Jared Diamond’s Upheaval shows how in times of catastrophe nation states—just like individuals—need to rely on their ego-strength to survive. “How nations cope with crisis and change” is rather a big subject, which suggests something on the scale of Arnold Toynbee’s A Study of History. In Upheaval, Jared Diamond, the great analyst of historical ecological collapses, has...Read More

There is a great deal of misleading discussion across the media and, indeed by MPs and government ministers, about the constitutional failure of the government and of parliament. The May-led government has undoubtedly made catastrophic misjudgements in its desire to hold together an almost irretrievably fractured Conservative party in attempting (and so far failing) to...Read More

The overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent dismantling of the Ba’ath regime and security apparatus have not only empowered the long oppressed Shi’a majority of the country, it has also created a dangerous security vacuum that has been filled by various sectarian militias and foreign jihadi Salafis. Today, Iraq is at the verge of...Read More