A new Pope, a new US-UK trade deal, a new accord between China and Russia. Professor James Alexander takes the long view and sees how the accidents of 2000 years of Western history are playing out in 2025.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said it is "unacceptable" that Palestinians don't yet have a state. Professor James Alexander wonders if Lammy has thought through what a Palestinian state would actually look like.

Prof James Alexander has finally given in and watched Adolescence. It's so bad, he says, that for the second season Brad Bitt should get Guy Ritchie to come in and ensure all the irritating characters are duly shot.

Trump's clash with Harvard shows a deeper culture war over what universities should be, with the Government pushing for merit and neutrality while Harvard clings to power and privilege, says Prof James Alexander.

Two members of the Royal Society resigned and thousands of Fellows protested over Elon Musk's membership. But not a whisper was heard when Covid-cover-up king Anthony Fauci was made a Fellow, says James Alexander.

The rise of AI moves us dangerously close to a dystopia where illiterate humans are beholden to ultra-competent machines, warns Professor James Alexander. Can anything prevent us from surrendering completely?

Professor James Alexander explains why the Lords should be hereditary: "The hereditary principle appeals to our common sense. Our sense that society will have hierarchies and that these hierarchies should be dignified."

James Alexander mocks Matthew Parris's recent preachy take on America as lazy London liberalism, offering instead a boots-on-the-ground defence of Trumpism as a necessary, if flawed, political correction.

Politics professor James Alexander says the liberal order that we cherish is incapable of defending itself without a sense of common purpose and that can only be provided by the Christian religion.

It is a sad reflection on our age that the line 'lies, damned lies and statistics' was forgotten, says Prof James Alexander. Good political sense can never be grounded on statistics, but only on history and criticism.