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Philip Stephens

Contributing editor
Philip Stephens is a contributing editor. He was also previously associate editor and director of the editorial board. As chief political commentator, he wrote on global and British affairs.

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  • Friday, 13 May, 2022
    Ireland
    Dublin can no longer treat Irish unity as a distant aspiration

    Sinn Féin’s victory in Northern Ireland changes the political dynamic

  • Wednesday, 30 March, 2022
    Brexit
    Becoming ‘normal’ again is going to be hard for Britain

    The country’s friends hope the dismal state of its politics is a temporary condition that will pass

  • Wednesday, 23 February, 2022
    FT Books Essay
    An Irish future — and the weight of history

    Three new books examine the violently fraught ties between England and its island neighbour and the prospects of unification

  • Thursday, 30 September, 2021
    Geopolitics
    The west is the author of its own weakness

    China presents a threat to the liberal global order but the bigger danger lies in the discrediting of democracy

  • Thursday, 23 September, 2021
    Geopolitics
    The French are right about the Americans

    Washington has always been careless of its allies in the pursuit of the US national interest

  • Thursday, 16 September, 2021
    Boris Johnson
    What Joe Biden should tell Boris Johnson about Northern Ireland

    The US president could be a candid friend to the UK and urge the prime minister to honour his post-Brexit Irish trade deal

  • Thursday, 9 September, 2021
    German politics
    Europe does not need four more years of ‘Merkelism’

    Germany must shoulder more of the burden of defending an open international system

  • Thursday, 2 September, 2021
    US foreign policy
    The US will not find security behind its borders

    Joe Biden has declared the end of America’s efforts at nation building, but the world is no safer for his retreat

  • Thursday, 26 August, 2021
    UK foreign policy
    Kabul retreat leaves the UK on a bridge to nowhere

    US indifference to its ally’s interests in the Afghan pullout underscores London’s dependence on Washington

  • Thursday, 19 August, 2021
    Afghanistan
    Europe had better face facts about the Biden doctrine

    The retreat from Afghanistan has seen the US draw a much tighter definition of its national interest

  • Thursday, 29 July, 2021
    Climate change
    Climate change is a global threat demanding national solutions

    The lofty hopes of the COP26 process will have meaning only if they connect with local politics

  • Thursday, 22 July, 2021
    Brexit
    Boris Johnson has made a Brexit offer the EU can only refuse

    The UK’s latest proposals for the Northern Ireland protocol are an attempt to tear up an international treaty

  • Thursday, 15 July, 2021
    Russian politics
    The brittle facade of Vladimir Putin’s Russia

    Democracies have been bent out of shape by rising populism but autocrats are more likely to crack under pressure

  • Thursday, 8 July, 2021
    Coronavirus pandemic
    The young are pawns in Boris Johnson’s Covid experiment

    The UK government’s plan to lift remaining restrictions will let the virus sweep through the nation’s children

  • Thursday, 1 July, 2021
    Brexit
    The German threat to the UK is indifference

    Boris Johnson’s government is still obsessed with Brexit, but its erstwhile EU partners have other priorities

  • Thursday, 24 June, 2021
    German politics
    After Merkel, Germany must admit the return of history

    Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, an assertive China and revanchist Russia have shattered the nation’s dreams

  • Thursday, 17 June, 2021
    Geopolitics
    Gangs replace rules in the new global order

    Joe Biden’s week of summitry reclaims US leadership of the west as the world returns to great power rivalry

  • Thursday, 27 May, 2021
    Angela Merkel
    Merkel has dealt Europe’s authoritarian leaders a trump card

    German chancellor’s refusal to halt Nord Stream 2 encourages Putin to act with impunity

  • Thursday, 20 May, 2021
    Brexit
    Joe Biden can help break Northern Ireland’s Brexit deadlock

    The US president should lend his authority to the Irish protocol by appointing a special envoy

  • Thursday, 13 May, 2021
    UK politics & policy
    The state takes control in Johnson’s post-Brexit Britain

    The prime minister has abandoned Thatcherism for the dirigisme of the UK’s European neighbours

  • Thursday, 6 May, 2021
    G7
    The west is in a contest, not a cold war, with China

    To restore their relevance the G7 rich democracies need to come up with a better offer than Beijing

  • Thursday, 29 April, 2021
    Scottish independence
    Boris Johnson’s Tories have given up on saving the UK union

    The Conservative advance in Labour ‘red wall’ seats underscored the party’s tilt to English nationalism

  • Thursday, 22 April, 2021
    European Super League
    JPMorgan Chase has scored a Super League own goal

    The failed plan to reorganise Europe’s most popular sport spoke to the arrogance of anything-goes globalisation

  • Thursday, 15 April, 2021
    Geopolitics
    Biden will not change Putin but is right to talk to him

    The US president is striking a balance between democratic values and pragmatic engagement

  • Thursday, 8 April, 2021
    US politics & policy
    Europe has a lot to learn from Joe Biden’s audacity

    The US president’s expansive economic strategy stands in stark contrast to the EU’s defensive incrementalism

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