Mexico – Ian Birrell

Published by The Mail on Sunday (3rd March, 2024) The attack began in the early hours of Tuesday. Residents woke to the rattle of gunfire, which continued into the […]

Drugs / Mexico / Policy / World

Mexico’s futile war on drugs

Published by UnHerd (16th March, 2020) The early morning raids were carefully calibrated. Teams of heavily-armed agents donned protective gear in the darkness, then struck at homes in […]

Drugs / Mexico / Policy / World

How many people were kidnapped, tortured and murdered for your avocado?

Published by The Mail on Sunday (23rd February, 2020) Sergio was working in the avocado orchards when two men suddenly appeared and told him to accompany them to […]

Mexico / United States / World

The wall of hate

Published by The Mail on Sunday (13th November 2016) The battered brown bus pulled up shortly before 9am, just by the American Legion building where former soldiers were […]

Arts / Film / Haiti / United States / World

Poison Penn

Published by The Daily Mail (12th January, 2016) The gangsters had a problem. Their Sinaloa cartel was killing so many people in the battle to control Mexico’s drug […]

Aid / Drugs / Policy

Drug warriors being defeated, but Britain fights on

Published by The Independent (9th November, 2015) There can be no doubt that the daft war on drugs is devastating many of the world’s poorest countries, from Africa […]

Arts / Books / Drugs / Policy

The war on drugs is stupid and counter-productive

Published by The Spectator (16th July, 2015) Zero Zero Zero by Roberto Saviano (Allen Lane) & Dreamland: The True Story of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones (Bloomsbury) […]

Drugs / Policy

The war on drugs isn’t working, so let’s stop pretending it is

Published by The Daily Telegraph (30th April, 2015) Outside of their families and friends, few tears will have been be shed for the eight heroin smugglers killed by […]

Aid / China / World

World hunger has fallen. Now what do we do about the planet’s expanding waistline?

Published in The Independent (January 11th, 2014) In the year of my birth China was engulfed in the worst famine of modern history. One chronicler remembers rushing home […]