Category Archives: War

Old-fashioned imperialism (I’m thinking of The Battle of Algiers ) is when our own troops beat up the wogs. Compassionate conservatism means that we outsource torture. I haven’t written about the war for months because I have nothing to say … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It took me a long time to realise this. But of course. The character you need to understand Israel today isn’t Jewish at all. It’s Mr Kurtz, his stockade ringed with human heads. There will be more of this once … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So, I went to see Eric Hobsbawm, and he was fascinating, learned, charming — but with a blind spot made of boot leather when it comes to communist regimes. I asked him, amongst other things, whether we can hope to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

… what peace will be giv’n To us enslav’d, but custody severe, And stripes, and arbitrary punishment Inflicted? and what peace can we return, But to our power hostility and hate, Untam’d reluctance, and revenge though slow, Yet ever plotting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Melanie Phillips has an agonised article in Prospect that makes me think better of her. At the same time, it bodes very badly for the future of Israel. She visited the country on a government-sponsored freebie: she got to talk … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posterity shall ne’er survey A nobler sight than this. Here lies the grave of Castlereagh: Stop, traveller, and piss. Michael Lind, in the Nation, has taken Byron’s exhortation to heart. Admittedly, the neocons had nothing in common with Lord Castlereagh, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“Unfounded allegation” is two words, not one. Andrew Gilligan’s allegations were false. They were not unfounded. Continue reading →

This is a shorter version of the argument in the Wrap today. I think it matters. There are three ways in which Britain went to war on a false prospectus. The first, well-covered, is the WMD business. But this was, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There is a long interview in Ha’aretz with Benny Morris, an Israeli historian(via ). He has done more than anyone else to expose the extent to which Palestinians were deliberately driven out of Iarael in 1948, and was for many … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“I have taken the rudder into my own hannds; my course is set straight and I am guidingyou to glorious times. Those who wish to help me are heartily welcome; whoever opposes me I will smash. There is only one … Continue reading → Continue reading →