As a meeting of foreign ministers from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries takes place in Cape Town ahead of the 15^th annual BRICS summit, the Western media has focused on a pointless back-and-forth over whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will be arrested when he attends the latter event. He won’t be, and now journalists are ignoring changes taking place that could prove historic.

The foreign ministers currently visiting South Africa have been dropping hints as to what will be discussed this August. Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar laid out the general theme when he stated that the gathering must “send out a strong message that the world is multipolar, that it is rebalancing and that old ways cannot address new situations”. ...  Continue reading

When asked to comment on several controversial jokes he made earlier this year on The Adam Friedland Show podcast, The 1975 frontman Matty Healy (and Taylor Swift’s latest boyfriend) told the New Yorker that it didn’t bother him. “It doesn’t actually matter,” he said. “Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ and they go, ‘It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.’ That doesn’t happen.” Addressing those who claimed they were hurt by his views, he insisted, “You’re either lying that you are hurt, or you’re a bit mental for being hurt.” ...  Continue reading

After its short life as a caterpillar, a cocoon holds all the cells of the larva as it disintegrates into a primal soup. And yet, quite remarkably, a butterfly — despite being wholly different in almost every aspect — retains memories of its earlier state. 

It is from this biological process that we receive the word “metamorphosis”, a phrase often used in politics. And yet if you read Sir Keir Starmer writing for the Daily Express earlier this week, you would have presumed he has no recollection of his previous life as Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary. The metamorphosis of the Europhile QC into a beer-drinking Brexiteer eclipses even the greatest miracle of nature.  ...  Continue reading

The melee of riot shields and baseball bats fought between Serb protesters and Nato peacekeepers this week has come at a delicate time for the American-European alliance. With the West focused on Ukraine, such violent clashes, in what is effectively a Nato protectorate acquired in easier times, are an unwelcome development for an unstable region — and for the overall Nato strategy. 

The immediate spark was Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s attempt to install ethnic Albanian officials in the ethnic Serb-majority North Kosovo region. The local Serbs had boycotted the election, with less than 4% of the region’s population taking part in voting. Yet, in justifying his move, Kurti nevertheless insisted that “it is the right of those elected in democratic elections to assume office without threats or intimidation”, dismissing the protesters as “Serbian mobs and fascist militia”.  ...  Continue reading

The longer Russia’s invasion drags on, the more obvious it becomes that the international powers involved are pursuing interests other than the protection of Ukraine. In the United States, for example, the upcoming Republican primaries are set to turn an international crisis into part of the American culture wars. Every contender for the GOP nomination will have to be extremely careful not to appear supportive of yet another foreign war after the painful memories of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Similar forces are at play within the EU. It has been an open secret since French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China earlier this year that Paris wants to increase its global influence, ideally through becoming the dominant nation within the EU. This role, traditionally played by Germany as the economically strongest and most populous member state, has come under significant pressure, and Macron seems determined to take advantage of the vacuum. Top of the agenda, currently, is Ukraine’s Nato ambitions. ...  Continue reading

Sometimes, gender stereotypes die hard. Males who identify as trans end up on the covers of magazines when they dominate a sport or succeed in business. Females who identify as trans grace the covers when they strip down to their undergarments — or, in the case of this month’s cover story for Glamour Magazine, when they find themselves pregnant. 

“Pregnant men” — like “transgender children” and “lesbians with penises” — are among the mysteries and marvels of this bold new faith, and June is the month set aside for public veneration. 

But what is it like to actually find yourself in this situation? Glamour goes right to the source: a pregnant 27-year-old named Logan Brown. The reporter, Chloe Law, assumes the proper posture: when Brown frets over “giving ‘good’ answers and jokingly asks if people do this a lot in interviews. I reassure him, honestly, that his answers aren’t just good; they’re powerful.”  ...  Continue reading

Inna Sovsun is a Ukrainian MP, deputy leader of the pro-European Golos party, and one of the most eloquent spokespeople for the Ukrainian perspective.

She spoke to UnHerd‘s Freddie Sayers from Kyiv about attacks inside Russian territory, the future of Crimea and political tensions inside Ukraine.

Fewer young Americans are going to college. For recent high school graduates, college enrolment is now at 62%, down from 66.2% in 2019. According to the Wall Street Journal, this is in part because of “brighter prospects for blue-collar jobs”, as the labour shortage has boosted wages for jobs that don’t require degrees. More broadly, the shift comes as Americans question the value of higher education. A recent survey found that 56% of Americans think the traditional degree is not worth the cost, versus only 42% who think college is worth it.

This trend defies an article of faith, as the American Dream has long been equated with going to college. As Barack Obama put it in a 2014 speech, “an essential promise of America” is that “where you start should not determine where you end up.” For Obama, the upshot was self-evident: “And so I’m glad that everybody wants to go to college.” ...  Continue reading