Friday 27 February 2026 As Washington considers preparatory measures for possible military strikes against Iran — whether in response to attacks upon American forces, Iranian nuclear advances or escalating confrontation between Israel and her regional adversaries — the Middle East once again stands at the edge of systemic crisis. The triangle formed by the United States, Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran has long defined the region’s strategic geometry. What is differen

Friday 27 February 2026 There is a peculiar humiliation in being interviewed by a machine that cannot understand one’s doctorate. The experience is neither dramatic nor dystopian. It is banal. The questions arrive in fluent prose yet fail to cohere. They refer to subjects never studied, omit those that were central, and conflate disciplines with the serene confidence of a system that has ingested everything yet comprehended nothing. The human candidate, meanwhile, is invited

Friday 27 February 2026 The European Group of Five — sometimes abbreviated in diplomatic shorthand to the ‘E5’ — is not a treaty organisation, nor a standing alliance in the mould of NATO. Rather it is an emerging political and military coordination forum comprising France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Poland — five of Europe’s most consequential military powers, represented respectively by Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni and Donald Tus

Friday 27 February 2026 The conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan that has erupted into open hostilities in early 2026 is the latest chapter in a long and fraught relationship between two neighbours whose histories have been intertwined since the middle of the twentieth century. What began as longstanding diplomatic and border disputes has now escalated into cross-border confrontation involving airstrikes, artillery exchanges and reciprocal military operations. To underst

Friday 27 February 2026 Britain’s offshore territories sit in an awkward place in the political imagination. She is, in public debate, either a careful custodian of small jurisdictions whose prosperity depends upon cross-border services, or the permissive metropole of a financial archipelago built to take other people’s money, ask few questions and politely forget names. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has turned that old ambiguity into a live strategic vulnerability.

Thursday 26 February 2026 Britain’s Ukraine policy now contains a quiet contradiction — and it matters because it is being lived, in real time, by families who believed that “asylum” meant protection from a war that has no safe rear. On paper, the United Kingdom continues to present herself as a leading supporter of Ukraine. She has funded air defence, trained troops, sanctioned Russian elites and opened visa routes for Ukrainians who can find a sponsor or meet scheme criteri