In many ways, there is much about UK tech to celebrate. As a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurship, we have created a flourishing start-up scene that is the envy of most of Europe. And beyond this we have a growing portfolio of successful mid-sized UK tech businesses, who have developed from their early days of being pioneering disruptors to become established players in the FTSE 350 index. Trainline is a classic example of the latter. It was 25 years ago that, as a telesales company, we took a step into the unknown by turning our internal booking system into the UK’s first train ticketing ..read more

“It’s time for us to rearm,” Rishi Sunak said yesterday at a press conference with the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk. His call to arms – which, strangely, lacked gravitas despite its implication – came as he announced plans to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030. This is part of the slow realisation that Britain cannot always hide beneath America’s protective umbrella, that Europe has to invest in its defence for its own security. The US Congress did pass the huge aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan last night but only after six uncertain months of opposition and ..read more

At a private dinner a few months ago, a senior European minister explained what will happen if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November and withdraws all support for Ukraine. Unless the large European countries stepped up to replace the American effort – an unlikely proposition – he said his country, a Nato member, would have no choice but to fight alongside Ukraine – inside Ukraine. As he put it, why should his country wait for a Ukrainian defeat, followed by the forced mobilisation of a conquered nation to swell the ranks of a Russian army bent on new excursions?  Some ..read more

When Caroline Crampton was 17 she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare type of blood cancer. It recurred a year later, during her first year of university. After chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant, she was given the all-clear at 22. It was then that another illness took hold. “It took being cured of a life-threatening illness for me to become fixated on the idea that I might be sick,” Crampton writes in A Body Made of Glass, an ambitious study of hypochondria. “My body and my life… were cancer-free. But I am not free.” Sometimes her anxiety is distant, there but barely audible; a ..read more

We must search out the best reporting where we can. My post-Easter bulletin is that I’ve discovered that by far the finest fresh information about the threats facing Europe this decade can be found in Madrid. Not in the foyer of a television station or newspaper, but at the cool, austere San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the bustling heart of the city. There, for the first time, all of Francisco Goya’s famous print series, but in particular, The Disasters of War, 82 prints he made between 1810 and 1820, are on display together. They might appear to be part of some kind of historical r ..read more

When Caroline Crampton was 17 she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare type of blood cancer. It recurred a year later, during her first year of university. After chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant, she was given the all-clear at 22. It was then that another illness took hold. “It took being cured of a life-threatening illness for me to become fixated on the idea that I might be sick,” Crampton writes in A Body Made of Glass, an ambitious study of hypochondria. “My body and my life… were cancer-free. But I am not free.” Sometimes her anxiety is distant, there but barely audible; a ..read more

On 18 April, Kemi Badenoch highlighted the biggest problem facing the British economy in 2024: historical accuracy. Speaking in the City of London, the business secretary made headlines by stating that “the UK’s wealth isn’t from white privilege and colonialism” but instead heralds from the constitutional and economic reforms of the 1688 Glorious Revolution. Correcting the historical record, she finally struck a blow against the ivory tower ideologues who consistently lie about Britain’s past in order to do it down. One such zealot has even described Britain’s colonisation of the Caribbean as ..read more

Hours after Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill to tackle illegal immigration finally made it through both Houses of Parliament, tragedy has struck in the Channel again. At least five migrants, including a girl reported to be four years old, died this morning (23 April) attempting to reach the UK from France on a dinghy reportedly crowded with more than 100 people. The victims appear to have been crushed by the sheer numbers crammed onboard by people smugglers. The incident is a chastening yet timely reminder of the context surrounding the Rwanda bill, which will send migrants who arrive illega ..read more

Just before midnight the Lords backed down to let the Rwanda bill become law. It aims to protect the scheme from legal challenges by declaring that Rwanda is indeed a safe country to send migrants. Rishi Sunak has said he expects flights to take off throughout the summer. This is the government’s third law to crack down on asylum seekers crossing the Channel. The previous two did not work, and it’s unclear whether this one will produce a different result. The political gamble is that flights leaving the tarmac for Africa will restore the government’s credibility on immigration. In other words ..read more

A ..read more