UnHerd
@unherd.com
Challenging the herd with new and bold thinking in philosophy, politics and culture.
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Dare to think for yourself, subscribe to UnHerd here: http://unherd.com/join
'The geezer-y, demotic side of Britain’s national culture is now on a globetrotting seduction expedition' | Josiah Gogarty unherd.com/newsroom/wet...
Wetherspoons can be one of Britain’s great cultural exports
“There are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see,” tweeted Jordan Peterson in 2023, a coinage that may well outlast his organised intellectual thought. Because there are cathedrals…
unherd.com
February 15, 2026 at 6:51 PM
'The geezer-y, demotic side of Britain’s national culture is now on a globetrotting seduction expedition' | Josiah Gogarty unherd.com/newsroom/wet...
‘While tuition fees and loans are obviously broken, they are merely a symptom of an unsustainable system of higher education’ | Andrew O'Brien
UK cannot afford to hold up bloated universities system
Tuition fees have surged back towards the top of the political agenda. There has been mounting criticism of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to freeze the repayment threshold for “Plan 2” student…
unherd.com
February 15, 2026 at 4:00 PM
‘While tuition fees and loans are obviously broken, they are merely a symptom of an unsustainable system of higher education’ | Andrew O'Brien
Hillary Clinton has claimed that US immigration ‘went too far’, and has been ‘disruptive and destabilising‘ | Rob Lownie unherd.com/newsroom/hil...
Hillary Clinton: US immigration has gone too far
Immigration in the US has gone “too far”, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has claimed. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference yesterday evening, Clinton, who was the Democratic Party’s…
unherd.com
February 15, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Hillary Clinton has claimed that US immigration ‘went too far’, and has been ‘disruptive and destabilising‘ | Rob Lownie unherd.com/newsroom/hil...
Marco Rubio's proposed new world order suffers from the same weaknesses as the old one | Jennifer Kavanagh unherd.com/newsroom/mar...
Marco Rubio’s Munich speech was an ultimatum to Europe
In his speech at the Munich Security Conference yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not waste time mourning the end of the so-called “rules-based order” which has governed international…
unherd.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:32 AM
Marco Rubio's proposed new world order suffers from the same weaknesses as the old one | Jennifer Kavanagh unherd.com/newsroom/mar...
‘A policy that imposes high domestic costs for negligible global impact isn’t morally superior: it’s economic self-harm’ | Kathryn Porter unherd.com/newsroom/bri...
Britain is in no position to go ‘beyond Net Zero’
When the climate scientist Jim Skea said this week that Britain should think “beyond Net Zero”, he may have thought that he was speaking as a sober figure of authority. But to ordinary Britons who…
unherd.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:42 PM
‘A policy that imposes high domestic costs for negligible global impact isn’t morally superior: it’s economic self-harm’ | Kathryn Porter unherd.com/newsroom/bri...
Britain can only be weakened by stealthy reintegration with the EU | Peter Franklin unherd.com/newsroom/kei...
Keir Starmer’s European defence plan is a trap
At the Munich Security Conference this morning, Keir Starmer proposed a shift in foreign policy. Calling for “deeper links” with the European Union, the British Prime Minister warned that “leaders…
unherd.com
February 14, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Britain can only be weakened by stealthy reintegration with the EU | Peter Franklin unherd.com/newsroom/kei...
‘One does not have to endorse the vandalism perpetrated by Palestine Action supporters to understand that the legislation was fundamentally unsound’ | David Littlefair unherd.com/newsroom/pal...
Palestine Action should never have been proscribed
Yesterday, the High Court ruled that Palestine Action’s proscription as a terrorist organisation was unlawful. While the group remains banned for now, three judges have found that the original…
unherd.com
February 14, 2026 at 8:29 AM
‘One does not have to endorse the vandalism perpetrated by Palestine Action supporters to understand that the legislation was fundamentally unsound’ | David Littlefair unherd.com/newsroom/pal...
New data suggests that less than 50% of American 12th graders have ever been on a date | Brad Wilcox and Grant Bailey unherd.com/newsroom/ame...
American teenagers are dating less than ever
Television often paints a distorted, idyllic version of the real world. If you were to tune in to high-school dramas such as Never Have I Ever or The Summer I Turned Pretty, you might get the…
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:52 PM
New data suggests that less than 50% of American 12th graders have ever been on a date | Brad Wilcox and Grant Bailey unherd.com/newsroom/ame...
The organisers of the Enhanced Games are not trying to destroy the Olympics.
Instead, they’re trying to build a pharmaceutical empire. | Oliver Bateman
unherd.com/2026/02/don-jrs-festival-of-steroids/
Instead, they’re trying to build a pharmaceutical empire. | Oliver Bateman
unherd.com/2026/02/don-jrs-festival-of-steroids/
Don Jr’s festival of steroids
The Age of Disruptors. Image: JG Fox, Getty
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:03 PM
The organisers of the Enhanced Games are not trying to destroy the Olympics.
Instead, they’re trying to build a pharmaceutical empire. | Oliver Bateman
unherd.com/2026/02/don-jrs-festival-of-steroids/
Instead, they’re trying to build a pharmaceutical empire. | Oliver Bateman
unherd.com/2026/02/don-jrs-festival-of-steroids/
‘It should not be considered a step too far to exclude the very notion of being born in the wrong body from the classroom’ | Victoria Smith unherd.com/newsroom/lab...
Labour’s school trans guidance is a dangerous middle ground
Some people are never satisfied. This, one suspects, will be Labour’s response to any criticism of its newly published guidance on gender transition in schools. According to one source, quoted in the…
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:15 PM
‘It should not be considered a step too far to exclude the very notion of being born in the wrong body from the classroom’ | Victoria Smith unherd.com/newsroom/lab...
Democrats increasingly realise that, to alleviate homelessness and drug addiction, tougher measures are required | Stephen Eide
Are Democrats finally getting tough on crime?
San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system this week announced positive results from enhanced efforts to combat fare evasion. A BART spokesperson told reporters that new fare gates have not…
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Democrats increasingly realise that, to alleviate homelessness and drug addiction, tougher measures are required | Stephen Eide
It costs families with a disabled member an additional £1,095 per month to achieve the same standard of living.
In other words, the state is hardly keeping disabled children in the lap of luxury. | Stephen Unwin on SEND
unherd.com/2026/02/who-will-defend-the-send-kids/
In other words, the state is hardly keeping disabled children in the lap of luxury. | Stephen Unwin on SEND
unherd.com/2026/02/who-will-defend-the-send-kids/
Who will defend the SEND kids?
It’s time we stopped blaming children and their families. (Credit: Wiktor Szymanowicz / Getty images)
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 1:03 PM
It costs families with a disabled member an additional £1,095 per month to achieve the same standard of living.
In other words, the state is hardly keeping disabled children in the lap of luxury. | Stephen Unwin on SEND
unherd.com/2026/02/who-will-defend-the-send-kids/
In other words, the state is hardly keeping disabled children in the lap of luxury. | Stephen Unwin on SEND
unherd.com/2026/02/who-will-defend-the-send-kids/
Bangor University’s debating society shouldn't be banning Reform UK speakers — but threatening to pull the University's funding is a dangerously Trumpian move | David James
Reform UK should avoid Trump-style attacks on universities
Over the past decade, British universities have eagerly imported the American culture wars. Now, the UK seems to be in danger of importing the Trumpian “cure”. Earlier this week, Reform UK’s Head of…
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Bangor University’s debating society shouldn't be banning Reform UK speakers — but threatening to pull the University's funding is a dangerously Trumpian move | David James
‘People should certainly stop panicking, but they are not moralising nearly hard enough.’
Read Kathleen Stock on the Epstein Files.
unherd.com/2026/02/the-...
Read Kathleen Stock on the Epstein Files.
unherd.com/2026/02/the-...
The hypocrisy of the Epstein panic
’It’s like a satire of modern hypocrisies brought to life.’ (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty)
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:01 AM
‘People should certainly stop panicking, but they are not moralising nearly hard enough.’
Read Kathleen Stock on the Epstein Files.
unherd.com/2026/02/the-...
Read Kathleen Stock on the Epstein Files.
unherd.com/2026/02/the-...
Lawfare is halting meaningful migration reform | Chris Bayliss unherd.com/newsroom/mod...
Modern slavery claims are crippling Labour’s immigration agenda
It’s not surprising that Shabana Mahmood finds that some of her recent changes to border policy are undergoing judicial review. A cynic might say that is where the proposals were destined to end up.…
unherd.com
February 13, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Lawfare is halting meaningful migration reform | Chris Bayliss unherd.com/newsroom/mod...
‘As Israel has shifted to the Right, its leaders have cultivated bonds with national populists across Europe’ | Felix Pope
Why is Tommy Robinson writing for The Jerusalem Post?
When Tommy Robinson was released from prison in August 2018, Jeffrey Epstein sent an email to Steve Bannon, a long-time ally and lynchpin of the global populist Right. “Tommy Robinson. !!,” he wrote.…
unherd.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:30 PM
‘As Israel has shifted to the Right, its leaders have cultivated bonds with national populists across Europe’ | Felix Pope
Matt Shumer’s ‘Something Big is Happening’ X article received 70 million page views this week. It’s a classic of the ‘Wowslop’ genre, prompting a predictable social contagion | Andrew Orlowski
Manufactured doomerism is boosting AI
Last year, confidence in artificial intelligence plummeted. This week, it plummeted further, expressed in viral posts and ever more apocalyptic predictions of doom. But how much of this is synthetic,…
unherd.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Matt Shumer’s ‘Something Big is Happening’ X article received 70 million page views this week. It’s a classic of the ‘Wowslop’ genre, prompting a predictable social contagion | Andrew Orlowski
‘History has shown that the regime battens down the hatches and unifies internally when its back is against the wall’ | Daniel DePetris
Trump’s maximalism could derail Iran negotiations
After a three-hour meeting in the White House yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump quickly took to Truth Social to announce the results: no decisions were made.…
unherd.com
February 12, 2026 at 11:00 AM
‘History has shown that the regime battens down the hatches and unifies internally when its back is against the wall’ | Daniel DePetris
Without deeper integration, Europe is doomed to fall further behind the world’s superpowers | Wolfgang Münchau
EU summit is a carnival of tech ignorance
The debate around political integration has always left Europe trailing behind its rivals. Large economies on the continent have always feared that a closer Europe would leave them politically and…
unherd.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Without deeper integration, Europe is doomed to fall further behind the world’s superpowers | Wolfgang Münchau
Cartels no longer need tunnels or convoys.
Remote payload delivery now achieves the same ends with less risk, writes David Agren👇
buff.ly/phStDcu
Remote payload delivery now achieves the same ends with less risk, writes David Agren👇
buff.ly/phStDcu
El Paso airspace closure highlights cartel strength at the border
The sudden closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, sowed chaos and confusion. The Federal Aviation Administration announced a 10-day suspension of flights, only to reverse itself within hours, as…
buff.ly
February 11, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Cartels no longer need tunnels or convoys.
Remote payload delivery now achieves the same ends with less risk, writes David Agren👇
buff.ly/phStDcu
Remote payload delivery now achieves the same ends with less risk, writes David Agren👇
buff.ly/phStDcu
In Bangladesh itself, the prevailing mood is not anticipation but ennui, as voters contemplate a Hobson’s choice dressed up as pluralism.
This is democracy as pageant — grand, noisy, faintly impressive, and entirely beside the point. | Pratinav Anil
This is democracy as pageant — grand, noisy, faintly impressive, and entirely beside the point. | Pratinav Anil
February 11, 2026 at 5:01 PM
In Bangladesh itself, the prevailing mood is not anticipation but ennui, as voters contemplate a Hobson’s choice dressed up as pluralism.
This is democracy as pageant — grand, noisy, faintly impressive, and entirely beside the point. | Pratinav Anil
This is democracy as pageant — grand, noisy, faintly impressive, and entirely beside the point. | Pratinav Anil
There is no legal or medical category of a ‘transgender child’. So how can we assess the claim that there has been an increase in trans children committing suicide? | Josephine Bartosch
unherd.com/newsroom/did...
unherd.com/newsroom/did...
Did trans suicides really spike after puberty blocker ban?
Has the ban on puberty blockers really driven a surge in child suicides, as the Good Law Project (GLP) claims? Or are campaigners drawing sweeping conclusions from fragile data about a small and…
unherd.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:13 PM
There is no legal or medical category of a ‘transgender child’. So how can we assess the claim that there has been an increase in trans children committing suicide? | Josephine Bartosch
unherd.com/newsroom/did...
unherd.com/newsroom/did...
This week, the New York Times finally conceded that America has a weed problem. The links between marijuana and psychotic conditions are too strong to ignore | Kevin Sabet
unherd.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:00 PM
This week, the New York Times finally conceded that America has a weed problem. The links between marijuana and psychotic conditions are too strong to ignore | Kevin Sabet
‘Under normal circumstances, a woman in a heterosexual marriage who had given birth three times declaring herself a gay man might have prompted the arrival of men in white coats.’
Not so for Olivia Colman. | Poppy Sowerby
unherd.com/2026/02/is-o...
Not so for Olivia Colman. | Poppy Sowerby
unherd.com/2026/02/is-o...
Is Olivia Colman a gay man?
‘Why are the éminences grises of the British entertainment industry so intent on sticking their oar into the culture wars?’ (Mat Hayward/Getty for IMDb)
unherd.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM
‘Under normal circumstances, a woman in a heterosexual marriage who had given birth three times declaring herself a gay man might have prompted the arrival of men in white coats.’
Not so for Olivia Colman. | Poppy Sowerby
unherd.com/2026/02/is-o...
Not so for Olivia Colman. | Poppy Sowerby
unherd.com/2026/02/is-o...
‘The answer to the Labour Party’s current polling woes is not reheated Blairism’ | David Jeffery
Are Wes Streeting’s leadership hopes dead?
Wes Streeting has never been shy about his leadership ambitions, and briefing this morning from “allies” suggests he may be gearing up for another tilt at Keir Starmer’s job. But the likelihood of…
unherd.com
February 11, 2026 at 11:00 AM
‘The answer to the Labour Party’s current polling woes is not reheated Blairism’ | David Jeffery