Sohrab Ahmari converted to Catholicism 10 years ago after attending Mass at Brompton Oratory, captivated by the beauty of the liturgy. There were other factors, but that was the proximate cause. He wrote a book about his conversion, From Fire, by Water (Hodder & Stoughton, £20), which he has now revisited. The new preface discusses his development as a Catholic in the intervening decade; he is as convinced as ever, but more open in his faith, and post-liberal rather than neo-con in his politics. I first met him during Pope Francis’s visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2019; he seems now a more reflective version of that energetic Iranian-American, then comment editor for the New York Post.