… All this full-tilt determination to flee intolerable circumstances and get into the comparative Valhalla of the UK makes perfect sense — if the place you’re so desperate to leave behind is war-torn Syria or famine-ravaged Yemen. But the country on whose coast these yearning, immiserated would-be UK

A model president

From The Spectator, 4 January 1919: President Wilson arrived in London on Thursday week, and was greeted with full expression of the heartiest goodwill. The welcome began at Dover; and when the visitors drove through the streets of London, they passed through a heavy barrage of cheering, which was renewed when the President appeared with the King on a balcony of Buckingham Palace. On Friday week the President, after a conference with the Prime Minister and Mr Balfour, was the chief guest at a State Banquet given by the King, who, in proposing his guest’s health, said that he spoke at an historic moment, nearly 150 years after the proclamation of the

Ross Clark

Returning migrants to France is the most humane option

Last week the government awarded a £13.8 million contract to operate a new ferry service between Ramsgate and Northern France in the event of a no-deal Brexit – the money going to a company which, as yet, seems to possess no ferries. But that is a minor misuse of public money compared with the costs that the government will impose upon itself if it fails to tackle that other embryonic cross-Channel ferry service – the one being operated by Border Force and RNLI in conjunction with a bunch of thugs with a flotilla of rubber dinghies. Fresh back from his safari holiday, Sajid Javid today has a chance to respond

Dominic Green

Amos Oz, a giant of Israeli literature and politics

In Western democracies, literature no longer matters to politics. Once, literature and politics could co-exist on the same typewriter or in the same person: George Orwell in Britain, André Malraux in France. But that was a long time ago. Still, the powers of politics remain linguistic, whether bureaucratic or rhetorical: the war criminal at his desk, the elected representative on her Twitter. Amos Oz, the Israeli novelist who died today aged 79, was living proof of the political powers of literature. In Israel, which is a Western democracy most of the time, Oz is seen as a great writer but a failed politician. In the West, he is seen as

Gavin Mortimer

Where did it all go wrong for Emmanuel Macron?

Twelve months ago Le Journal du Dimanche published an opinion poll in which Emmanuel Macron had an approval rating of 52 per cent. A fortnight ago the same paper ran a poll in which the president’s popularity stood at 23 per cent. Where has it gone so wrong for the man once likened among sections of the French press to a cross between Jupiter and Christ? More to the point how could The Spectator get it so wrong in running a piece last December entitled ‘Macron is becoming the darling of the Deplorables’? I can only assume that when I wrote that article, in particular the line about Macron having

How did people end up believing in Trump?

Jon Sopel, the BBC’s North America editor, has given us a pithy and perceptive account of today’s USA in his book If Only They Didn’t Speak English. He described the mood there in 2016 as ‘fearful, angry and impatient for change’. It was the year when Donald Trump was going to be elected to the world’s most powerful position. Could something similar also explain the unpredicted swings in European elections and across the world? If so, does it mean that people are so fed up with the status quo that they will opt for anything contrary? The oft-quoted aphorism from G.K. Chesterton comes to mind: ‘When men choose not to

Lionel Shriver

Why Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony didn’t make me cry | 24 December 2018

We’re closing 2018 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 8: Lionel Shriver on the Brett Kavanaugh hearings: Following Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony about being sexually assaulted by the US Supreme Court nominee when he was 17, numerous women on American news reported that listening to her terrible story made them cry. I didn’t cry. Indeed, my reaction to Ford’s statement was at such odds with the garment–rending anguish of my fellow Democrats that I had to wonder whether either I’d missed something or maybe there was something wrong with me. So I just read the entire transcript. I hadn’t missed anything. As for whether

Gavin Mortimer

The link between the gilet jaunes and the Strasbourg attack

There are conspiracy theories doing the rounds in France among some gilets jaunes that Tuesday’s Islamist attack in Strasbourg was somehow fabricated by the government. It was cooked up, so the social media conspirators say, to deter demonstrators from launching a fifth weekend of protests. The various theories are all very far-fetched. The alleged gunman, Chérif Chekatt, who was shot dead by police on Thursday evening, had a history of violent crime and, more significantly, is believed to have been converted to Islamic extremism while in prison. It’s a back story shared by several other Islamists who have carried out attacks in France in the last six and a half

Jamal Khashoggi is the right TIME Person of the Year – for all the wrong reasons

TIME magazine has lost relevance, in the United States and globally. The only thing it is now known for is its Person of the Year issue, the 2018 edition of which was out on Tuesday. Historically, its editors have chosen ‘the person or thing that had the greatest impact on the news, for good or ill – guidelines that leave them no choice but to select a newsworthy – not necessarily praiseworthy – cover subject.’ If only that ambiguous sentiment had determined this year’s choice: killed and imprisoned journalists. The magazine calls them ‘The Guardians’, who were chosen ‘for taking great risks in pursuit of greater truths, for the imperfect

Relations between the US and EU have gone from bad to worse

One of the most important duties of being an ambassador is serving as a counsellor of sorts. When relations between two countries are on the rocks – or a president or prime minister says or does something another nation regards as hostile – the ambassador is often called on to ensure that any diplomatic fallout can be contained and the relationship itself can be repaired. Apparently Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, didn’t get the memo.   In an extraordinarily frank interview with Politico Europe this week, ambassador Sondland blasted the EU as an archaic, obstructionist, elitist European superstructure whose primary objective is to keep itself in business. The European Commission,

Freddy Gray

Ever Trump

 Washington, DC Trump never sleeps, loyalists say – he spends every hour Making America Great Again Donald Trump derangement syndrome works both ways. It makes the President’s enemies hate him so much they go insane. It also affects Trump’s allies and supporters, who love him so much that they have become demented. Among Republicans in Washington, you still have elitist Never Trumpers, who loathe him with a pathological fury. You also have a growing number of insider loyalists who revere him so intensely that they’ve gone blind. They are Ever Trumpers. Ever Trumpers are specialists in doublespeak. On the one hand, they talk about what a triumphant hero the President

Lionel Shriver

You can’t possibly hate cyclists more than we hate each other

I’ve cycled for primary transportation for 53 years. Accordingly, I’m not naive about the degree of resentment — nay, loathing — that the general population harbours towards what I’m reluctant to dub the ‘cycling community’, since no group of people behaves less like brethren. You may hate cyclists, but you can’t possibly hate cyclists more than they hate each other. Nevertheless, ever since pedal-pushers in London have multiplied by a factor of a bazillion in the past few years, numerous of my encounters in traffic have entailed a degree of incendiary rage that takes even this cynical veteran of the cycling wars aback. All these incidents, if you can call

Gavin Mortimer

Has Macron done enough to stop the yellow vest protests?

Emmanuel Macron spoke to the French people for thirteen minutes on Monday evening. It was an uncharacteristically sombre address from the president, one in which he admitted he had to take his ‘share of responsibility’ for the anger that provoked the yellow vest movement. As well as conceding he ‘might have hurt people with my words’, Macron also announced a series of measures that he hopes will defuse the discontent of his people and bring an end to the violent chaos across the country that has cost retailers alone upwards of €1b since it began on November 17. An additional €100 a month will be added to the minimum wage

Jonathan Miller

Macron is right about France’s trouble. But he’s the wrong man to fix them

Paris is not burning. Or, only a little bit is burning this evening. President Emmanuel Macron flooded the zone with twice as many police as last week. Then, there was the dawn roundup of hundreds of known troublemakers. Kettling the gilets jaunes in the Champs Elysée was a good way of preventing them from getting up to mischief on the side streets. And there were armoured personnel carriers parked at the Arc de Triomphe, should anyone doubt the government’s determination. Macron may claim to have won this round but, like Pyrrhus, one other such victory would utterly undo him. Whatever he says when he breaks his silence tomorrow, the optics