Curiouser and curiouser
My Old School is a documentary exploring a true story that would have to be true as it’s too preposterous…
Back on track
Might cryptocurrencies stage a return?
The turf
I don’t miss too many from the political world I once inhabited but I was saddened by the death of…
Real life
From the veranda of a small Irish farmhouse, I looked out over the sun-drenched West Cork peninsula. All I could…
Joyous freefall
The first part of the adventure was getting there. Out of the subway, past the tower blocks and under the…
A legend comes to town
‘Human beings are in trouble these days,’ says Herbie Hancock, chatting to us between songs. ‘And do you know who…
How far could he go?
I have never had much time for Aleister Crowley. Magic(k) is nonsense; the mystical societies he founded were simply pretexts…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Some older American friends take me and my husband out to dinner once a year when they are over…
Barometer
Testing, testing When were A levels first sat? They can be traced back to the Oxford Local, an external examination…
Truss, Sunak and Cicero
As Miss Truss and Mr Sunak spray policies around on a range of topics which they hope will appeal to…
The new benefits trap
It has become received wisdom that Brexit has condemned Britain to chronic labour shortages. Many of the migrant workers who…
Bad guys have rights too
As a defender of free speech, I’m used to taking up the cudgels on behalf of unsavoury people. To quote…
Diary
I love Suffolk, not just for its beauty but for the stories to be found all around me. Every day…
Ignorance is bliss
My holiday from the news
Censors’ charter
The hidden harms in the Online Safety Bill
Prima donna
Giorgia Meloni is favourite to be Italy’s next prime minister. What does she really believe?
The Battle for Britain: Michael Heath
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The danger of Dylanomics
The problem with attempts to make everything in life more scientific is that reality hates generalisation. You can try to…
Village villainy
Cosy crime was once the literary world’s guilty secret, a refuge for any reader seeking entirely unchallenging entertainment – like…
Unfit for purpose
The General Medical Council has lost the trust of doctors
The Russian Proust
Yuri Felsen, born in St Petersburg, was an exile in Riga, Berlin and Paris and died at Auschwitz in 1943.…
Nasty, brutish and short
As Tory writers reflected on the safe passage of the Stuart dynasty through the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81, an anonymous…
Hand luggage
The general flying advice this year, with airports resembling cattle markets and when you can’t be sure if you’re ever…
Missing in action
Someone in the Guardian wrote that Boris Johnson had his ‘out of office’ on, and the Chancellor was ‘missing in…
The comfort of strangers
For two and a half years, as Britain adjusted from normality to the most disorienting collective trauma of our lifetimes,…
