Society

Boris Johnson is nothing like Churchill, a view with which my friend Andrew Roberts concurs. But in the 20-odd years I have known Boris, I have often been struck by his similarity to John Wilkes, 18th-century politician, journalist and catnip to women. A wit and a showman, Wilkes, who denounced European entanglements and championed the rights of the electorate over parliament, was the first politician to achieve celebrity status. One of Boris’s endearing traits is that he has never regarded himself as an enticing proposition in the looks department. Wilkes had a squint, but he said: ‘Give me half an hour to talk away my face and I can seduce

We’re closing 2019 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 7, Paulina Neuding’s piece from October, on bomb attacks in Sweden: One night last week, explosions took place in three different locations in and around Stockholm. There were no injuries this time, just the usual shattered windows, scattered debris and shocked people woken by the blast. The police bomb squad was already on its way to the first explosion in the district of Vaxholm when it had to turn around and prioritise the detonation at a residential building in the more densely populated city centre. Residents whose doors had been deformed by the shock wave had to

Every Christmas I find I am living in the past. I blame my father. He was born in 1910 — before radio, before TV, before cinema had sound, so he and his siblings made their own entertainment at Christmas. He brought up his children to do the same, which is why my unfortunate offspring have a Christmas that’s essentially a century out of date. There are three elements at its heart: board games that end in rows, parlour games that end in tears, and party pieces performed around the Christmas tree. I owe my very existence to my father’s love of board games. As a boy, his favourite was a

Remember when Boris Johnson met Emmanuel Macron for the first time as Prime Minister? It was in August and, as the Guardian made clear to its readers, it was the French president calling the shots. The newspaper illustrated its point with a photograph of the two leaders at their lecterns, the French president looking statesmanlike and the British Prime Minister with a hand clasped to his head. Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron on the Guardian website[/caption] How different the fortunes of the leaders are four months on. Johnson has just been returned to power with a ‘stonking’ majority, as impressive as the one Macron’s centrist LREM (La République En Marche) enjoyed

The early promise of the internet – to bring us closer together, better inform us, and spread liberty around the world – can seem naïve today. The internet’s actual effect on our politics, society, and security has been very different. The recent general election was marred by disinformation and fake news, while the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election was influenced by foreign interference, both using means that didn’t exist ten years ago. Hate is on the rise, its prevalence and visibility transformed by digital technology. Countering these disturbing trends is the main focus of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. It is indisputable that there has been an