American mania
America’s current crisis over illegal immigration, family separations and border policies generally, have highlighted and exacerbated the nature of America’s…
The real carbon crisis
We’ve got a real carbon crisis, people. Associated Press explains: No beer at this time of year? A British trade…
Turning back boats may be the most humane response to the migrant crisis
The photographs of children in cages at US migration centres, apparently separated from the parents with whom they illegally entered…
Portrait of the week: Theresa May unveils £20 billion in NHS spending
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said that spending on NHS England would increase by £20 billion a year by…
Andrew Marr’s Diary: In praise of David Dimbleby
At Chequers last week to interview the Prime Minister, I hear some sad news of Churchill’s mouse. The story goes…
Barometer: Trespassing, healthcare and David Dimbleby’s retirement
Well oiled The government last week ordered a review into the medical use of cannabis. Some cannabis oil available on…
The ancients would have understood Trump’s chaotic leadership
Peace with his enemy Kim Jong-un on the one hand, conflict with his European allies on the other: what sense…
Letters: Being treated as a ‘disabled writer’ would be an affront
Song of myself Sir: As a disabled writer, I thoroughly despise the idea of being the beneficiary of a publisher’s…
The government’s pledge to increase NHS spending is disgusting
Seen from almost any point of view, the government’s decision to increase spending on the NHS is disgusting. It is…
How the NHS cash bung is being hijacked by Remainers
The cabinet’s trip to Chequers next month will be a tense affair. Things always are when Brexit is the only…
‘Virtual referees’ are turning the World Cup into a farce
Flies, millions of them, vast swarms of them, spawned in the filthy Volga river: mutant flies, probably. Gathering in clouds…
How does anyone manage to navigate the maze of our second-rate NHS?
Next month the National Health Service turns 70. The institution is greatly loved, and not for nothing. The fear of…
The myth and menace of cryptocurrencies
‘So, Professor Shin, tell us what you really think about cryptocurrencies.’ I’m guessing that’s the brief the Bank for International…
The diversity trap
Britain seems to be following America down a dangerous path. There’s your politician David Lammy accusing Oxford and Cambridge of…
A reply to my critics: Don’t fight racism with racism
Dear 2016 WriteNow mentees, Thanks so much for your open letter to me. It seems only good manners for me…
The #MeToo movement could be the saviour of sex
Sexual intercourse, Philip Larkin famously wrote, began in 1963. And listening to contemporary commentators, you’d think that it came to…
What does the British government know about Trump and Russia?
Washington, DC When the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu visited London in 1978, the British government did some serious sucking up.…
The bad science of cannabis oil
Was there ever a more fatuous contribution to a political debate than Lord Hague following up the case of 12-year-old…
The joy of bird-listening
Here’s a rum thing: you can tell the quality of a piece of land with your eyes closed. Your ears…
Big cities are all alike – it’s in New Jersey’s small towns that you feel like you’re really travelling
When my American friends invited us to stay with them in New Jersey, my 13-year-old daughter was thrilled. She’d never…
The short step from good manners to lofty imperialism
In the gap between what we feel ourselves to be and what we imagine we might in different circumstances become,…
How Steven Spurrier enraged the French — and was never forgiven
Fine wine rarely makes it into the public consciousness, but one event in 1976 has proved of perennial interest: the…
From Don Quixote to My Struggle — a survey of the novel in 160 pages
I wonder what your idea of a good novel is. Does it embody the attributes of solid plotting, characterisation and…
A Shout in the Ruins, by Kevin Powers, reviewed
We’re in Virginia, in the 1850s. A girl called Emily is tormenting her dog, Champion, and her father’s teenage slave,…
Death-defying acts and the dark side of the circus
In 2013 Tessa Fontaine joined up with the World of Wonders, a circus sideshow that travels around the United States…
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