Looking out of my window across the harbour of the remarkable city of Nagasaki, Japan, two thoughts of considerable relevance to the next American president come to mind.Nagasaki has endured the worst of humanity.In August 1945, a plutonium bomb decimated the city, causing massiv

Here is a confession: I do not lie in bed at night missing mainstream politics.

Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, has a monumental task ahead of her: fulfilling British — or, more accurately, English and Welsh — voters’ demand to “Brexit” the European Union, and managing the far-reaching consequences of that effort. Her challenge dwarfs those f

The end of the wretched campaign to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union against the advice of our friends around the world is less than a month away.The Brexiteers, as they have come to be called, deny all evidence of the economic damage that the UK would do to itse

In Britain these days, one cannot avoid hearing and seeing more and more about the wretched campaign to spit in the face of the world (and of reality) and quit the European Union.Visiting the United States, as I recently did, provides some relief.

One of Leo Tolstoy’s preoccupations was the nature and limits of power.What was it that made France so formidable an enemy, particularly of Russia?This question was at the heart of his greatest novel, “War and Peace” — so much so that Tolstoy sometimes argued that his book was no

On a grey and rain-sodden London day at the beginning of 2016, it can be tough to find reason for optimism.The sun still comes up in the morning.

The election of Jeremy Corbyn as the new leader of the British Labour Party is a reminder that life is rich with paradox.Globalisation — the Web of travel, technology, trade and information that binds the world ever more closely together — is hardly a new phenomenon.But politics

It’s a dollar to a cent that Pope Francis’ visit to the United States in September will be one of the biggest news stories of 2015.Take the sheer number of American Catholics, add the diplomatic skill of the Vatican’s purple-and-scarlet-clad officials, then throw in Francis’ powe