World

Tuesday

Lisa Haseldine

Merz's bungled bid to become chancellor plunges Germany into crisis

Just when he thought he was home and dry, Friedrich Merz has fallen at the final hurdle to become Germany’s next chancellor. At a vote in the Bundestag this morning that many thought would be a formality, the CDU leader fell short of the votes needed to confirm him as the country’s new leader by six ballots, plunging Berlin into fresh political crisis. Never before in Germany’s post-war history has a chancellor-in-waiting failed to get through the first round of Bundestag voting to elect a new leader. While 310 MPs voted in favour of Merz becoming chancellor, 307 voted against him. Damningly, this means that of the 328 MPs who form the ‘grand coalition’ Merz

Limor Simhony Philpott

‘Capturing’ Gaza could backfire spectacularly

Israel’s cabinet has given a green light an audacious plan to retake Gaza, signalling a serious shift in its approach to the war on the Hamas-controlled enclave. Approved on 5 May, the operation aims to seize the entire Strip, hold key territories, and maintain a long-term military presence – a stark departure from the hit-and-retreat tactics of the past.  With a timeline pegged to begin after Donald Trump’s regional visit from 13-16 May, the IDF are mobilising tens of thousands of reservists for what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls an ‘intensive’ campaign. But this high-stakes strategy, driven by the twin goals of crushing Hamas and freeing hostages, is fraught with

Monday

Nigel Jones

Donald Trump needs a history lesson

President Donald Trump has again demonstrated his less than impressive grasp of history with a statement on his Truth Social site on the 80th anniversary of VE Day – the end of the Second World War in Europe – claiming that the US ‘did more than any other country by far’ to win the global conflict. In terms of cold statistics, it was the Soviet Union that did most to defeat Nazi Germany, suffering the colossal loss of 24 million military and civilian lives before the Red Army entered the ruins of Berlin to end the Third Reich. The US lost a total of 418,500 dead in fighting Japan and

Cindy Yu

A compilation of Chinese Whispers: understanding China

108 min listen

As Chinese Whispers comes to an end, here is a compilation of some of the best discussions Cindy Yu has had across the podcast to understand modern China and President Xi.  On this episode you can hear from: journalist Bill Hayton on what it means to be Chinese (1:10); writer and actor Mark Kitto and author Alex Ash on being foreign in China (13:07); professor of international history Elizabeth Ingleson on whether China’s economic boom was made in America (23:08); professor of Chinese studies and former diplomat Kerry Brown and professor of history Steve Tsang on how the cultural revolution shaped China’s leaders today (47:05); journalist Bill Bishop and professor

Sunday

Katja Hoyer

Merz's plan to reclaim Germany's place on the world stage

‘Germany is back,’ said Friedrich Merz, the man likely to be elected as the new German Chancellor this coming week. What sounds like a promise to some and a threat to others is certainly a sign that the new German leadership will aim to take a more assertive role in European and world politics. Merz isn’t even chancellor yet, but he’s already keen to signal that he will take a more active interest in foreign policy than his predecessor. The outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz has gained a bit of a reputation for his reluctance to respond to international events, particularly the war in Ukraine. Shortly after the invasion began in

Saturday

Terry Barnes

Australian election: Trump helps topple second conservative leader

Tonight, Australia voted decisively for continuity. The Labor government of prime minister Anthony Albanese has not merely been re-elected. It has absolutely thumped the conservative Liberal-National party coalition, headed by Liberal leader Peter Dutton. At the close of counting tonight, Labor achieved a majority in the 150-seat parliament, winning 77 seats and leading in another five. The coalition has been decimated, reduced from an already-low 55 seats to winning just 29 and leading in another eight. Frontbenchers and talented up-and-comers around the country have been swept away in seats deemed safe. Worse for the conservatives, Dutton himself has had the ultimate Portillo moment, losing his own constituency having held it

Kara Kennedy

The strategic ascent of Kai Trump

In the gilded corridors of Trump Tower and the manicured greens of exclusive golf courses, a new Trump is quietly ascending. At just 17, Kai Trump – the eldest of the President’s grandchildren – is executing what appears to be a carefully orchestrated entry into public life, blending the traditional pathways of political families with the modern currency of social media influence. ‘He’s just a normal grandpa,’ Kai says in one of her videos about the President. ‘He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking.’ The statement, seemingly innocent, accomplishes something the Trump campaign has struggled with for years: it humanises the most polarising figure in American politics. This is no

Terry Barnes

Will Australia's angry voters punish Labor at the polls?

Australia goes to the polls today, pitting the first-term Labor government of prime minister Anthony Albanese against the Liberal-National party coalition headed by Liberal leader Peter Dutton. As the election campaign for the federal election entered its final week, the agenda-setting Newspoll in the Australian newspaper asked voters whether Albanese’s government deserves re-election. Damningly, less than two-fifths said yes; well over half said it deserves throwing out. It’s no wonder voters feel angry about Labor Yet Newspoll, and all other opinion polls, have Labor on track to win today, either in a narrow majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives, or in minority supported by a left-leaning crossbench. It’s no

Friday

Nigel Jones

Labelling the AfD 'extremists' will backfire

By officially classing the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party as ‘right-wing extremists’, the German establishment may have scored an own goal – or even shot itself in the foot. The domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), announced its decision today after keeping the insurgent party under close observation – including by state spies – for years. But the AfD is no tiny sect of secretive neo-Nazis. It is a legal and open party, founded in 2013, that no fewer than 20.8 per cent of Germans voted for in this year’s general election. Now that the centre-right CDU/CSU and the centre-left SPD are forming a

Lisa Haseldine

The AfD's 'extremist' label is a long time coming

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has been classified as ‘confirmed right-wing extremist’ by Germany’s domestic intelligence service. Until now, the party – which came second in federal elections in February – had been considered ‘suspected right-wing extremist’. After this upgrade, in the eyes of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (known by its German acronym BfV), the AfD and the values it holds stand in violation of Germany’s constitution. The BfV had been investigating the party for many months, finally submitting a lengthy report to the Ministry of the Interior this week. They had reportedly wanted to submit their findings to the government at the

Jacob Heilbrunn

Is Marco Rubio the next Henry Kissinger?

Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokesperson, was flummoxed. ‘I just heard this from you,’ she responded after a reporter told her at a briefing session that President Trump has appointed Marco Rubio to replace Mike Waltz as his acting National Security Advisor. But this isn’t his final Waltz. Waltz is now headed to the United Nations, where he will fill the ambassador slot which Representative Elise Stefanik coveted but was forced to surrender to ensure the Republicans maintain their slender majority in the House.   Little Marco may play a bigger role in the Trump administration than anyone had anticipated News reports earlier, first from Mark Halperin, had posited that Waltz

Eliot Wilson

Mike Waltz's fall from grace will change little

Oh what a circus, oh what a show. It began on Thursday morning, with stories circulating that the US national security advisor, Michael Waltz, was about to be dropped. This seemed to be confirmed when President Trump spoke at an event for the National Day of Prayer, and reeled off praise for his top team, including Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA – but made no mention of Waltz. Waltz’s departure had long been thought likely. While the most vainglorious and locker room chat-like braggadocio in the Signalgate scandal earlier this year had come from Hegseth and Vice President J.D. Vance, Waltz had

Ian Williams

Ian Williams, Philip Patrick, Guy Stagg, Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Mark Mason and Catriona Olding

37 min listen

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Ian Williams looks at Chinese influence in the UK (1:39); Philip Patrick interviews Japan’s last ninja (9:35); Guy Stagg reviews Damian Le Bas and explores the myths behind the city of Atlantis (18:23); Ysenda Maxtone Graham reviews an exhibition on school dinners at the Food Museum in Stowmarket (23:38); Mark Mason provides his notes on quizzes, ahead of the Spectator’s garden quiz (28:00); and, swapping Provence to visit family in America, Catriona Olding takes us on a trip up the east coast (31:27).  Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Thursday

Freddy Gray

Victor Davis Hanson on DEI, counter revolutions and why Trump is a 'tragic hero'

49 min listen

Victor Davis Hanson joins Spectator TV to talk about the first 101 days of Donald Trump’s second presidency, describing it as a bold counterrevolution against decades of cultural, political, and economic drift. He discusses Trump’s sweeping agenda—from closing the border and challenging DEI initiatives to confronting foreign policy orthodoxy and trade imbalances—framing it as a populist backlash against elite institutions and progressive ideologies. Hanson highlights the deepening divide between America’s coastal elites and its working class, and argues that Trump’s unorthodox style and aggressive reforms are reshaping the political landscape in ways not seen in modern American history

Mark Galeotti

Trump’s Ukraine minerals deal is pure extortion

So the on-again-off-again US-Ukrainian resources deal has been signed. It is perhaps appropriate that it was done without fanfare, marked by emailed press release. While its terms are rather better than originally mooted, it still shows not that ‘the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine’ as US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent put it, but to neo-colonial exploitation. For all that, Kyiv has some reason to be satisfied by what it considers less of an economic deal and more a necessary piece of performative submission to keep Donald Trump engaged with their cause. Put at its simplest, Ukraine’s natural resources –

Lisa Haseldine

The US mineral deal will give Ukraine fresh hope

Overnight, Ukraine and the US finally signed a deal on Ukraine’s mineral reserves. The agreement, signed two months later than planned, sees the two countries set up what they have called the ‘United States-Ukraine Reconstructions Investment Fund’, the aim of which will be to attract ‘global investment’ into Ukraine following the end of the war with Russia. Until the last minute, it was unclear whether Ukraine would indeed sign on the dotted line, with sounds coming from Washington late last night that chances of the agreement being locked in over the coming day standing at ‘little better than 50-50’.  While details of the fund have yet to be revealed, it

Will Moore

Chambers of horrors, the ‘Dubai-ification’ of London & the enduring obsession with Diana

37 min listen

This week: the left-wing radicalism of Garden Court Garden Court Chambers has a ‘reassuringly traditional’ facade befitting the historic Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the heart of London’s legal district. Yet, writes Ross Clark in the cover article this week, ‘the facade is just that. For behind the pedimented Georgian windows there operates the most radically effective cell of left-wing activists in Britain’. Ross argues that cases taken on by Garden Court lawyers raise questions of impartiality. Is this just another example of ‘law’s expanding empire’ over the domain of elected politicians, as former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption has warned? The Spectator’s editor, and former Justice Secretary, Michael Gove joined the

Douglas Murray

The unbearable smugness of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Polls occasionally appear which reveal the extent to which people trust – or rather don’t trust – journalists. In one last year, something called the Edelman Trust Barometer found that just 31 per cent of the British public said they trust the media, a fall of 6 per cent in a year. This puts the media class at a level of trust somewhere between politicians and burglars in the public’s eyes. Still, any British hacks reading this can console themselves with one thing: at least most of our media does not cloak itself in the mantle of the utmost righteousness and hold itself out as some sort of priestly class.

Philip Patrick

‘It is sad that we are sometimes seen as just killers’: an interview with Japan’s last ninja

Getting an interview with Jinichi Kawakami, the man known in Japan as ‘the Last Ninja’, was no easy task – but nor should it have been. Ninjas, Japan’s legendary covert operatives and assassins, were renowned for their elusiveness, so it would have been disappointing if tracking one down had proved a cinch. It took a good deal of research and persistence before I was granted an interview by landline telephone – which also seems appropriate since ninjas were reputedly able to make themselves invisible. Kawakami is head of the Banke Shinobinoden school of ninjutsu (ninja culture), director of the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum and Ninja Council, and a professor of Ninja

Owen Matthews

What does Putin want? Whatever he can get away with

The US general Mark Clark knew a thing or two about dealing with Russians. In the aftermath of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Clark commanded the American occupying forces in Austria. His Soviet opposite number, and nominal ally, was Marshal Ivan Konev. The two war heroes were tasked with pacifying the conquered and divided country at the dawn of the Cold War. ‘The Russians were not interested in teamwork,’ recalled Clark in his 1950 memoir, Calculated Risk. ‘They wanted to keep things boiling… They were accustomed to the use of force. They were skilled in exploiting any sign of weakness or uncertainty or appeasement. This was their national policy.’ Two