Maximilian Bern had saved up 100,000 German marks for what should have been a modest, but comfortable retirement. But in 1923, he withdrew every last cent, and spent it all on one purchase: a subway ticket. He rode around his city one last time before returning home, and locking himself in his home, where he […]

The European Union, too, is clearly on the decline. Despite Pollyannish talk of creating a European army and closer ties among member states, the EU has lost much of its original appeal and faces fissiparous challenges of which the so-called Brexit is…

I am amused when I hear the resignation of Kim Darroch mooted as an attack on an apolitical civil service. Darroch’s rise to the top of the FCO was in fact a startling example of the politicisation of the civil service – there is no doubt that his enthusiastic support for the Iraq War, and […]