United Kingdom

The fight against ‘woke’ carries with it echoes of their doomed battle to hold back gay rights. 

Those who are grabbing their new-found freedom don’t deserve our criticism.  People rush to judgement very quickly. All it takes is for a crowd to congregate on a beach, or for young people to go clubbing, and a great puritanical curtain-twitching mania is unleashed on them. This week, Twitter is ablaze with sneering commentary about […]

Tim Walker reports on the latest revamp at Chequers

The home secretary was once a maverick outsider. She hasn’t changed, but the country has.

As disquiet grows, Boris Johnson may not hold the whip hand for much longer.

‘Thank you’ might seem an easy phrase to learn in a foreign language. But that is not always the case says PETER TRUDGILL Sometimes, when people are going to visit a country they have never been to before, they say they plan to learn a little of the language which is spoken there, but “just […]

The costs of Brexit continue to mount – and they dwarf what Boris Johnson has set aside for “levelling up” in the regions It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, as the Brexit waste goes on and on without ever making sense – a bit like Boris Johnson’s speech […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on what we can expect from Boris Johnson's much-discussed and long-delayed book on William Shakespeare

The sovereignty promised in the EU referendum only benefits the Tory party

Nina Hamnett's artistic career shone brilliantly and briefly, until overshadowed by her lifestyle. A new show restores the focus on her work

Tchéky Karyo’s fame reaches a whole new level appearing as Baptiste

The Russian defector’s fatal poisoning has been turned into an opera, approved by his widow, says KIRSTY LANG In the 15 years since Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned drinking tea in a central London hotel, there have been numerous books, film documentaries and a stage play inspired by his story. Now for the first time, there […]

TIM WALKER reviews a theatre production that held its own against the drama provided by the Three Lions

TIM WALKER on an ebullient show that creates an emotional occasion

Novelist WILL SELF explains why tuning in to religious station Advent Radio has renewed his faith in the medium The local pharmacist – who I call the fundamentalcist for reasons that will soon become clear – has some sort of evangelical radio station playing over the shop’s PA system all day every day, such that I’m […]

It’s a decade since the demise of the News of the World and today’s toothless tabloids are a shadow of their former ferocious selves. Should we mourn or celebrate their decline? And could they have stopped Brexit?  They were the cheeky chappies, rumbustious and irreverent, saucier than a Donald McGill postcard; always game to poke […]

Alastair Campbell’s article on sado-populism has struck a chord with this reader

A reader explains how the EU referendum stripped him of his Britishness

TIM WALKER's Mandrake column explores the prime minister's repetitive use of the word 'fantastic'.

MITCH BENN offers four good reasons to feel proud of England’s footballers and to look forward to the World Cup despite their Euro final defeat to Italy By the time you read this, several days will have passed since England’s defeat (on penalties, inevitably) at the Euros final on Sunday.  How are things going, up there […]

ROB HUGHES examines England’s near-miss at the Euros and finds that for all their advantages, a change of mindset is necessary at the top So near, and yet so far. England released itself from the European Union, but remain far from the world-beaters some fans imagine it is their birthright to be as the motherland of […]

A pizza restaurant with a robot as the chef has opened in Paris.

Critics of the government’s re-opening strategy need more than just carping. They need to offer their own analysis

Editor-at-large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on a concept that helps explain the politics of Boris Johnson

It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain as we learned exactly why “Liz Truss” rhymes with “mistrust”. While Brexit continues to deliver more empty shelves for consumers, more carnage to our food and fishing sectors and more chaos to the people of Northern Ireland, the eternal sunshine of our […]

One spectator sport this summer has been watching politicians try to tie their fortunes to the England team. Such efforts are as doomed to failure as, ultimately, Gareth Southgate’s team was.

Some modern misunderstandings are a consequence of changes that have occurred in the English language over the last 300 years A regrettable and embarrassing incident has occurred in the West Midlands of England. An 11-year-old schoolboy was referred to the government’s so-called counter-radicalisation programme after the teacher asked his class what they would do if they […]

In the wake of the subs-postmaster scandal, WILL SELF encounters an actual criminal at the Post Office and ponders the hierarchy of crime I ran into X in the post office queue – but then regular readers will know this is where some of MM’s most significant encounters occur; at least when it comes to […]

TIM WALKER on a musical production which ticks many boxes, but leaves uncomfortable questions in the way it treats the issue of suicide Heathers The Musical Theatre Royal Haymarket, London; till Sept 11 *** It’s almost axiomatic that edgy, cutting edge theatre will cause offence in some quarters. Productions such as Hair – the musical that came […]

Theresa May has been rated as one of the worst two post-war prime ministers in a survey of UK university academics specialising in British politics and contemporary British history.

MEGAN NOLAN on how the show has moved from frivolous, enjoyable time-waste to water-cooler emblem of national interest ITV’s reality dating show behemoth Love Island is back again, improbably, having weathered multiple genuine tragedies, a smattering of controversy, and the interruption of a plague year in which kissing was illegal. Our contestants have quarantined and are […]

Herbrand Sackville, the 9th Earl of de la Warr, was ahead of his time in his belief that art could breathe new life into a town. A century on, RICHARD HOLLEDGE looks at the must-see art of the east coast