The oft-forgotten two attempts on Ford’s life in September 1975 (both by women, both in California) failed to lift his popularity or reset his presidency because they appeared to undercut part of his agenda: The United States remained politically violent and stubbornly divided, despite Ford’s promise to heal national wounds caused by Watergate. The back-to-back…
On 13 May 1966, a US Senate subcommittee questioned a former Harvard clinical psychologist, considered by many to be “the most dangerous man in America”, on the risks of psychedelics. Leading the inquisition of Dr Timothy Leary was Senator Ted Kennedy, of America’s unofficial first family. Amid a series of questions that reflected the moral…
Stephan Lewandowsky, a cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol in Britain, wrote by email: My research has shown that A.I. can be used to tailor political messages to people with different personalities, and that tailored messages have a slight persuasive edge over untailored messages. So on that basis alone I think A.I. will be…
The news last week that the Trump administration sounded out Fifa, world football’s governing body, about replacing Iran with Italy at this year’s World Cup jolted insiders and pundits on the beautiful game. It has also cast fresh light on the unusual and evolving relationship between Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni. In recent weeks, the…
Cole Tomas Allen, who was arrested during an attempt to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, may be America’s first normie liberal terrorist. The right, naturally, sees Allen as part of a pattern, lumping him in with figures like Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired on Donald Trump in 2024, grazing his ear;…
When King Charles’s mother became the first British monarch to address the United States Congress in 1991, she spoke in the aftermath of the US-led response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, in which more than 50,000 UK troops participated. Queen Elizabeth II used the occasion to celebrate the role of the transatlantic alliance in upholding the rule…
To the Editor: Re “Confusion and Fright Among Guests” (front page, April 27): We saw another tragic example of political violence at the White House correspondents’ dinner. Oh my God, somehow we need to turn this around. Political differences cannot and should not be resolved by violent assault and killing. Liberals, moderates and conservatives may…
It’s Gatwick airport, mid-afternoon, and on the runway there is turmoil. Public policy playing out in full view of the public. Voters, citizens, seeing what they don’t normally see. “Murdaar, murdaaaaar,” screams the bucking, brawling, brawny man as a clutch of male security officials, with solid intent and hi-vis yellow jackets, collectively fight to pin…
President Trump’s war with Iran is almost certainly illegal: Congress hasn’t declared war or authorized it by statute, and it wasn’t precipitated by an imminent attack or a national emergency. If the war continues through Friday without congressional approval, it will clearly be illegal, having passed the 60-day threshold and the 48-hour notice period that…
Finally, belatedly, an honest portrait of Keir Starmer has been allowed to form. It’s been a hell of a journey. At first he was sanctified as the Labour saviour, finally arrived. That gave way to pleas that he was essentially a good sort, new to politics and in need of time. Now an impression is…
