I refuse to believe today’s coveted toys are just the same as the Top Trumps et al of my youth. It’s all in the marketingIf you are lucky, you live in a world in which the words Shopkins and Hatchimals don’t mean anything. When you go to the supermarket, you don’t pilot a course based on the rigid avoidance of stacks of small, coloured pods, inside which nestle a variety of plastic figures, the opening of which sends small children into a frenzy. The price point of these items – a few quid at most – is expertly pitched to wear down a parent’s resistance. If you have to bribe your child to pipe down, better plastic rubbish than sweets. At least, that’s what I used to think. But this week, after having a mega-clearout of my apartment, I piled up a year’s worth of disposable “collectible” toys, and it was so depressing, so environmentally horrific, that Shopkins and their ilk went instantly to the top of my list of non-Trump-related things to be furious about.

Offshore neo-colonialism is now in existential conflict with North Atlantic civilisation

The British only stood alone during the centuries when they had miscalculated the political wind direction, or had been left with absolutely no alternative

Fusty, dusty old rules about when to applaud need to be ditched if we’re ever to bring new audiences into classical musicIt’s the World Cup final. The ball has just smashed into the back of the net. But as some in the crowd rise to cheer, the referee orders them to be silent. The correct time to cheer is at the end of the match, he says. The rest of the crowd tut-tut at the transgressors, who clearly haven’t learned the correct way to behave. Sound ridiculous? Well, welcome to the world of classical music.

The use of Chinese-made equipment in Britain’s broadband infrastructure demands, and gets, careful scrutinyHow far can we trust Chinese companies to supply our critical national infrastructure? The question was raised by the Hinkley Point power station, but is even more pressing in the telecoms business. Broadband internet is now as critical a part of the infrastructure as the road or rail network. So the question seems to answer itself. Many countries are extremely reluctant to allow two Chinese telecoms companies in particular, Huawei and ZTE, to do business with them. They view both of them as arms of the Chinese state, even though Huawei is legally a private company. In fact the US government nearly shut down ZTE altogether this year by forbidding its American component suppliers to deal with it, although it was later allowed to resume operations on payment of

An EU survey found that only 11.5 per cent of British working-age adults saw themselves as proficient in the foreign language they were best at

Tit for tat childminding is one way of parents helping each other out. Mums especially understand the need for this communal attitude

The government chief whip is lucky the government did not win by just one vote instead of six. But in normal times, he may have fallen on his sword, or been sacked

Questions of style and usage in this week's Independent

A spiritual leader was lucky to escape with his life this week. Yet Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP keeps fanning the flamesOn 17 July the supreme court of India condemned the

The grisly leasehold sector has enriched itself at the expense of ordinary families’ wealth and security This week, the Law Commission fired the opening shot at the murkiest and most lucrative corner of the residential property market:

Qatar has lifted visa restrictions, offered permanent residency to parts of its large foreign workforce, and strengthened its commitment to human rights and freedom of speech

The Now That’s What I Call Music! collections aren’t cool and they don’t care. Which is why they’re still going strongIs there a more potent way to track the passing of time than through pop music? To cast your mind back to your first ever gig, to that first single purchased, or the tracks that prompted a rush to the dance floor at primary school discos, is much like looking in the mirror and inspecting your latest crop of grey hairs. And so it is when checking out the pop anthologies of one’s youth. Today brings

In Britain and America, the new right is cultivating a dangerous sense of victimhood and shifting blame for its failures elsewhereThe notion of personal responsibility was once such a linchpin of conservative thinking that almost every riposte to liberal ideology ran through it. Whether the right was making the case for longer prison sentences or against the welfare state, the argument generally rested on the principle that we must stand by the consequences of our actions. To cite the context that shaped how a decision was made, insist on the parallel importance of collective responsibility, or expect the state to cushion the blow, were all signs of whiny weakness. To think otherwise revealed not just a flawed political philosophy but a lack of moral fortitude. The world of national sovereignty, racial purity and ethnic homogeneity is not coming back because it never existed