Ian Birrell

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Ian Birrell

I am writing these words on a computer that was made in China for an American company. Later, I will play a game of football wearing a blue shirt made in Vietnam for a famous club from Liverpool, which is sponsored by a firm based in Curacao and is in a league with players from 62 nations and investors from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

2 weeks ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ian Birrell

Patrick Vallance loves to pontificate on the importance of transparency in science, peppering his speeches and interviews with grandiose statements about how openness is so fundamental to understanding our world and making progress. His words carry great weight as one of the country’s most influential scientists. He was, after all, chief scientific adviser to the government during the pandemic and has now been elevated to the House of Lords and appointed as science minister.

3 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Ian Birrell

There is not much to celebrate looking around the world today, seeing the continuing bloodshed in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan through to deep struggles confronting democracy in the face of emboldened autocrats, unshackled technology and a wantonly destructive White House. Yet there is a silver lining amid the clouds of misery – and it has been exposed by the unlikely figure of Kemi Badenoch.

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Ian Birrell

It is hard to think of many people less likely to be a “rogue activist” engaged in far-left attempts to subvert democracy on behalf of a clandestine deep state than John Roberts. The 70-year-old Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was appointed two decades ago by George W Bush. He is a Catholic and widely viewed as a conservative.

1 month ago | dailymail.co.uk | Ian Birrell

Five years ago, as our country reeled under the Covid-19 pandemic, the scientific interventions of Patrick Vallance made him a household name. As the Government’s chief scientific adviser, he played a pivotal role in shaping Britain’s response to the pandemic, flanking ministers at Downing Street news conferences as they shut down the country and forced citizens to stay at home. His calmness reassured Britons amid the most devastating public health crisis for a century.