James Ball
14 February 2025
The president’s brain is missing… again
Not even his shocked closest allies know what drove Donald Trump’s Ukraine sell-out
Read the full article13 February 2025
Donald Trump has no plan
Greenland, the Panama Canal, trade wars, the Gaza riviera, surrendering to Putin – and it’s only week three. Most of it won’t happen. But some of it might. And that’s the problem
Read the full article12 February 2025
Matthew Goodwin’s book of nonsense
The populist commentator’s book on UK universities is filled with unoriginal argument, cherry-picked evidence and enormous self-regard. If he truly believes what he’s written, the only suitable response is pity
Read the full article10 February 2025
When hard hearts beat soft power
The White House’s destruction of USAID is a callous, catastrophic mistake that will damage America as well as the world
Read the full article08 February 2025
Why are Labour acting like the Tories?
By offering the same old rhetoric on benefits, migrants and spending, Keir Starmer looks like the continuity Sunak
Read the full article05 February 2025
China’s AI game changer
China has upended the artificial intelligence war, and now anyone can win – shaking the assumptions of Trump, Musk and Starmer
Read the full article04 February 2025
Reform’s poll lead changes nothing for Labour
The populist party is a growing force that cannot be ignored - but Starmer’s government must still deliver or die
Read the full article02 February 2025
Welcome to Trump’s economic world war
An entitled, deluded president risks setting off a chain reaction of global financial devastation
Read the full article30 January 2025
Brexit is the new communism
True believers deny that leaving the EU has failed; just that it's not been done properly yet. Does this delusion sound familiar?
Read the full article29 January 2025
Climate of fear
The case for green measures has never been clearer. But ideology in the US and internal battles in the UK threaten any progress
Read the full article28 January 2025
The crazy fawning over Trump’s sabotage
Government is hard - but that doesn’t justify praise by Simon Case and others just for smashing things up
Read the full article24 January 2025
Under the radar, the Lib Dems could decide the next election
Labour and the Tories are obsessed with Reform - and that gives Ed Davey space to make a different case
Read the full article23 January 2025
Rupert Murdoch is breathing a sigh of relief over Prince Harry
News Group has paid a huge price, but may have seen off the greatest scandal it has faced
Read the full article22 January 2025
Trump’s rush to build a crueller America
The president’s opening gambits show those who tried to sanewash him were deluded
Read the full article20 January 2025
The power of resistance
The Democrats are in shock and disarray. But someone will need to stand up to Donald Trump
Read the full article17 January 2025
Kemi Badenoch’s honesty problem
The Tory leader’s habit of saying what she thinks is refreshing. Her staff’s habit of pretending that she hasn’t said it is dreadful politics
Read the full article15 January 2025
Meta follows X to the dark side
Meta firing its fact-checkers is about more than sucking up to Trump. It kickstarts a global fight over the rules of the internet and free speech
Read the full article14 January 2025
Labour is squandering the chance to tell its economic story
Keir Starmer is wasting time on bizarre claims about AI and productivity instead of convincing voters that he has a real plan.
Read the full article10 January 2025
Badenoch the opportunist tiptoes towards disaster
The Tory leader did nothing about rape gangs she was the minister responsible, and is only interested now that she thinks there might be votes in it
Read the full article08 January 2025
Elon’s little helpers
The neofascist billionaire at Trump’s side is spewing out dangerous lies about Britain. And our complicit right wing press is amplifying them
Read the full article07 January 2025
Robert Jenrick is a cynical opportunist
His car-crash Today interview reveals much about the man who would be Tory king
Read the full article03 January 2025
The dangerous lies of Elon Musk
His ill-informed backing for Tommy Robinson and slurs against Jess Phillips say it all about Trump's right-hand man
Read the full article01 January 2025
2025: The year of living dangerously
The 12 months ahead are fraught with danger for both Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch
Read the full article30 December 2024
Sorry, Daily Telegraph, but a UK-to-US brain drain isn’t going to happen
The paper’s Sam Ashworth-Hayes thinks catastrophe is on the cards - but there are several factors he’s overlooked
Read the full article29 December 2024
The Badenoch v Farage membership row is the shape of politics to come
The Tory leader has given her rival even more free publicity - but she's right to have picked this fight
Read the full article24 December 2024
The truth about It’s A Wonderful Life
This supposedly heart-warming yuletide classic is the story of a NIMBY preparing to impose a radical moral agenda on his selfish neighbours
Read the full article19 December 2024
Keir Starmer – a man without a plan
First, Labour had “missions” and then it came out with “milestones” – but what it doesn’t have is a plan for government, and it seems incapable of making one
Read the full article18 December 2024
The five political lessons of 2024
Forget polling and lifetime party loyalty – all that’s gone. In their place we have a broken system, Reform as the main opposition party, and a growing threat from disinformation
Read the full article13 December 2024
Meet Nigel Farage’s new moneyman
Nick Candy, the billionaire property developer, is now in charge of Reform’s finances. Now people will see Farage’s “man of the people” act for what it is – a sham
Read the full article12 December 2024
The public is running ahead of Starmer on Brexit
A survey shows UK voters would accept free movement and want closer ties with Europe
Read the full article10 December 2024
Starmer’s long-winded road
How can the PM connect with voters when he and his advisers keep spewing out meaningless word salad?
Read the full article03 December 2024
The new Brexit time bomb
A refresh of EU product safety standards, GPSR, will be a disaster for the UK’s small exporters, with the government little help
Read the full article