business 
Donald Trump is doing an excellent job of demonstrating that US stock markets don’t always outperform European ones. On-off tariff wars, threats to fire the head of the Federal Reserve and general unpredictability have prompted a reappraisal of boring old Europe. The S&P 500 is down 6% this year, versus a gain of 2.5% for … Read more
At the entrance to a healthcare centre on Trafalgar Street, in my densely populated, central Madrid neighbourhood, somebody had stuck a sign: “We ask for patience and common sense.” The door was half open as doctors and nurses calmly tended to emergencies inside. Patience and common sense is a very good way to describe what … Read more
It’s nearly nine years now since Britain lost its collective mind. More than enough time, then, to put the Brexit referendum into perspective. Leavers have moved on to the point where only 11% of British voters still kid themselves that it’s turned out brilliantly. It’s remain politicians who had started to look strangely stuck in … Read more
Donald Trump has disrupted the global economy with his disastrous tariff wars and appears hell-bent on gutting transatlantic relations. I am hoping he has also unwittingly injected new life into the EU’s struggle to wean itself off overreliance on Washington. A vast network of trade and aid agreements connects the EU with more than 70 … Read more
Any political brief that brings with it the near certainty of future confrontation with Elon Musk is not to be envied. But during a recent interview with this newspaper, Henna Virkkunen, the European Union’s most senior official on digital policy, was in bullish mood. “We are very committed to our rules when it comes to … Read more
The most recent diplomatic effort to find a way to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took place at the most unlikely of events: the funeral of Pope Francis. The image of Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump leaning toward each other, under Carlo Maratta’s late-17th-century painting, The Baptism of Christ, rekindled hopes that the US might, at … Read more
As the northern hemisphere moves into late spring, several areas are expected to experience a taste of summer heat this week with temperatures well above average for the end of April. Across some eastern states of the US, conditions are expected to reach 6-8C above normal, peaking at about 30C (86F) in Washington DC. Western … Read more
Liberals of all countries, unite! Just as anti-liberal powers outside the west are becoming stronger than ever, the assault on everything we stand for has been joined by the United States. Against this massed onslaught of anti-liberal nationalists we need a determined fightback of liberal internationalists. Canada’s election this week can contribute a strong mounted … Read more
In 2016, one year after the rightwing populist Law and Justice party won an overall majority in Poland, there was a knock at a door. The mother of a young journalist opened it. To her astonishment, it was the security services looking for her son. No details were provided. Thus began an informal campaign by … Read more
For Catholics who cherished Pope Francis’s relentless defence of the dignity of migrants and minorities, the footage of his deeply awkward meeting with JD Vance on Easter Sunday made for unsettling viewing. During his 12 years in St Peter’s chair, Francis railed against Christian complicity with “America first”-type nationalist movements across the west. Here, looming … Read more