World

Tuesday

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is the UK still a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel?

16 min listen

The fallout continues from the UK’s decision to suspend some arms sale licenses to Israel. Defence Secretary John Healey insists the UK remains a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel, yet the decision has been criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ‘shameful’. What has the domestic reaction been to the government’s decision, and who is it designed to please?  Patrick Gibbons speaks to Katy Balls and Michael Stephens, associate fellow at RUSI.  Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Britain’s arms crackdown on Israel could end up pleasing no one

Is the UK still a ‘staunch ally’ of Israel? Defence Secretary John Healey insisted so on the broadcast round this morning. But his claim is coming under scrutiny following the government’s decision to suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, thereby affecting equipment which includes parts for fighter jets, drones and helicopters. Foreign Secretary David Lammy revealed the news on Monday, telling the Commons that it was ‘with regret’ that he had concluded for certain arms exports ‘there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law’. It comes as part of a review by

Matthew Lynn

Von der Leyen’s quest for gender parity is a pointless distraction

The EU’s three largest economies are stuck in a deep structural slump. The budget is a mess, with money running out. And the bloc is rapidly losing competitiveness. Meanwhile, populist parties committed to overthrowing the organisation are coming closer to power all the time. You might think that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had enough serious problems to deal with it. Yet somehow she is finding time for something else: aiming for gender parity. There’s just one problem: jobs for the girls won’t rescue the EU. It is hard to see how carving out lucrative jobs for a handful of women is going to fix

Jake Wallis Simons Jake Wallis Simons

Britain’s arms crackdown on Israel has come at a dreadful time

The Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is a moderate man and chooses his words carefully. So his statement about David Lammy’s suspension of 30 export licences to Israel was striking in its tone, if not surprising in its content. The Foreign Secretary’s timing did feel a bit rum ‘It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by

Alexander Horne

What is the point of David Lammy’s partial arms embargo on Israel?

The government has suspended 30 (out of around 350) arms export licences to Israel. The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, acknowledged that the ban will affect the sale of ‘important components that go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items that facilitate ground targeting.’  The UK restrictions do not seem a productive way of convincing Netanyahu and his more hawkish allies to end the war Lammy’s decision to suspend these arms exports licences under the Export Control Act 2002 did not come out of the blue and is not a huge surprise. During parliament’s summer recess, there were reports that Lammy might stop the sale of ‘offensive’ arms to Israel.

Monday

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

Investigating China’s ‘historic’ claims in the South China Sea

43 min listen

The South China Sea has been an area of regular clashes and heightened tensions under the leadership of Xi Jinping. It seems that, every few months, Chinese naval or coastguard ships clash or almost clash with vessels from South East Asian nations like Vietnam and the Philippines. Only last week, a Chinese ship clashed with the Filipino coast guard in the Spratly Islands, with both sides levelling angry accusations at each other. The region is full of disputed claims, making it fertile waters for accidental escalation. China says its claims to the region – encompassed by the ‘nine-dash line’ – are historic; that island sets such as the Spratlys and

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

The AfD is winning over Germany’s youth

‘We are the party of the youth!’ When the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party launched its state election campaign over the summer in the former east Germany, its lead candidate for Brandenburg Christoph Berndt confidently declared that the party would do well thanks to the legions of young voters it had seduced. Today, as the dust settles on the results of Thuringia and Saxony’s state elections, it appears that Berndt’s predictions have come to pass. According to data published by the pollsters Infratest Dimap, 38 per cent of those aged between 18 and 24 voted for the AfD in Thuringia on Sunday. In neighbouring Saxony, 31 per cent did the

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Angela Merkel played a key role in the rise of the AfD

To no one’s great surprise, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) romped to victory in Sunday’s election in the eastern state of Thuringia. The party, classified as right-wing extremist by Germany’s security authorities, also came a close second to the centre-right CDU in Saxony’s election. The result is being described as the first for a far-right party in a German state parliament election since the Second World War. Angela Merkel must share the blame In response to the AfD’s triumph, German chancellor Olaf Scholz urged other German parties to exclude ‘right-wing extremists’ from power, saying: ‘The AfD is damaging Germany.’ If so, Angela Merkel must share the blame. It is the former

Nigel Jones

How long will Germany’s anti-AfD ‘firewall’ last?

Berlin awoke this morning in a state of shock. Although opinion polls had predicted that the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) would do well in yesterday’s eastern state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, the cold reality that the anti-immigration, anti-Islamist party has topped the polls in Thuringia and come a close second in Saxony, takes some getting used to, even for cynical Berliners. Mainstream centre and leftist parties in Germany have vowed to form a ‘brandmauer’ (firewall) against the AfD The German capital is a left-wing island surrounded by the sea of states of former East Germany, which are rapidly moving to the far right. The AfD scored more than 30

Constantin Eckner

What the AfD’s ‘historic victory’ means for Germany

Alternative für Deutschland’s success in east German state elections marks a major blow to the government in Berlin. The AfD is set to win almost a third of the vote in Thuringia – putting it nine points ahead of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). The AfD’s top candidate in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, hailed a ‘historic victory’. Despite the best efforts of the centrist parties, the AfD is not going away. Scholz’s remarks ignore a simple reality: that the AfD has transcended its status as a mere party of protest. This result, if confirmed once all votes are counted, would mark the first victory for a far-right party in a state

James Tidmarsh

The strange case of Pavel Durov and Emmanuel Macron

The arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder of the messaging app Telegram, has not only raised questions about the charges against him, but also about the peculiar relationship between the tech entrepreneur and the French government. In 2018, President Emmanuel Macron extended an olive branch, inviting Durov to lunch and offering him French citizenship in the hope of bringing Telegram under greater French regulatory oversight. Fast forward to today, and Durov finds himself under arrest, facing serious charges. This series of events – from lunch invitations and citizenship to sudden detainment – suggests both cooperation and coercion have characterised France’s approach to Telegram. Macron’s actions since Durov’s arrest suggest he

Sunday

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

The AfD is set to win its first ever state election

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland party is set to make history and take control of at least one of Germany’s state parliaments for the first time. According to exit polls released on Sunday, the AfD is on course to become the largest party in the state of Thuringia. While the final results of the election are unlikely to be confirmed before tomorrow, the AfD is predicted to win at least 30 per cent of the vote in the state. One projection by the pollster Infratest Dimap places the party’s vote share at 30.5 per cent, while a poll conducted on behalf of the state broadcaster ZDF puts the party on

Limor Simhony Philpott

Why Netanyahu is being blamed for the Israeli hostage deaths

The heartbreaking news that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages has caused rage in Israel against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. All six hostages – Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sergeant Ori Danino – were kidnapped alive on 7 October. They were brutally executed by Hamas terrorists, possibly hours before they were found yesterday in a Hamas tunnel near Rafah, in the southern area of the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has been accused of sabotaging negotiations for a ceasefire Although Hamas bears the primary responsibility for murdering the hostages, many in Israel see Netanyahu as partly responsible for

Neve Gordon

The ICC is right to pursue Benjamin Netanyahu

On 20 May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan tried to push the borders of the ‘permissible’. In an extraordinary rebuke of existing practice, he not only sought arrest warrants for Hamas leaders who allegedly planned the 7 October, 2023, attack on Israeli military bases, kibbutzim, towns and the Nova music festival where 815 civilians, among them 36 children, and close to 400 members of the security forces were killed, and 251 others (mostly civilians) were abducted and taken to Gaza. In addition, Khan had the courage to ask the Pre-Trial Chamber to approve the arrest warrants of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and its Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – two leaders

Sophia Gaston and Justin Bassi

How Labour should deal with China

Keir Starmer’s geopolitical in-tray will arguably be one of the most daunting in recent history. The Prime Minister faces a number of conflicts and hard choices – and a completely different geopolitical landscape to the last time Labour was in power. Key among these challenges is China, which has risen in the past 14 years to become an economic and military superpower, and a disruptive antagonist to the liberal international order. A relationship with China requires careful balance and an understanding of the unseen traps that might lie ahead So far the new government’s position has been mixed. Work has begun on the promised China audit, which David Lammy described as

Saturday

Matt McDonald

Will Kamala actually build the wall?

32 min listen

In a CNN interview, Kamala Harris has been pressed on why her policies on immigration have become more moderate since 2019, when she ran for president. Republicans have been accusing her of flip-flopping on her border wall policy. In this episode, Matt McDonald, managing editor of The Spectator’s US edition, fills in for Freddy whilst he’s on holiday. Matt speaks to Todd Bensman, journalist, author, and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Igor Toronyi-Lalic

Joan Collins, Owen Matthews, Sara Wheeler, Igor Toronyi-Lalic and Tanya Gold

30 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Joan Collins reads an extract from her diary (1:15); Owen Matthews argues that Russia and China’s relationship is just a marriage of convenience (3:19); reviewing The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering by Daniel Light, Sara Wheeler examines the epic history of the sport (13:52); Igor Toronyi-Lalic looks at the life, cinema, and many drinks, of Marguerite Duras (21:35); and Tanya Gold provides her notes on tasting menus (26:07).  Presented and produced by Patrick Gibbons.  

Friday

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

‘France killed my husband’ – the rising anger of the gendarmes

A gendarme was killed in France on Monday evening when a driver ran him over at a routine roadside checkpoint in Provence. The driver of the BMW was an intoxicated 39-year-old from Cape Verde who during his time in France has racked up a lengthy criminal record including ten convictions, two for drunk driving. On Wednesday the wife of 54-year-old Éric Comyn paid tribute to him at a service attended by local dignitaries and members of the gendarmerie. She described a devoted father of two teenage children, who was soon to retire after 30 years’ service. Madame Comyn is the latest in a growing list of grieving relatives in France who refuse

Karen Pierce

From the archives: the Dame Karen Pierce Edition

30 min listen

Women with Balls has taken a summer break and will be back in September with a new series. Until then, here’s an episode from the archives, with Dame Karen Pierce, who will shortly complete her term as British Ambassador to the United States. Filmed in 2019, when Dame Karen was the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, she talks to Katy Balls about her career ambitions when she was young, using Lewis Carroll to combat the Russians, and what day to day life is like at the UN.

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Shanshan may be the strongest typhoon in Japanese history

The Japanese are battening down the hatches – again – as typhoon Shanshan wreaks devastation to the south-west of the country, with worse, possibly much worse, to come for the rest of us further north. Millions of people have been told to flee their homes in the face of what officials are calling one of the strongest storms ever to hit the region. Shanshan may even prove to one of the strongest typhoons in Japanese history – which is some boast.  It is shaping up to be something close to the perfect storm in terms of its power and unpredictability Four people have died so far with 94 injured, but those figures will increase