James Ball
16 October 2025
Tinker, tailor, China, farce
A clownish spy scandal has shown up the severe shortcomings of British security, and given the Labour government an even bigger Chinese problem
Read the full article15 October 2025
Paul Marshall, the man who owns the right
The multimillionaire controls a network of news channels, publications and think tanks that the left could only dream of. If Reform or the Tories win the next election, he will become the country’s most influential non-politician
Read the full article04 October 2025
Labour’s London problem
The party cannot stay in power without dominating in the capital – party insiders are now worried the city is about to slip from the government’s grasp
Read the full article01 October 2025
Nick Lowles, the fighter of hate who hid from the sun
As a child in the National Front’s heyday, fear made HOPE not Hate’s CEO try to conceal his origins. Now he says tensions are worse than they were in 1979
Read the full article30 September 2025
Keir Starmer has finally found his bite
A so-so speech soared when the PM went for Farage. The start of a fightback, or too little, too late?
Read the full article29 September 2025
The ID cards disaster is another sign that Starmer has lost it
The PM has failed to spot voters’ anti-big-government streak, enraged his own party and reunited the warring Farage and Boris Johnson
Read the full article24 September 2025
Terminal irony and the collapse of meaning
Coded messages on the bullets that killed Charlie Kirk reveal a nihilistic, always online world where cynicism, violence and politics blur together – and meaning itself collapses.
Read the full article17 September 2025
Exclusive: Royal Society to debate throwing out Elon Musk
One of the most prestigious scientific bodies in the world is considering expelling Musk after his appearance at Tommy Robinson’s extremist London rally
Read the full article17 September 2025
Ed Davey: decency versus division
The Lib Dems beat Reform at the election but lost the media war. Now their leader warns that Farage and Robinson seek to tear Britain apart for personal gain
Read the full article15 September 2025
It’s time for Starmer to confront Elon Musk’s extremism
Tesla’s owner wants a “fight back” to create regime change in the UK. The government must stop indulging him and using his platform
Read the full article14 September 2025
Tommy Robinson’s march was a drunken, coked-up mess
He claimed the world was watching, but most of London barely noticed - and much of what was on view was appalling
Read the full article11 September 2025
Exclusive poll: how Labour can win on immigration
A new opinion survey finds that people see immigration as a problem for Britain, but when it comes to their own lives, they have other priorities
Read the full article06 September 2025
The Reform party conference and the end of democracy
Farage is getting ready for power, but his party is becoming much more politically extreme than he is. If he gets the chance, will he give them what they want?
Read the full article03 September 2025
Did Farage just lie to US congress under oath?
At a hearing in DC, the leader of Reform said that he does not ban journalists from his party’s conference - just hours after his party banned The New World
Read the full article03 September 2025
Chicken Farage bans The New World
Reform claims to be the party of free speech, but this last-minute decision to stop me attending its conference tells a very different story
Read the full article03 September 2025
The tough guys who learned to love tyranny
For decades, US survivalists have warned about a future with troops on the street and plain-clothes goons disappearing the White House’s enemies. Now it’s all happening under Trump, they are silent
Read the full article02 September 2025
Social media has ruined politics
The right have been radicalised, while abuse forces moderates off the platforms. This can’t go on
Read the full article28 August 2025
Nigel Farage, the man who broke Britain
The man who would be PM has already spent a decade getting much of what he wanted - and none of it has worked
Read the full article20 August 2025
The Bell Hotel ruling incentivises the far right
By factoring extremist unrest into his judgment, a British judge has signalled that disorder works
Read the full article16 August 2025
Britain’s real immigration scandal is not the one you think
A so-called national crisis isn’t being driven by migrant boats – but by a cynical political class that would rather feed fears than fix anything
Read the full article13 August 2025
The unpardonable sins of Ghislaine Maxwell
The woman who aided, abetted and abused alongside Jeffrey Epstein should be in prison until 2037 – at least. But as Trump allies flirt with pardons and political revenge, could she go free?
Read the full article11 August 2025
The government has lost the argument on Palestine Action
Yvette Cooper must reveal the ‘secret’ reasons for proscribing the group, or tell the police to stop arresting supporters
Read the full article06 August 2025
The trial of Benjamin Netanyahu
From petty corruption to genocide, the charges continue to mount. But the Israeli prime minister’s actions since October 7, 2023, show he is determined to escape the shadow of justice
Read the full article30 July 2025
Meet Claude, the $14bn AI that thinks it wears a tie
Artificial intelligence makes more and more of our decisions. But two examples show it remains untrustworthy – and sometimes downright bizarre
Read the full article30 July 2025
Farage’s firestarter politics
A year after riots swept Britain, Reform’s leader and his supporters are warning of future unrest unless their policies are followed. The message is a threat wrapped in respectability
Read the full article24 July 2025
This is Starmer’s worst mistake so far
He enjoys attacking the left of his party, but the PM’s reversal on planning laws sets him up for a confrontation with his loyalists
Read the full article19 July 2025
How the Epstein scandal broke MAGA
Trump’s supporters were promised revelations about a horrifying conspiracy. Instead, they’re getting denials and abuse from the president they helped elect
Read the full article14 July 2025
Exclusive: the Southport riots and Twitter’s failure
A new investigation shows how the moderating system on the social media network broke down at the worst possible time
Read the full article12 July 2025
The fight for Africa’s media
Trump has cut all funds to US media outlets across the continent. As the west takes itself off the airwaves, others are moving in
Read the full article07 July 2025
The Labour MPs giving up on Starmer
The government benches in the Commons are packed with ambitious young people who think their careers are hitting a dead end
Read the full article04 July 2025
Trump’s army makes America poor again
The Republican party used to have principles. Not any more
Read the full article02 July 2025
The deadly old men who rule half the world
In a draining digital age of new problems and new tech, the planet’s most powerful leaders are all in their 70s – and increasingly at war with reality
Read the full article