Rebecca Coulson: A libertarian case for gun control
The NRA have become caricature reactionaries, more like the big state than they care to admit.
Nadhim Zahawi MP: Who’s afraid of Big Bad Putin? He has overplayed his hand.
Russian President has trapped himself in a self-destructive spiral of nationalist rhetoric, economic self-harm and military aggression.
Iain Dale: It’s scandalous that dozens of people at Transport for London earn over £100,000 a year
Plus: Thither goes Harry Cole – to the Sun. Here comes Tim Montgomerie – on a diet. And: Tracey Crouch, sports mastermind.
Graeme Archer: Letting sleepless foxes lie
Sometimes the agents of malintent in our world are in plain sight to all of us. But how to deal with them?
Daniel Hannan MEP: British jihadis and the Charleston murderer have more in common than they might like to admit
Telling British Muslims to rein in ISIS recruits would be as silly as telling white people to rein in the next Dylann Roof.
Henry Hill: Sinn Fein backs fantasy budget to ease Ulster crisis
Also: Welsh doctors bullied for reporting concerns; Police Scotland to sell a quarter of its properties; opposition may block council reform in Wales.
From Reggie to Dessie: “She covered her face, not her privates – the former being more recognisable nationally.”
In which a Minister of State at the Department International Development wobbles past on a bicycle sporting only a panama hat in Yeomanry colours.
Garvan Walshe: How Israel is being sucked into Syria’s civil war – in order to protect the Druze
Islamist fanatics could consolidate control of the border on the Golan – threatening the massacre of a people with close ties to their fellow religionists on its other side.
Iain Dale: Cameron’s EU negotiation policy. “Give me what I want or…er, I’ll stay In”
Plus: Go, Corbyn, go! Go, Zac, go! Happy Birthday, IEA. Racism in America. Welfare in Britain. And: If Wellington had lost, we’d all be speaking French.
Graeme Archer: Alien vs Predator
How can we Conservatives convince our fellows that free trade is compassionate? By standing up to those who abuse its power.
Henry Hill: Osborne condemns Ulster’s bid to breach spending limits
Also: SNP bid for Brexit veto rejected; Burnham and Kendall take their cases to Wales; and the Commons rejects full fiscal autonomy for Scotland.
Rebecca Coulson: Do we really need a standardised age of majority?
Scotland’s drive to lower the voting age poses hard questions about the relationship between the rights and responsibilities of the citizen.
Nadhim Zahawi MP: We need a new approach to foreign policy. Here it is.
First, we must play to our strengths. Second, work with the reality on the ground. Finally, be patient – and stay engaged.
Iain Dale: I am Farage’s election agent and a Lamb campaign activist. In my dreams…
Plus: Labour – Alastair Campbell v Labour failure. Tories – Dale v Massow? Labour again: Watson V Flint V Eagle V…. And: Roy Jenkins’s sex life. P.S: I’m getting married.
Lewis Baston: The General Election of 1900 – the narrow Conservative win that turned out to be an illusion
We cannot know yet whether 2015 was the start of a new ascendancy or whether, like 1900, it is an anomaly that posterity hardly notices.