COMMENT

In Iran, one man exercises complete control for his lifetime. In the US, it’s now six people.

— Political gridlock across the US federal government has made the country’s supreme court uniquely powerful.

COMMENT

The G7 has returned to being a gentlemen’s club.

— With Angela Merkel gone, the G7 has returned to being a male bastion.

COMMENT

A peaceful transfer of power in America? Yes, but...

— I don’t know about you but the Colombian election has been a rare bright spot in the news from the Americas.

COMMENT

Ever wondered how the monarchy survives in Britain?

— With the Platinum Jubilee celebrations currently happening, what makes the British monarchy go on in a world that has become flatter and more egalitarian? And how on earth does it even survive?

COMMENT

No, decolonising your bookshelf doesn’t mean getting rid of Jane Austen.

— It is a truth universally acknowledged that the right-wing press will inflame any debate on decolonisation, regardless of the facts.

COMMENT

Nestle and the business of morality.

— The issue of ethics and business comes up a lot, with respect to the Ukraine war, Black Lives Matter, transgender rights and more.

COMMENT

A telling story about Putin’s state of mind from a European diplomat.

— How the story from a former ambassador in Moscow about Vladimir Putin suggests that the Russian leader’s apparent goal might be far larger than any peace deal with Ukraine.

War in Ukraine

What can China do about Ukraine and will it do it?

— The horror of what is happening in Ukraine has focussed minds on China’s obligations.

COMMENT

The best-laid plans of mice and men... and Putin and his gold.

— The unprecedented package of tough and coordinated sanctions against Russia after the Ukraine invasion shows that war chests are only as good as the purpose for which they’re used.

COMMENT

For Russia, it’s all alt... even its tsar.

— Russia is now in an alternate universe where Vladimir Putin recreates the Russian empire.

COMMENT

Royal finances – Our money and theirs.

— Some of Europe’s most progressive democracies have titular monarchs – mostly anonymous men and women, not the UK where the royal family takes the route to A-list celebrity.

COMMENT

Russia, Ukraine, Schrodinger’s cat and our interconnected world.

— Vladimir Putin may have deliberately created a crisis in Ukraine in which everything is possible at once, including global food supplies being affected.

COMMENT

‘All the world’s somewhat corrupt and men and women merely players.’

— The worry of Transparency International’s new Corruption Perception Index is that so much of the world scores so poorly.

COMMENT

Some surprising actors want the Yankees in their backyard.

— The Estonians want the Americans to stand guard in the Baltics. So too, it seems, do the Pakistanis.

COMMENT

21st century Britain: Still the ‘emancipated empire’?

— Is history best looked at once we have finished with the future, as UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss seems to believe?

COMMENT

This Christmas we managed to frighten ourselves into deep gloom.

— It’s probably a sign of the times that the hottest, newest Netflix Christmas movie this year was ‘Don’t Look Up’.