Max Hastings

Simon Warrack’s book Monumental tracks his lifelong dedication to the craft, which takes him from Italy to Cambodia and beyond

On June 24th 2016, following the narrow triumph of the Brexiters in the British national referendum on membership of the European Union, their standard-bearer Nigel Farage proclaimed “Independence Day… A victory for normal people.” Boris Johnson became prime minister in 2019 with the slogan “Get Brexit Done!”

A decade after Brexit, the liberty Britain voted for has come at a cost, says Max Hastings for Bloomberg Opinion.

New PM has chance to refocus policies which favour passengers at the expense of workhorses

The US Army buys 50,000 drones a year, set to increase in 2027 to 340,000. Sounds like a lot? Yeah, but Ukraine is producing and launching 4 million a year. Meanwhile, an Iranian missile landing on a Gulf air base destroyed a $300 million E-3 Sentry early-warning aircraft. America can afford it? Well, maybe, but it was one of a US fleet of just 16 such aircraft, now down to 15.

The article argues that warfare is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by drones, artificial intelligence and cheaper technologies that can neutralize far more expensive military assets. It highlights how Ukraine's mass use of drones and drone boats has inflicted heavy losses on Russia at a fraction of the cost of traditional weapons, while a single Iranian missile reportedly destroyed a $300 million US surveillance aircraft.

America's Battlefield Dominance Is Under Serious Threat - Max Hastings

Richard Graves’s new memoir Imperial Dreams covers my own years at Charterhouse, where beating was virtually on the timetable

A week or two back I shared a plane ride down from Scotland with a group of Americans who had obviously been golfing. Since one was sporting a Maga baseball cap, it seemed a fair guess that they had been playing on Donald Trump’s course up there. They were a cheerful, ebulliently vocal party, and I am glad they had a nice time.

Rather than simply shrug at money laundering, it’s time for the City professionals who enable crooks to find a moral compass