World

Kanye West’s association with Donald Trump is well known. But there is another politician that the rapper-turned-political-activist likes to pay attention to this side of the pond: Caroline Lucas. While Kanye has nearly 30 million followers on Twitter, the list of those he follows is far more exclusive – numbering just 120. So imagine Mr S’s surprise when among that distinguished group he spotted the co-leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas: Lucas is the only British politician Kanye follows. So what does Kanye see in her? Among recent pearls of wisdom shared by Lucas are tweets about beer duty, farming and fracking. Move over Trump, there is a new politician

Should you be allowed to say that the founder of one of the world’s largest religions was a paedophile? According to the European Court of Human Rights the answer is ‘no’. In a decision issued this week the Court in Strasbourg ruled that this statement is defamatory towards the prophet of Islam, ‘goes beyond the permissible limits of an objective debate’ and ‘could stir up prejudice and put at risk religious peace.’ Details of the long-running case can be read here. I will come to the civilisational problems with this in a moment. But first allow me to point out what a difficult position this puts my book collection in.

This year’s Orwell Lecture will be delivered by the novelist Kamila Shamsie. She will be complaining, it is announced, about this government’s talk of citizenship being ‘a privilege and not a right’. (Actually, it is both.) No doubt she will have interesting points to make, but it is a pity that Orwell’s flame is always tended by the left. There is a right-wing case for Orwell, or, to be more precise, an anti-left-wing case. Plenty of Orwell’s writing about England could make him a proto-Brexiteer, and it would be interesting to air this just now. His greatest satires were directed chiefly at communists, and he had a hearty dislike of

Campus censorship is a myth. That’s the new line being spun by student union officials and university leaders in response to the campaigners, commentators and politicians raising concerns about the increasingly censorious culture on British campuses. The extent of No Platforming, Safe Space censorship and newspaper bans, they say, is being exaggerated by right-wing hacks desperate for something to fulminate about. Up to now, it’s an argument that’s been easy enough to dismiss given the very people making it are usually the ones responsible for the campus censorship we read about. But a BBC ‘Fact Check’, purporting to back-up their claims, has, irritatingly, given them a bit of a boost.

 Istanbul In another time, in another place, we might never have known about the death of Jamal Khashoggi. In a Saudi consulate, the staff are guaranteed to say nothing. The reason we know so much is that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, has been willing to tell the world not just what he knows, but what he suspects. It has been clear from the offset that this isn’t just about the death of a journalist but a battle for political leadership of the Islamic world. On Tuesday, in his first full statement on Khashoggi’s killing, Erdogan said that the perpetrators should stand trial in Turkey, and that everyone

When Mohammed bin Salman was first made Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the West rejoiced. It looked as if, finally, a young reformer with 21st century values was taking the reins of the state. After he allowed women to finally drive, the West hoped the Saudis would free jailed journalists, meaningfully engage with Europe and America like Israel does, and maybe even end their involvement in the Yemen war. In short, it was hoped that Saudi Arabia was beginning its journey into liberal society. From Jared Kushner and Boris Johnson to Middle East think tanks and commentators, many bought in to the optimism. As Nick Robinson said on the Today programme

Donald Trump now says of climate change: ‘I don’t think it’s a hoax, I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s man-made.’ The climate activist Eric Holthaus said: ‘The world’s top scientists just gave rigorous backing to systematically dismantle capitalism.’ Both are wrong. The truth is that climate change is happening, but more slowly than expected. It’s now 30 years since James Hansen of Nasa raised the alarm and, as climate scientist Pat Michaels and hurricane expert Ryan Maue have pointed out, ‘it’s time to acknowledge that the rapid warming he predicted isn’t happening’. Our own government’s climate-change committee, and the hysterical BBC, should take note. This

Before taking up residence at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange lived at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk. This was at the invitation of his then-supporter Vaughan Smith, who lived with his family at that house. According to Andrew O’Hagan’s memoir of this time, ‘Ghosting’, Assange was a nightmare house guest. O’Hagan was ghost-writing Assange’s memoirs at that time – before the two fell out (like everyone else Assange has ever worked with). Of that time O’Hagan records: ‘I’d always been amazed at how Vaughan Smith and his family had been able to cope with the whole studenty WikiLeaks charabanc in their house – the Smiths have small children – with

In this week’s Books Podcast I’m talking to the incomparable Sara Paretsky about her latest V. I. Warshawski novel Shell Game — which pits the original feminist gumshoe against art thieves, Russian mobsters and her fink of an ex-husband. I talk to Sara about keeping Vic young (skincare doesn’t come into it), chiming with MeToo and immigration anxieties in Trump’s America, whether she feels rivalrous with other female crime writers, spotting her own writerly tics, and making friends with Obama.

As chalices go, few are as poisoned as the one Emmanuel Macron has just handed Christophe Castaner. Minister of the interior is one of the most challenging posts in government. The former Socialist MP has cultivated an image over the years of a political tough guy, in contrast to his predecessor, the diminutive Gérard Collomb. But what passes for tough in the National Assembly won’t intimidate the tough guys in France’s inner cities. During his eighteen months in the post, Collomb was a diligent minister, but in the end the 71-year-old was worn down by the enormity of his task. He parted with a message that should cause his successor

If politics were a science, the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union would be the automatic and overwhelming victor in every regional election. Bavaria is doing quite well: it’s the richest region of the richest country in Europe with the lowest unemployment (2.8 per cent) and crime rates. Bavaria, in fact, is so wealthy that it serves as the prime donor to Germany’s poorer states. Last year, Bavaria coughed up €5.89 billion to the cash-strapped regions of the former East Germany. Unfortunately for the CSU, politics is more art than science. You can brag about being the elected administrators of the wealthiest and most physically beautiful part of Germany but still get

‘Final call to halt “climate catastrophe”’, said the BBC’s website, covering the ‘special report’ of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after its meeting in South Korea. It won’t be the final call, though. Every IPCC conference is the ‘last chance to save the planet’, according to its promoters. What is more interesting is the way news organisations are gradually downgrading this story as the years pass. Even the BBC website did not put it top, at least by the time I looked early on Monday evening. Going to the Derby for the first time as a boy, I noticed a gloomy man in a bowler hat walking slowly through

Today marks the marriage of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank. Although the BBC didn’t jump at the chance to air the royal nuptials, ITV happily took up the offer. The broadcaster was rewarded with a star celebrity turnout – from Kate Moss to Robbie Williams. However, the part that caught Mr S’s attention relates to the readings. The young royal selected an extract from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby for her sister Princess Beatrice to read. In it, the book’s narrator Nick describes the protagonist Jay Gatsby’s smile. Eugenie selected it on the grounds that it ‘immediately reminded’ her of her now-husband Jack: But Mr S can’t help but wonder