| Donald Trump says Nato faces a "very bad future" if America's allies fail to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The US president – who has appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK to help "police" the waterway – argues it is "only appropriate" that those who benefit from the flow of oil help "make sure that nothing bad happens". A sixth-former and a university student have died of invasive meningitis in Canterbury, with 11 others seriously ill in hospital in an outbreak thought to be linked to a nightclub. The UK Health Security Agency is in contact with more than 30,000 people deemed to be at risk, and offering precautionary antibiotics to close contacts of the infected. Jessie Buckley won best actress at the Oscars last night for her role in Hamnet. The black comedy action-thriller One Battle After Another won best film, and best actor went to Michael B Jordan, who played twins in the Southern Gothic horror Sinners. Click here for the full list of winners. |  | Getty |
| | |  | Mussolini after his march on Rome in 1922. Ullstein Bild/Getty |
|
|
| Are we doomed to repeat the 1930s? | The easiest way to lose journalistic credibility, says Adrian Wooldridge in The Spectator, is to "invoke the 1930s". But the parallels with our own decade are now "too numerous to ignore". A century ago, order collapsed because Britain no longer had the economic muscle to continue as the "global liberal hegemon"; today, the US is retreating from the same role through choice. On trade, America's 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs set off a tit-for-tat cycle that shrank the global economy; today, Donald Trump is repeating the mistake. But perhaps the most acute parallel is the "multiplication of strongmen". After Lenin established his "dictatorship of the proletariat" in 1917 and Mussolini marched on Rome in 1922, much of Europe rapidly turned to tough-guy leaders. Since Vladimir Putin "slithered into power" in 2000, strongmen have multiplied again: not just in Chechnya, Belarus and Kazakhstan, but also in vast democracies like India, Turkey, Brazil and, most recently, America. | These leaders, who share a taste for "displays of strength and violence", profit from a combination of political polarisation and a fashion for illiberal ideas. In 1930, Spanish writer José Ortega y Gasset worried about the arrival of a "raving, exorbitant style of politics that claims to replace all knowledge". Using this style, Trump came to power in a system specifically designed to prevent strongmen, a trick Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen may repeat in France next year. Mussolini declared the liberal state "destined to perish" and said "all the political experiments of our day are anti-liberal". Today, we must remember that extremism can only be countered by the "vigorous application" of liberalism, and a "muscular defence" of fundamental values. "We all know what happened last time that liberals dithered while strongmen had their way." | | | | | | The winning images from this year's British Wildlife Photography Awards include a shot of a sparrowhawk pinning a young starling; a swimming frog, seen from below, surrounded by trees; a peacefully sleeping cygnet; a water droplet caught on two bulbs of slime mould; an inquisitive pine marten, which has clearly spotted the photographer; and a tadpole swimming around in its transparent egg. To see more, click the image. |
| | |
| | | | | | You're missing out… | | The rest of today's email is, as always, for paying subscribers only. Highlights include: | 🤔 The UAE's curious shift on reporting drone attacks
🔪 How good is your chive-chopping?
🐠 The fishy feature in vogue with rich Americans
🥰 A charming story from World War Two
💷 Why an energy bailout will only make things worse
The new ultra-pricey clothes range from Guinness | If you can afford it, can we persuade you to take out a subscription? We're still offering new subscribers 50% off for their first year, so just £4 a month or £40 for the entire year. As we often remind you, that shakes out at just 80p a week or a frankly ludicrous 11p a day. | Go on, click the button below. It'll take 30 seconds and it'll be the best thing you do all week. | |
| | |
| | Let us know what you thought of today's issue by replying to this email
To find out about advertising and partnerships, click here
Been forwarded this newsletter? Try it for free
Enjoying The Knowledge? Click to share |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment