Byline Times

The Spectator boasts that its summer party is the “most sought-after social ticket of the Westminster summer season, bringing together the most senior politicians, journalists, and political aides, alongside the crème de la crème of the arts and media world”. Peter Oborne

Nigel Farage arriving on a JCB digger at last year’s rally in Birmingham Photo: Jacob King/PA As Nigel Farage and Reform UK lash out under scrutiny, Jay Griffiths considers their year of riding on hatred Birmingham, spring 2025. Nigel Farage fronts a Reform rally. I spend the early evening in the pubs and bars, looking, listening, and sniffing. Every woman around me has over-powering perfume, thick make-up, high heels, and dyed blond hair. Not quite natural Aryans.

Peter Jukes explores how the hallucinations of AI reveal that machines can never match the power of the human unconscious ‘Blade Runner’ (1982) Photo: AJ Pics In Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner – set in a dystopian 2019 – artificial intelligence and bioengineering have advanced to such an extent that the only way to detect an artificial replicant is the emotional triggers contained in the ‘Voight-Kampff’ test – because androids don’t experience feelings like humans.

James Bloodworth explores whether Britain and the United States can ever mature their mutual fascination with each other into more than symbolic fantasy Trump enjoyed his state banquet with Princess Kate and the King last year Photo: Yui Mok/AP The ‘special relationship’. America wants Britain’s past, Britain wants America’s power. America as we know it today started life as a rebellion against the British.

Former British diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall found reassurance in the America she has always loved and recognised this Fourth of July – in the deep red of West Virginia The Blue Ridge National Park, Virginia Photo: Andrew Shurtleff I celebrated America’s Independence Day, which this year also commemorated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in a small town in West Virginia, several hours’ drive away – but, more importantly, metaphorically as far away as...

Matt Gallagher explores how the American Dream’s next evolution is selling a ‘permanent underclass’ a route out of a rat race they won’t ever win How many bet on Norway? Photo: Stu Gray/Alamy Writing about its fast-food approach to weddings, Joan Didion referred to Las Vegas as “the most extreme and allegorical of America’s settlements”. A place with “no connection to ‘real’ life”. That hyper-commercialised culture no longer pertains primarily to the Mojave Desert.

The News No Longer Exists What happened to it? Mic Wright sheds some light not heat … Photo: Clynt Garnham Publishing There used to be such a thing as The News. It was something worthy of the capitalisation. The News existed as a series of checkpoints throughout the day.

Any attempt to calculate the specific gravity of America at 250 should take time out to reflect on the life and legacy of Benjamin Franklin. He was the oldest and most likeable of the Founding Fathers and the only one to have signed the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. Franklin’s mischievous originality asserted itself early on. Born in 1706, he was the 15th child of staunch Boston puritans.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson* shares details of his summer escape to the canals of Nottinghamshire Whether it’s a nationwide tour of England’s former collieries, a two-week visit to the industrial museums of the north-east, or a 10-day odyssey visiting every remaining Little Chef in the country – nobody knows how to enjoy their summer holidays quite like me. Every year, it’s been a tradition to do the ‘big reveal’ to friends and family in the Nag’s Head.

Josiah Mortimer Keir Starmer got a lot done in his last few weeks. Not that anyone noticed, amid the circus surrounding Nigel Farage and his Clacton battle with a bin. A few highlights. Dangerous cladding will be removed from lower-rise buildings with serious fire safety risks, after new funding was released to speed up remediation works in the most dangerous buildings.