Bret Stephens: Frank, is it time for someone to make a TV show called “Real Housewives of the Trump Cabinet”? Frank Bruni: The ingredients are all there! Gilded locations. Flamboyant pettiness. Booze. An exorbitant hair and makeup budget. But I do have a question: Are we spotlighting actual spouses — Kristi Noem’s, Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s, Melania…
Can progressives push back the rising tide of authoritarianism? Thousands of people gathered in Barcelona this weekend in search of an answer. The occasion was the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilisation – an ambitious initiative backed by the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez – which drew an impressive cast: Brazil’s Lula, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Colombia’s Gustavo…
On this week’s episode, I’m trying to answer a question that’s haunted my investment strategy for years: What is cryptocurrency actually for? It’s up, it’s down. Sometimes it’s a centerpiece of Trumpian economic policy. Sometimes it’s ransom money for crossing the Strait of Hormuz. Sometimes it’s going to replace the dollar or help the middle…
How fast do you have to strike a match to get it to light? Not the chemistry of the ignition, but the actual speed, in metres per second, that the little piece of wood and its bulbous head have to move to spark the chain reaction behind the flame. It was a question born of…
I forgot four lemons and on several occasions I was like, I’m just going to go back, grab those four lemons and get the hell out. You should go to prison. I know you think they’re going to ban me. They should. They should throw you in jail. But I didn’t feel. I didn’t feel…
The announcement of Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador ensures that 20 December 2024 will be recorded as a fateful day in Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership. Less remarked on, but relevant in hindsight, is a speech that the prime minister made earlier that month to launch a “plan for change”. Sir Keir set out ambitions to…
Donald Trump casts himself as a champion of American business. In many ways, he is. He has slashed corporate taxes. He is rolling back regulations and embracing industries like artificial intelligence. Yet the payoff is far smaller than many business leaders expected, and our economy is losing momentum. The reason is simple. Mr. Trump’s constant…
The most difficult thing in life – any life – is to admit you are wrong. What’s true for someone in the privacy of their own home is massively more true for the prime minister. But last Thursday, Keir Starmer made a mistake. That afternoon, the Guardian reported that Peter Mandelson had failed his security…
When my daughter Renae, my firstborn, was 5 months old she spiked a fever. By that evening, she was having trouble breathing — the color was gone from her face and I could see her skin tugging in around her ribs. At the hospital the doctors noted the red spots on her body and diagnosed…
