World

Friday

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Does Pope Leo XIV represent continuity or change?

20 min listen

From Rome Fr Benedict Kiely and Damian Thompson react to the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as the successor to Pope Francis. The first American Pope, Prevost is also a citizen of Peru, having spent years working as first a parish pastor and teacher, and later as a bishop. The 267th Bishop of Rome is also the first native English-speaking pope for almost 900 years.  The election of Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, is seen as a surprise but is being heralded by both liberal and conservative factions of the Catholic Church. Does he represent continuity or change with his predecessor? On this episode of Holy Smoke, Fr Benedict and

Amy Tinley

Six things to watch out for in Starmer’s US deal

The world of trade is usually reserved for the wonkiest of policy wonks. But after Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ a month ago, this week the UK announced trade deals with India and the US. Against a woeful economic backdrop, this is a serious boon to the Prime Minister. Becoming the first country in the world to agree a deal with the US President is an achievement not to be shirked at. A UK-US deal could chart a path for other agreements with other countries. Starmer claimed this deal is the national interest. But is it really? But is this deal as good as Number 10 is claiming? As a former

Lucy Dunn

US trade deal: ‘a political win, not an economic win’

11 min listen

On Thursday afternoon Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave a speech about closing the long-awaited UK-US trade deal. Not that his announcement went without a hitch however; after first directing lobby journalists to the wrong Jaguar Land Rover factory in Coventry, Starmer then had his limelight stolen by the election of a new Pope. Although, Labour’s ‘historic’ trade deal has pipped the Pope on most front pages. The reception has been positive across government too, with many heralding a political win for Labour – just when they really needed one after the local elections. But is this an economic win as well? Critics say the deal is shallow, clearly just a

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Putin’s ‘biggest ever’ Victory Day goes off without a hitch

Not to be outdone by the celebration of VE Day across Western Europe yesterday, Vladimir Putin this morning staged his own ‘biggest ever’ Victory Day celebrations in Moscow. Over the course of Putin’s rule, the annual celebration of 9 May has gradually morphed from a solemn commemoration of the victory over Nazi Germany to being a key ideological cornerstone of his regime. Never one to miss a chance to send a message to Russia’s foreign adversaries, today’s 80th anniversary parade across Red Square – Putin’s 25th – was more a neat showcase of the President’s own militaristic and jingoistic ambitions than a tribute to the country’s past sacrifices. Everything associated

James Tidmarsh

Why is Macron courting the Freemasons?

Emmanuel Macron turned this week to France’s shadowy Freemasons for support. In a speech delivered to the secretive Grande Loge de France, he asked for their help to defend the Republic’s core values, and urged them to stand up to extremes, by which he means Le Pen’s National Rally. Macron needs to stabilise the political centre, which he once comfortably occupied, but which is shrinking fast under pressure from the right. That a sitting French president would attempt to enlist the Freemasons is astonishing That a sitting French president would attempt to enlist the Freemasons is astonishing. Normally shrouded in discretion, the group has never been publicly courted by any

Ian Williams Ian Williams

Xi has no right to be ‘guest of honour’ at Putin’s Victory Day

The presence of Chinese president Xi Jinping as ‘guest of honour’ at Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day military parade in Moscow today, which will include soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is both chilling and fraudulent. Chilling, because it is the most explicit endorsement yet by Xi of Russia’s militarism and its poisonous narratives about the Ukraine war, and fraudulent because the Chinese Communist party played a marginal role at best in the Allied victory in the second world war. In the run-up to today’s parade, Putin has linked victory over Nazi Germany with his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which he has falsely claimed is to achieve ‘denazification’ of the

Rory Hanrahan

Why do some Irish people hate Israel so much?

It was a quiet lunch shift at the pub in Oxford where I work, the kind of day when the bar feels more like a confessional than a business. A lone customer, a woman with a light accent I took for Dutch, had just finished her meal and approached to pay. Playing the host, I made small talk. How bad have things become for Israelis here? “Where are you from?” I asked, expecting the usual tourist’s reply. Her face tightened, her voice dropped to a near-whisper. “Israel,” she said, bracing herself as if I might leap over the bar and chase her out into the street. I reassured her –

Thursday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is the trade deal a coup for Starmer?

26 min listen

Trump has announced a beautiful new deal with the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and President shared a phone call to congratulate one another. It is the first trade deal agreed after Mr Trump began his second presidential term in January, and after he imposed strict tariffs on countries around the world in April. Freddy Gray speaks to Sarah Eliot and Kate Andrews about the negotiations and whether it is a coup for Trump or Starmer.

David Loyn David Loyn

Can India and Pakistan de-escalate?

Once again Pakistan’s strategy of asymmetric warfare against its larger South Asian neighbour has plunged the region to the brink of a wider war. Long-term Pakistani support of anti-India militant groups – in particular Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) – continually destabilises the region. The attack on tourists in the honeymoon location of Pahalgam meadow in Kashmir was deliberate, savage, targeted at Hindu men, and clearly targeted to provoke a response and create fertile ground for further action. Women who survived were told, ‘Tell this to Modi.’    Pakistan has lowered its threshold, so that a nuclear attack can be provoked by an Indian conventional attack on Pakistani military installations The group

Fabian Hoffmann

Does India still have an airpower advantage over Pakistan?

In the early morning of May 7, India launched missile and air strikes – referred to as Operation Sindoor – at nine locations within Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Indian authorities said it was a response to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, which left 26 civilians dead, most of them Indian tourists. The stated targets were terrorist facilities associated with groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Several Indian losses have been verified, casting serious doubt on the success of the operation from India’s perspective Indian sources report that the strikes involved the use of SCALP-EG land-attack cruise missiles and AASM HAMMER precision-guided bombs. India is believed to use the export version

Owen Matthews

Ukraine’s Victory Day drone swarm is dangerous for Putin

Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on 9 May should mark a triumphal double apotheosis for Vladimir Putin. Not only will it be the 25th Victory parade since the beginning of his presidency, but is also the 80th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany, which Putin has appropriated as a fundamental ideological pillar of his regime. Yet instead of marking the absolute high point of Putin’s reign, the traditional military parade on Red Square will be shadowed by jeopardy and haunted by the ghosts of future failure.   The Russians are apoplectic that Zelensky has so far ignored the unilateral three day ceasefire around Victory Day that Putin proposed last

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Could Trump’s UK deal start a golden age of free trade?

We had the shock of ‘Liberation day’ when punitive tariffs were levied on imports from virtually every country in the world. That was the destructive part of Donald Trump’s trade war. Now we enter phase two: trying to put things back together again. The announcement of trade deal with a ‘big and highly-respected country’ (believed to be the UK) on Thursday morning is significant not just in itself but because Trump added the suggestion that this will be ‘the first of many’. His strategy has become clear: last month’s tariffs were shock therapy intended to precipitate a round of trade deals which would rebalance trade in America’s favour. They were

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is the US-UK trade deal a coup for Starmer — or Trump?

It’s musical deals in world politics at the moment. Last week, Donald Trump and his senior officials intimated that a big new trade accord with India was imminent. Yet on Tuesday, Keir Starmer announced that he had reached a major agreement with Delhi. Then, late last night, the New York Times reported that Trump will today announce a beautiful new deal with the United Kingdom.  The British embassy in Washington has yet to comment. But earlier, Donald Trump had written on social media: The President loves announcing deals more than anything: the symbolism is what counts ‘Big News Conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M., The Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR

Olenka Hamilton

Is Poland’s revival a mirage?

In 1988, when I was six months old, my British father and Polish mother took me to meet my family in Krakow. My parents brought an extra suitcase filled with disposable nappies because such luxuries weren’t sold on the other side of the Iron Curtain. At the time, there was only one shop in Krakow that sold foreign goods, but my father was pleased to discover that a gallon of whisky could be bought for only $8. He was a member of the House of Lords and, I’m told, we were trailed for our entire stay. Everywhere we went, a large Polski Fiat 125 driven by a suited man followed

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Reform party’s victories, Duke of Sussex’s defeat and Deliveroo’s takeover

Home In a day that upset the apple cart of party politics, Reform won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes, with 38.72 per cent of the vote, compared with Labour’s 52.9 per cent last year. Of 1,641 wards in England up for election, Reform won 677. The Tories lost 676, winning only 317. The Lib Dems gained 163, winning 370 in all. Labour lost 186, winning 99. Reform won control of ten of the 23 councils in contention. The Liberal Democrats won three councils. The Tories lost all their 16 councils. Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a former Tory minister, was elected Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire; Luke Campbell, the

Francis Pike

How Pakistan’s most powerful man provoked India’s missile attack

From a western perspective, memorising all 114 chapters of the Quran might seem an unusual qualification for a national leader. Yet this is a defining feature of the résumé of General Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of army staff since November 2022. To become a Hafiz – one who knows by heart the entire Quran – requires committing 77,430 words to memory, each recited with precise pronunciation in classical (not modern) Arabic. This accomplishment earns the revered title of Hafiz Sahb or Sheikh and reflects deep religious devotion. To put it into perspective, it would be akin to Sir Keir Starmer memorising the biblical books of Genesis, Numbers and Judges

Wednesday

James Tidmarsh

France is quietly tightening its citizenship rules

Bruno Retailleau, the hardline French Minister of the Interior, has issued a confidential circular to regional prefects with a simple instruction: tighten the rules on naturalisation. For decades, France has handed out its passport to people who may speak French, but have little understanding of French history or values, and, in some cases, entered the country illegally. That era may finally be coming to an end. Retailleau has revived the principle that nationality is not a right, but a privilege Retailleau is hardening the assessment of who deserves French nationality, instructing regional prefects, who take the decision as to who gets a passport, to be considerably more tough. No more

Francis Pike

Is nuclear war between India and Pakistan inevitable?

Yesterday evening Indian prime minister Narendra Modi authorised missile strikes on jihadi training camps located in Pakistan’s East Punjab and Pakistani Kashmir. It is retaliation for the attack on Hindu tourists allegedly carried out by the Pakistani Jihadi groups Lashkar-e-Taibi and Jaish-e-Muhammad in Indian controlled Kashmir on 22 April. Does this mean all-out war between the two nuclear powers is inevitable? Not necessarily. Since Indian partition, the perennial casus belli in the subcontinent there have been three major wars between India and Pakistan. The First Indo-Pakistan War (1947-1948) and the Second Indo-Pakistan War (1965) were both fought over the Kashmir issue. The third Indo-Pakistan War of 1977 was fought over

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

Pakistan and India are on the brink

During the early hours of Wednesday, India launched airstrikes targeting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least eight people, with Islamabad claiming as many as 26 may have died. In a press release issued overnight, the Indian government said the strikes were aimed at ‘terrorist infrastructure’ in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam town of Indian administered Kashmir. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan for the terrorist attack, while Islamabad denies being involved. In a press briefing, officials from the Indian defence and external affairs ministries said last night’s strikes  targeted camps and hideouts affiliated with Pakistan based jihadist outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammed. Masood Azhar,

Michael Evans

Are India and Pakistan heading for war?

Last night, India launched missile attacks on ‘militant’ sites in Pakistan and in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir in retaliation for the terrorist attacks two weeks ago which killed more than two dozen Indian tourists. The military action, named ‘Operation Sindoor’, raises already heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, both of whom are nuclear weapon states. India said in a statement that it had attacked nine locations. Pakistan countered by claiming three sites had been hit and that eight civilians were killed, including a child. It has described the attacks as ‘an act of war’. India says it restricted its missile strikes to infrastructure used by militants in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in eastern