Open Season
Who is Pride for?
‘A message of liberation has lost out to the more commercially viable demands for inclusion and recognition of ever-more niche identities’
Baked-in bias
‘Once social media entities become publishers, any political bias already present will be baked in’
The lost Eden of academia
‘It wasn’t difficult to persuade my son that academic life had lost its attractions’
The end of growth
‘The great classical economists all thought that economic growth would eventually cease. The prediction seems to be coming true’
Misperceptions and mistaken policies
‘Under Trump, the US has lost its ability to conduct statecraft: in North Korea it has made a dangerous situation worse’
London doesn’t need another Holocaust memorial
‘London does not need a new Holocaust memorial in the shadow of Parliament. It already has a very moving one in Hyde Park’
Marie Colvin’s myth
‘Marie Colvin created herself in the image of the ideal war correspondent. She crafted a one-of-the-boys persona: she was tougher than the toughest’
Along the rocky road
‘Although Jews like to say that they are exceptionally argumentative, their internal bickering is little different from many other narrow communities’
Britain’s obsession with Latin verse still lingers
‘Like a strict dress code, or refined form of dance, the myriad rules of ancient versification prove to be liberating’
Irish realities
‘A new book on Brexit illustrates our great problem with Ireland: our ignorance of its self-pity’
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal