The October 12 edition of The Spectator has gone to press, featuring: ⭐️@andrewmcockburn ⭐️@default_friend ⭐️@mattwridley ⭐️@geoffrey_cain ⭐️@mk_skehan ⭐️@margekmitchell ⭐️Christopher Caldwell

Cockburn is not au fait with the social conventions of this country’s rich Somali communities, though he’s fairly sure sibling marriage is frowned upon under sharia law. Article: trib.al/fDfVC7Z

There is little doubt that Trumpworld’s intricate ties to the mega-billions of the sheikhs on the Gulf Cooperation Council will be at the heart of the national and probably Democrat-led conversation from November 3 onward. ✍️ Freddy Gray trib.al/z63zrYL

A Minneapolis-based Somali blogger told the Daily Mail in 2020 that Ilhan had introduced Elmi as her “brother from London” to community members in Minnesota. The blogger described Elmi as “a very effeminate young guy.” “He would wear light lipstick and pink clothes and very, very short shorts in the summer. People started whispering about him,” the blogger said. The implication being that her brother is, gasp, British. ✍️ Cockburn Article: spectator.com/article/omar-f…

With the midterms upon us and a Democratic majority in Congress beckoning, we’re about to have what could be a far more explosive sequel. My working title is Gulfgate: This Time It’s Serious! Yesterday, Vanity Fair published what appears to be a huge story about Jared Kushner, the US President’s son-in-law. It is an excerpt from Matthew Cole’s new book, Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East. It’s got some thrilling spy-film elements – including Dutch intelligence agents somehow getting hold of Kushner’s telephone records from a Russian spook who had been turned. And the central allegation is that Kushner had access to secret foreign bank accounts funded by the two most powerful Arab Gulf states, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, amounting to around $2 billion. A slush fund, if you will. There was, it is claimed, an “Alpha” account, held by First Abu Dhabi Bank and run by the brother of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, aka MbZ. There was also a “Beta” one, with the Bank of Israel, containing $1 billion which MbZ apparently funneled through Azerbaijan. Unnamed sources claim that, in return for access to the money, Kushner promised MbZ he would “push their agenda with Trump.” Now, no doubt Cole is a hard-working and truth-seeking journalist, but it’s always worth keeping a level head when reading such sensational claims. ✍️ @Freddygray31 spectator.com/article/brace-…

Even the ordinary give and take of a relationship, something that’s only ever been subject to a loose double-entry, has become warped beyond recognition. Boyfriend having a hard time? Perhaps he’s lost his job and you’re having to be extra nice – well, that’s “mankeeping,” and yes you should feel upset if you aren’t accurately recompensed for every single “investment” of physical and “emotional labor” you make. ✒️ @Babygravy9 Read more: spectator.com/article/the-ri…

What started in mid-September as a peaceful demonstration against the government for its failure to invest in schools and stop the upward spiral of fuel prices has turned into weeks of riots and street fights. ✍️ Philip Delves Broughton Article: trib.al/994R5yM

One masked rioter, asked by a television reporter why he was there, replied: “Revolt!” “Against what?” asked the reporter. “The state, politics!” ✍️ Nicholas Farrell trib.al/mdlgB4P

Again, Vivek has shown us who he is: less a candidate than a farrago of bad instincts, rank unpleasantry and Dickensian megalomania. ✍️ Cockburn trib.al/TklYe1z

The wonderful thing about electric bikes, if you are fighting with French riot police, is the way they burn. ✍️ Philip Delves Broughton Article: trib.al/zZ0QVHs

The rioters had apparently decided to descend on Milan and devastate the city center after the call went out on social media platforms such as TikTok and WhatsApp. ✍️ Nicholas Farrell trib.al/0nQipJ1

Cockburn wonders what, exactly, Ramaswamy or his campaign expected to come from this ad. Like a dime-store firework, it has backfired as predictably and explosively as you would expect. Article: trib.al/6JvUgKb

The French riots have many causes. But among those burning France down are people the French allowed to come into their country. It isn’t that the French somehow failed to give them enough nice things or were racist. They simply invited in people who hated them. What makes the situation in Britain so different that it hasn’t happened here? Only that the match has not yet been struck. ✍️ @DouglasKMurray Article: spectator.com/article/france…

Readers might remember Vivek Ramaswamy from his brief run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, where he sought to ingratiate himself with the eventual nominee, Donald Trump, through strident flim-flam and authentic unlikability. His toadying earned him the role of co-head, along with Elon Musk, of the newly created Department of Governmental Efficiency (DoGE) – a position he never actually ended up assuming. As is typical of Ramaswamy, his new campaign ad’s mendacity was bested only by the bungling of its execution. ✒️ Cockburn Read more: spectator.com/article/ramasw…

Intrusive congressional probes on everything from pay-to-play pardons to renovating the Kennedy Center would still slow down Trump’s agenda during his final two years in office. ✍️ John Fund trib.al/SghMwuH

“Because for too many black Detroiters in particular, their experience with somebody who looks like me is not a good one,” says El-Sayed, who Cockburn is at pains to note eats a plate of fried chicken during the interview. Article: trib.al/OLE9PIt

“Vance knows he has to be seen as loyal to Trump to keep the MAGA base in the primaries,” a pollster who has worked for Trump told me. “But he also has to carve out a profile as his own man.” ✍️ John Fund trib.al/xSjaQOb

El-Sayed’s solo efforts to make himself more appealing to African-American voters do seem a little, er, clumsy, to put it mildly. ✍️ Cockburn trib.al/PbROSVF

Abdul El-Sayed, in his bid to be senator for Michigan, is not doing quite so badly. But the evidence suggests he does have an issue with African-American voters, who make up around 12-13 percent of his state’s electorate. In the Democratic primary, his opponent Haley Stevens carried the black vote by large margins, and a Fox News poll suggested he enjoys only about 75 percent support among black voters, which is weak compared to, say, the 87 percent of black Michiganders who voted for Kamala Harris. In a very tight race against Mike Rogers across the state, these numbers could make all the difference. ✍️ Cockburn Article | spectator.com/article/abdul-…

On Monday night, with the glass still being swept up from the latest événements, French viewers were offered a spectacle almost as compelling as the riots. A young, blonde, radical left-wing woman appeared on France’s La Grande Confrontation TV show and gave a performance mixing, in equal parts, conviction, narcissism, privilege, contempt and, at best, a highly selective grasp of history. And all delivered from a face of transfixing beauty. ✍️ Sean Thomas Article | spectator.com/article/lola-f…