The Week

Leading article

The Uber scandal highlights big tech’s big failure

A few years ago the Conservatives were excited about the march of the tech giants. Uber was offering an alternative to black cabs at a far lower cost, and Airbnb enabled homeowners to rent out a spare room to tourists at a fraction of the rate charged by hotels. Politicians were no longer dependent on

Portrait of the week

Diary

Boris’s final days in No. 10

‘So what did he say?’ I asked the ministerial friend who went to tell Boris last week he had to resign. ‘Well, he told me a long story about a relative of his who got caught up in a planning dispute, barricaded himself inside his house and the police had to come in force to

Ancient and modern

The Roman roots of ‘colony’

The word ‘colony’ meets with a sharp intake of breath these days, but ‘province’ raises no eyebrows. How very odd. The ancient Greeks invented the western notion of the colony. But ‘colony’ is the term the Romans applied to it and is of Latin derivation, from colo, ‘I cultivate, inhabit’ and so colonia. The ancient

Barometer

What’s the hottest it’s ever been in the UK?

Hot hot hot The Met Office said temperatures may hit 40˚C on Sunday, which would be the highest ever recorded in the UK. The current record of 38.7˚C was in Cambridge Botanic Garden on 25 July 2019. The lowest ever temperature of -27.2˚C was recorded in Braemar, Aberdeenshire twice: once on 11 February 1895 and

Letters

Letters: In defence of Boris Johnson

Boris’s legacy Sir: It is grossly unfair to assert that Boris Johnson’s legacy was the lockdown (Leading article, 9 July). His chief legacy was, of course, Brexit, followed by the crushing of Corbynism, the world-beating vaccine rollout, and his leading role in supporting Ukraine against the Russian invaders. Not a bad tally. Most European countries,