Dispatches
Midterm madness — or Trump’s last stand?
Could the US midterm elections change the course of Trump’s presidency?
The Merkel era ends in angst and anger
In Chemnitz, neo-Nazi street protests and rage against Germany’s liberal consensus erupt
Enter the Professor, Putin’s Balkan stooge
The maverick movie director Emir Kusturica backs Russian expansionism in the Balkans
Refugees are big business for the UN
In Nairobi, there is resentment that asylum-seekers are treated better than local people
Saving Europeans isn’t the Italians’ job
In Reggio Calabria, ordinary people have had enough of the pro-EU elite
Is South Africa about to fall apart?
“It feels as if the country is beginning to unravel, that it is slipping towards ungovernability. Perhaps it can still be pulled back together but nothing is certain”
Catalan myths must now confront reality
The claims of the pro-independence campaigners are historically dubious
Trump’s big gamble on North Korea
The US President may yet confound his critics
Cyril Ramaphosa’s poisoned chalice
South Africa’s new leader has a near-impossible task ahead of him
Capitalist rebirth of Hoxha’s hellhole
Tirana, capital of Albania, has been transformed — a bustling, revitalised city, far from the repressive dictatorship of the past
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