World

Wednesday

Joseph Dinnage

Starmer won’t stop Putin exploiting Europe’s migrant crisis

Another week, another migration scandal. On Monday, the Times reported that Russian spies have been working with international human rights groups to ‘flood Europe with illegal migrants’. The revelations come from Daniel Mitov, Bulgaria’s interior minister, who claims to have evidence that the Russians are assisting people smugglers in finding weak spots along the Bulgaria-Turkey border and instructing migrants on how to avoid detection.  Mitov – as I’m sure you’ll understand – isn’t thrilled by this. Rather than regarding waves of new arrivals pouring through his country’s borders as just the injection of diversity that Bulgaria needs, the interior minister sees it as a naked attempt by Vladimir Putin to

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France has failed its daughters

It is just over three years since a 12-year-old Parisian girl called Lola was raped and murdered in a crime that shocked France. The woman accused of the murder, 27-year-old Dahbia Benkired, is now on trial and on Monday the court heard chilling evidence from a man who encountered the defendant shortly after the death of Lola. Karim Bellazoug told the court that Benkired was carrying a large trunk and told him she had items to sell. When he glanced inside he saw what looked like a body. ‘I thought she was crazy, that she was a psychopath,’ Bellazoug declared. The motivation as well as the mental state of Benkired

Tuesday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Is the Anglican Communion dead?

29 min listen

In the space of a month, the Church of England has acquired its first female Archbishop of Canterbury, a majority of the world’s Anglicans have left the Anglican Communion in protest at the mother Church’s willingness to bless same-sex relationships – and the House of Bishops has suddenly backed away from introducing stand-alone gay blessings. The situation is chaotic. In this week’s Holy Smoke, theologian Andrew Graystone talks to Damian Thompson about the almost insoluble problems that will face Archbishop Mullally after she is enthroned in January.  Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

James Orr on the ascendancy of JD Vance

90 min listen

Freddy Gray sits down with academic James Orr at the Battle of Ideas in London for a live Americano podcast to discuss Vice President JD Vance. Having been described as ‘Vance’s British sherpa’, James responds to how likely it is that JD Vance will be President one day, which weaknesses could hold him back, and how Vance’s unique closeness to Trump in office has given him vital experience to learn on the job.

Sam Olsen

The American empire is consuming itself

Over the weekend, millions of Americans took to the streets in more than 2,000 ‘No Kings’ marches nationwide, protesting what they regard as the creeping authoritarianism of President Trump. The marches – which Trump’s allies called ‘the hate America rally’ – were notable for their scale, but more importantly they are a symbol of something deeper: the erosion of political legitimacy in the world’s pre-eminent democracy. For China and Russia, the spectacle of Americans turning on their own institutions confirms a long-held belief, namely that the United States is entering a phase of irreversible decline and may soon hesitate abroad. The data bear them out. In April 2024, 19 per

Michael Evans

Zelensky faces a dilemma

Keeping abreast of President Trump’s changing moods has never been so challenging, especially for Volodymyr Zelensky, his Ukrainian counterpart. Judging by reports emerging of their meeting last Friday in the Oval Office, Trump made it clear in somewhat candid language that Zelensky should give up the eastern Donbas region of his country or face destruction by Russia. Gone was the sunny prediction made by Trump only three weeks or so earlier that if Zelensky pursued the war with Russia, backed by Europe and Nato, he could win a famous victory and drive the Russians out of all the occupied territories. The sudden about-turn followed Trump’s two-hour phone call with President

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The shameless attempt to cover up the Amsterdam Jew hunt

I often wonder – we all do – how human beings can be made to forget terrible events. Like the Tiananmen Square massacre, wiped, just like that, from a billion minds in China. Or the burning of the Jews of Jedwabne in Poland in 1941, which lay unforgivably unremembered until the truth was dug up, literally, in the 1990s. To this list of shamefully erased horrors from history, we might now add the Jew hunt of Amsterdam in 2024. It is a crime against truth to speak of Amsterdam without mentioning the open racial hatred that fuelled the hunt for men from Israel No, the hunting of Maccabi Tel Aviv

Monday

Owen Matthews

Trump doesn’t understand what Putin wants

Is Donald Trump’s peace process in Ukraine moving forward – or it is merely going around in circles in a series of gut-wrenching loop-the-loops? Less than a fortnight ago Trump raised Ukrainian hopes by dangling the possibility of sending Tomahawk cruise missiles, describing the Kremlin as a ‘Paper Tiger’ and warning that the Russian economy was on the verge of collapse. But when Ukraine’s president Volodimir Zelensky arrived late last week in Washington for face to-face talks at the White House instead of Tomahawks he received a lecture on how he had to accede to many of Putin’s demands or face ‘annihilation’. Land – or ‘property’ as Trump puts it

Francis Pike

Will Sanae Takaichi fly or falter?

A former heavy metal drummer and biker is not someone the world would expect to become a prime minister of Japan. Particularly if that someone is a woman. But that is what is likely to happen tomorrow. Last month, 64-year-old Sanae Takaichi became the first female head of the Liberal Democrat Party – the party that has ruled Japan for all but 4 of the last 70 years – and soon she will be Japan’s first female prime minister too. On Monday, Takaichi signed off on a coalition pact with the right-leaning libertarian Japan Innovation Party (Ishin). They have replaced the Komeito, the socially conservative party that is affiliated with Soka Gakkai, a

James Tidmarsh

The Louvre heist shames France

Thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris shortly after it opened on Sunday morning and stole nine invaluable relics from France’s crown jewels. While the exact valuation of the loot is still being established, it could be worth hundreds of millions of euros. The thieves used a cherry-picker to reach a window on the Seine side of the building, smashed display cases in the Galerie d’Apollon, the ornate hall built for Louis XIV and home to the crown jewels. They escaped on motorbikes before police arrived. Among the stolen items was the crown of Empress Eugénie, set with 1,354 brilliant-cut diamonds and 56 emeralds. It was later found smashed in the street

Sunday

Jonathan Sacerdoti

The Gaza ceasefire isn’t broken

The ceasefire in Gaza, barely settled just six days ago, has already been tested. Hamas was accused of violating the deal by firing rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire at Israeli forces while the US warned the terror group was planning an ‘imminent’ attack on Palestinian civilians. In response, Israel struck a wave of targets within the Gaza Strip, reportedly killing at least 11 people. It was a swift and forceful retaliation, prompting immediate speculation: is the war back on? Not necessarily. What unfolded in Gaza this morning bears a structural resemblance to events on the northern front nearly a year ago. In the days following the November 2024 ceasefire with

Katie Jenkins

Don’t underestimate Bolivia’s election

Towering above the baroque low-rises of Bolivia’s largest city is the 29-storey presidential palace. Built by the then left-wing leader Evo Morales in 2018, the £25 million glass-fronted skyscraper comes kitted with a designer-furnished gym, spa, helipad, three underground floors and even a private elevator for the president’s personal use. ‘Morales claimed he built this for the people. That it was the symbol of the new Bolivia,’ said my ‘guide’, an unemployed biochemistry graduate, when I visited the building in La Paz last year. Gesturing at the golden motifs adorning its facade, he added with a wry smile: ‘This is what socialism really looks like. No?’ Today, the ‘Great House

Andy Jones

We are not ready for drone terrorism

After multiple suspected drone incursions by Russia, the EU has belatedly swung into action with plans for a ‘drone wall’. This network of anti-drone radars, sensors, signal jammers and interceptors – which would mimic Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ defence system – would be built along the 3,000 km eastern front of the union’s territories by 2027. Whether used by terror cells or militarised nations, drones are cheap, simple to fly and easy to pack with explosives But while the EU builds the ‘wall’, the barbarian is already inside the gates. No threat – be it Russia, or any other hostile nation – needs to launch drones in their own territory to cause a

Michael Bloomberg

Mayors are the real political powerhouse

In Britain, the leading political parties have just held their annual conventions. After a month of national political debates, lost in all the commentary about polling and positioning, is a larger and more consequential story about the changing dynamics of power. In a world where parties, prime ministers and presidents have long dominated the global stage, the spotlight is increasingly turning to a new group of leaders: mayors. And they are shifting the plot from talk to action. In recent years, mayors have emerged as increasingly entrepreneurial actors on national and even international issues. They’re not only collecting trash and fixing roads, they’re also pioneering new ways to tackle job

Saturday

Arnout Nuijt

The flag wars have come to the Netherlands

The small community of Uithoorn, just outside Amsterdam, has unexpectedly found itself on the front line of Europe’s flag wars. Late last week, Dutch national flags – in bold red, white and blue – began appearing across the town. Their purpose? Perhaps a spontaneous show of resistance to a planned asylum centre earmarked for the suburb. Or perhaps something more calculated: a shrewd piece of political theatre ahead of the country’s elections on 29 October. No one can say for sure. But the response was immediate. With Pavlovian swiftness, the town council began removing flags from public spaces – although they left those flying from private property untouched. The council

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

How sumo wrestling bounced back

Sumo is the featured attraction at the Royal Albert Hall this weekend in a rare foray for the ancient sport outside of its spiritual home of Japan. The five-day tournament started on Wednesday and features 40 rikishi (wrestlers) (about six-tonnes’ worth) squaring off in a specially constructed dohyo (ring). Reinforced chairs and upgraded toilets have been installed for the exclusive use of the 28-stone ‘naked ambassadors’ (as they are being called here in Japan). Like test cricket, sumo wrestling is set apart and sustained by its antiquity It has been a huge success so far. Tickets sold out long ago but can be picked up for hundreds of pounds on

Grigor Atanesian

Will Trump’s peace hold in Nagorno-Karabakh?

On the Armenian banks of the winding Aras River, which represents the border with Iran, I am approached by two boys offering local grapes. The fruit is more yellow than green, and translucent and very sweet. ‘Are you American?’, one boy asks in Armenian. I am not, I tell them, and they are disappointed. It is late September and I am in Armenia, on the banks of this river, surrounded by the dramatic peaks of the Zangezur mountains, to film a programme for the BBC World Service about Donald Trump’s intervention in this country’s war with Azerbaijan. In early August, Trump announced with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan that

Friday

Jacob Heilbrunn

Has Trump fallen into Putin’s trap – again?

Sorry, Volodymyr. There won’t be any Tomahawk missiles headed to Ukraine now that president Vladimir Putin of Russia has talked on the phone with president Donald Trump, who called their session ‘very productive.’ What it will produce remains an open question. But it does seem to have resulted in a decision to hold an upcoming summit in Budapest. The bottom line: Putin has outflanked Ukrainian president Zelensky, who will meet at the White House with Trump today. Trump is a transactional president and he has business that he wants to transact with Russia, including, but not limited to, a peace deal between it and Ukraine. If anything, Trump, intent on winning

Sam Olsen

China really is a threat to Britain

When Dominic Cummings claimed this week that China had hacked into Britain’s most secret systems, the government rushed to deny it – understandably, given the political heat over the collapsed Chinese spy trial. But even if Cummings’ story proves false, the underlying truth remains: China has been systematically targeting Western networks for years, and extracting vast quantities of sensitive information. What is striking is not the allegation, but the reaction by a government so anxious not to call China a threat that it pretends not to see one. It is a surreal position, because the danger has been obvious for years. The truth is that China poses a greater strategic threat to Britain than any state since the

Daniel DePetris

Trump has a new European target in his crosshairs

There was a time not so long ago when Germany was US president Donald Trump’s favourite punching bag in Europe. During his first term in office, Trump had a penchant for biting Berlin’s ear off, blasting its political leadership as grossly incompetent, blaming the country for destroying itself by accepting a million refugees and wagging his finger at the Germans’ unwillingness to take more responsibility for their own defence. Trump hasn’t forgotten what happened in the lead-up to the Nato summit over the summer Yet those days are over. Trump, now in his second term, has a new European target in his crosshairs: Spain. The land of Tempranillo and Jamón