“ Light-hearted banditry”, “ruthless pirating”, a “phantom army” – it’s fair to say that the Special Air Service (SAS) didn’t always attract the most complimentary headlines. In the white heat of the

A liberal thinker about the American century

In 1494, the high castle walls that had dominated the Middle Ages came tumbling down in clouds of gunpowder smoke. It was the start of a new age

robertskidelsky.substack.com Britain’s strategic defence review, published in June 2024, sought to “implant a war-ready mindset across society”, says Robert Skidelsky. It insisted that the UK must pre

Can Europe recover its dynamism?

The article on the battle against U-boats in the Second World War in the November issue omitted perhaps the most important episode. That was the part played by the late Joe Baker-Cresswell of Bamburgh