World

Sunday

Andrew Tettenborn

Why Britain must say no – again – to China’s ‘super embassy’ in London

The previous Tory government may not have been very successful in containing the global ambitions of China, but at least it tried. Whether David Lammy’s Foreign Office has the same ambition to stand up to Beijing’s bullying is unfortunately becoming more doubtful. A straw in the wind is the announcement by China this week that it has revived plans to build a spanking new ‘super embassy’ – ten times the size of Beijing’s current outpost – on land it owns in the heart of the capital, a stone’s throw from the Tower of London.  This isn’t any old exercise in replacement of one piece of real estate with another. What

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is the Great Barrier Reef really dying?

The Great Barrier Reef is, of course, dying – a victim of humans’ hubris and callousness towards the natural world. We know this because we keep being told this is the case. This week, the New York Times carried the headline: ‘Heat Raises Fears of Demise for Great Barrier Reef Within a Generation’. This story, echoed elsewhere, was based on a paper in Nature claiming that the seas around the reef, off the eastern coast of Queensland, are at their warmest in at least 400 years. ‘Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger,’ asserted the authors of the study, led by the University of Wollongong

Caleb Quinley

Thailand’s democracy is a sham

Democracy is dying in Thailand, or perhaps it’s already dead. Thailand’s constitutional court this week ordered the dissolution of the country’s most dynamic and popular political party. This ruling is a decisive blow to an already wounded Thai democracy. The Move Forward party’s (MFP) ‘crime’, according to the court, was to call for the country’s strict ‘lèse-majesté’ laws to be reformed. The judges imposed ten-year political bans on all of its leading party members, including former leader Pita Limjaroenrat. Thailand has always been able to present the illusion that it is a democratic country Human rights groups and huge swathes of the voting population view the allegations as politically motivated

Sam Meadows

Javier Milei wants AI to predict crime

In the sci-fi movie Minority Report, Tom Cruise plays a police officer investigating ‘pre-crimes’ – those which are yet to happen, but are predicted by super-intelligent psychic beings. Real-life Argentina might not be relying on psychics, but President Javier Milei has unveiled plans to use AI to ‘predict future crimes’ in a move which has alarmed civil rights activists. As any software engineer will tell you, a predictive algorithm is only as good as the data you put into it The creation of the catchily-named ‘Artificial Intelligence Applied to Security Unit’ is an attempt to integrate AI into modern law enforcement practices in South America’s second-largest economy. It will use ‘machine-learning algorithms’ on past data to predict the future,

Saturday

Limor Simhony Philpott

Israel’s school strike has triggered an information war

An Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza in the early hours of this morning has once again triggered an information battle in the narrative of the war. Shortly after the strike, the Hamas-controlled government and media-affiliated service reported that there were 100 dead, including women and children. According to Israeli sources, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) took measures to minimise civilian casualties, including using precision weapons to strike the building, which had been used as a shelter. The IDF says that according to evidence obtained from the scene, both the number of casualties and the scale of destruction had been exaggerated. Today’s targets were Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic

Michael Evans

American diplomacy might not stop a Middle East war

On the face of it, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July was a brilliant, opportunistic strike by one of the world’s most dedicated and fearless intelligence services. The presumed targeting by Mossad, however, has disrupted negotiations to bring a ceasefire to Gaza and the release of more Israeli hostages, has provoked a sharp telephone call between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, and has inflamed the Middle East to such a dangerous level that a full-scale war cannot be ruled out. It’s a deja vu crisis Much is being made of the urgent diplomatic efforts underway to try and persuade Iran, now with a new

Terry Barnes

Does Australia have a crocodile problem?

During the cold months of July and August, many southern Australians head north to warmer climes. A favourite destination is north Queensland, with its jungles, rainforests, mangrove swamps and rivers. And saltwater crocodiles. David Hogbin, a 40-year-old father-of-three and GP from New South Wales, was one such sun-seeking tourists. He travelled north with his family on holiday, but will never return home. After falling into a river when a path he was walking on gave way, he was eaten by a crocodile. Crocodile attacks in Australia are big news because they’re so rare Hogbin’s death is tragic, not least because he leaves behind a young family, but because this incident

Friday

Philip Patrick Philip Patrick

Nagasaki shouldn’t have snubbed Israel from its A-bomb ceremony

Nagasaki’s Peace Park held a ceremony today to mark the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city (which killed 74,000 people). It was a sombre and moving occasion, as it always is, and one usually attended by high level representatives of all nations. This year was different though: the ambassadors of the UK, US and Israel were elsewhere, holding their own memorial at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, 750 miles away. Nothing spooks the Japanese as much as disorder The reason is an unseemly row over the withdrawal of an invitation to Israel, by the mayor of Nagasaki Shiro Suzuki, apparently over fears of potential

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The oldest hatred is thriving in Britain

Britain’s antisemitism problem continues to grow. A report from the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors racist attacks and abuse against British Jews, documents 1,978 incidents in the first six months of 2024. That is the highest figure ever recorded for the first half of any year and a 105 per cent increase on the same period in 2023. It is no coincidence that this comes after the October 7 attack, in which Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel, killed 1,200 people, raped women and took 250 hostages. As the CST noted in a previous report, October 7 occasioned an outbreak of antisemitic activity in the UK long before any

Lisa Haseldine Lisa Haseldine

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive is a disaster for Putin

It’s four days into Ukraine’s surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk and Moscow is only just sending reinforcements to repel the advance. Multiple launch rocket systems, artillery guns and armoured vehicles – which were probably redeployed from other parts of the front line – have been sent to shore up defences, according to the Russian ministry of defence. The delayed response has reportedly allowed Ukrainian forces to advance as far as 10 kilometres inside Russia’s territory, forcing Moscow to declare a ‘federal emergency’ in the region and tell several thousand of civilians from districts around the town of Sudzha to relocate. It’s the deepest cross-border advance by Kyiv

Terry Barnes

The everyman immortality of Jack Karlson

Jack Karlson, whose death this week aged 82 has been reported in Britain and around the world, was an Australian small-time crook, prison escaper and colourful character who had a tough and difficult life. He was also, however, the reluctant star of a 1991 TV news report that later became an internet sensation. Back then, Karlson was having a bite to eat in a local Chinese café in suburban Brisbane, when, like Monty Python’s Spanish inquisition, a posse of Queensland police suddenly and unexpectedly swooped to arrest him. Thanks to a tip-off to a journalist, it was all captured on camera. Imagine a stubbled Brian Blessed in a half-buttoned polyester

Thursday

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Will Ukraine’s Kursk offensive pay off?

For the first time since the Second World War, foreign forces have invaded Russia. As Ukrainian troops push over the border into the Kursk region, Vladimir Putin, with breathtaking lack of irony, denounces this as ‘terrorism’ and a ‘provocation’. But what is Kyiv’s goal? Previous incursions, largely into the Belgorod region, have been carried out by small units of pro-Kyiv Russia troops, so although they are in practice controlled by HUR, Ukrainian military intelligence, this could be spun as ‘liberation’ by anti-Putin forces. However, these have also been little more than PR exercises: a dash across the border to take some half-defended villages, some selfies, and a hurried withdrawal. The

Lukas Degutis

Hungary is stretching the EU’s patience to its limit

Hungary is no stranger to spats with its European neighbours. Under prime minister Viktor Orbán’s leadership, it has exercised veto rights to block Ukrainian military aid and Russian sanctions, delayed the Nato accessions of Sweden and Finland and shrugged off EU asylum regulations. For Budapest, the disputes have proven to be effective leverage in unfreezing funds — once €30million (£25 million), now some €22million (£19 million) — held by the Commission over rule of law violations and corruption concerns. For the EU, Hungary is a diplomatic headache – and one that may be about to get worse. When Hungary assumed the bloc’s rotating presidency last month, Orbán flew to Moscow

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: riots and Russia’s prisoner swap

Home A week of riots, with violence against the police, threats to Muslims, burning of vehicles and looting (Greggs, Shoezone, Sainsbury’s Local) broke out in Liverpool, Sunderland, London, Hartlepool, Manchester, Hull, Aldershot, Stoke-on-Trent, Bristol, Bolton, Tamworth, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Leeds, Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Blackpool, Plymouth and Belfast. The Northern Ireland Assembly was recalled. Rioters attacked hotels where asylum-seekers were living. They threw fencing, beer kegs, glass bottles and furniture at police, wounding scores. Activity was coordinated on social media. The anger of most rioters was directed against Muslims in general and hotels housing asylum-seekers. ‘Save our children’ was one of the chants. This in part followed a misapprehension about the person

Zafar Sobhan

How students toppled Bangladesh’s despot

Dhaka On Monday, Bangladesh’s long-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country by helicopter to India. Parliament was dissolved the following day. It came after weeks of protest by students demanding reform of the quota system for government jobs. Violent clashes led to more than 300 people being killed. Under Sheikh Hasina’s iron-fisted rule, Bangladesh descended into a parody of third-world despotism To see the tables turned on an all-powerful ruler is, for those of us who have been living under an authoritarian regime, extraordinary. Thousands have been celebrating this week on the streets of Dhaka. At the time of writing, 76-year-old Hasina remains a forlorn figure. She

Paul Wood

Can anything stop a full-scale conflict in the Middle East?

The fact that the Middle East stands on the brink of a catastrophic war can be explained by a scene from The Gentlemen, Guy Ritchie’s preposterous but entertaining series on Netflix about aristocrats and sarf London drug-dealers. The dim eldest son of a duke is in trouble with a vicious gangster, who makes him dress up as a chicken and cluck and dance while the whole excruciating spectacle is filmed. Eventually the humiliation is too much for the aristo: he gets the family Purdey and blasts the gangster in the face – even though he knows that there will be terrible consequences. The government has told Israelis to stock up

Jonathan Aitken

My ringside seat at the Nixon resignation melodrama

American politics seem particularly febrile in 2024. The sitting President has withdrawn from the election, days after his predecessor was shot campaigning at a rally in Pennsylvania. But American democracy is by nature restless and tumultuous. It’s worth remembering that 50 years ago this week, Washington was in turmoil over the question of whether Richard Nixon was going to resign. Those early days of August 1974 seem like yesterday to those of us who became swept up in them. At the time I was a 31-year-old MP, five months into my first parliamentary term as an opposition backbencher. My summer recess took me to the home of a hospitable Anglophile

Wednesday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is Trump having a meltdown?

37 min listen

Since Kamala Harris ascended to top of the ticket, there have been reports of meltdowns in Trump world, with Republican strategists suggesting Trump is having a public breakdown. Has the era of a thoughtful, poignant Trump already disappeared? Also on the podcast, Kamala Harris’s VP pick came as a shock to many Democrats, with insiders believing Josh Shapiro was the favourite. Why didn’t Kamala opt for Josh Shapiro – the candidate the Republicans feared most? And with the left of the Democrats becoming increasingly polarised over issues like Israel-Gaza, was this part of a strategy to mobilise the base? Freddy Gray speaks to Editor-at-Large of the WSJ, Gerard Baker.

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Is the Trump ‘meltdown’ a Democratic fantasy?

Talk of Donald Trump ‘meltdowns’ tends to be overblown. For eight years, we’ve been told, frequently, that he’s losing the plot, fuming at staffers, having tantrums and setting fire to his re-election hopes. Somehow, however, the Trump train keeps chugging on.  This week, Republican strategists are telling Politico that Trump is having ‘a public nervous breakdown’ and many Democrats are gloating that he and JD Vance just can’t handle being called ‘weird’ by Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota.   The Trump campaign now believes that Walz gives them a chance to ‘reset’ It is true that, having run a surprisingly disciplined campaign for

Charlie Gammell

Why a major war in the Middle East feels inevitable

Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist writing roughly 2,500 years ago, said that ‘Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.’ As we stand on the precipice of a truly frightening regional conflict, which pits a technologically advanced Israel and its allies against Iran and its allies in a war of asymmetry, this tension between strategy and tactics will be a crucial determinant of whether this war ever ends.  We are in an escalatory spiral of tactical exchanges, with both sides aiming for that elusive sweet spot of striking a blow so forceful that it deters the other side from further action, but not so