Colin Freeman

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Colin Freeman

The Central African Republic may be Africa's most failed state. Since the 1979 overthrow of its self-declared emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the country has seen coups, insurgencies and full-blown civil wars. It has hosted nearly a dozen United Nations-backed peacekeeping missions, most of which have cost hundreds of millions of dollars. None has achieved lasting results.

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Colin Freeman

With a deck the size of three football pitches, HMS Queen Elizabeth is Britain’s flagship aircraft carrier – a 65,000-ton floating airport designed to wage war anywhere on the planet. On its maiden world tour in 2021, when it cruised the Middle East and prowled the South China Sea, Whitehall hailed it as a new symbol of “Global Britain”. Yet for all its pomp and splendour, “Big Lizzie”, as it is known, has an embarrassing personal hygiene problem.

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Colin Freeman

HMS Queen Elizabeth's lack of hot showers is the latest in a long line of problems the ship has encountered since entering service in 2020With a deck the size of three football pitches, HMS Queen Elizabeth is Britain's flagship aircraft carrier - a 65,000-ton floating airport designed to wage war anywhere on the planet. On its maiden world tour in 2021, when it cruised the Middle East and prowled the South China Sea, Whitehall hailed it as a new symbol of "Global Britain".

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Colin Freeman

Some speculate that a misconduct probe into the First Sea Lord may have been brought about to silence a vocal critic of defence spendingConvened in a grand 19th-century mansion overlooking Buckingham Palace, the First Sea Lord's annual Sea Power Conference is a vivid reminder that Britannia did indeed once rule the waves.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Colin Freeman

Credit: X/@Cyber_HuntssTucked away in Belgravia, around the corner from Harrods, Lowndes Square is not a regular port of call for Metropolitan police riot squads. Last Friday night, though, it was packed with police vans as two angry crowds faced off outside a five-storey stuccoed villa. Number 34 is better known as the Pakistan High Commission, one of many foreign missions in the area – although there was nothing diplomatic about the language exchanged on Friday evening.