Brendan O'Neill

Brendan O'Neill is the editor of Spiked and a columnist for The Australian and The Big Issue.

Ricky Gervais is guilty of blasphemy

28 May 2022 2:00 am

I have long thought that if Life of Brian came out today, it wouldn’t be Christians kicking up a fuss…

The EU and US are playing Ireland like a fiddle

26 May 2022 3:00 pm

There’s a meme that goes: ‘I, for one, welcome our new overlords.’ It’s a paraphrase of a comment made by…

Idrissa Gueye and the problem with Pride

20 May 2022 9:57 pm

Is waving the Pride flag compulsory now? The Idrissa Gueye scandal suggests it might be. Footballer Gueye did not play…

Hands off Dave Chappelle!

4 May 2022 9:31 pm

The attack on Dave Chappelle last night was chilling. Sure, Chappelle wasn’t hurt. His attacker, having encountered the ire of…

Who's afraid of Elon Musk?

26 April 2022 7:59 pm

The meltdown over Elon Musk’s acquirement of Twitter is my favourite world event of 2022 so far. It is delicious.…

Partygate is shameful – but Boris shouldn’t resign

13 April 2022 1:25 am

I feel torn on partygate. Like most other people, I have flashes of rage over the vision of government ministers…

Why does Twitter think Russian lies are OK but Trump isn't?

6 April 2022 4:15 pm

So on Twitter you can lie about war crimes but you cannot tell the truth about biology? That is the…

Chris Rock, not Will Smith, is the hero men need

28 March 2022 9:49 pm

There was an explosion of masculinity on the stage at the Oscars last night. Male behaviour was on display for…

Boris is right about Brexit and Ukraine

22 March 2022 3:08 am

Boris was right to compare the vote for Brexit with the struggle for freedom in Ukraine. And here’s the thing:…

Let Daniil Medvedev think what he wants about Putin

17 March 2022 12:06 am

So now you have to undergo a political purity test to play at Wimbledon? Judging from the pressure being put…

The double standards of Facebook's 'death to Russians' policy

11 March 2022 11:26 pm

So, Facebook and Instagram users are now allowed to call for people to be killed. But only if the people…

A wave of anti-Russian hysteria is sweeping across the West

4 March 2022 10:17 pm

McCarthyism is an overused word, I know. But really, what other word will do to describe the sacking of a…

The leadership and bravery of Volodymyr Zelensky

27 February 2022 11:13 pm

So that’s what leadership looks like. It looks like Volodymyr Zelensky. It looks like a president staying put in his…

Tom Tugendhat and the worrying rise of Russophobia

26 February 2022 12:47 am

Public life in Britain has taken a dark turn over the past 48 hours. Russia’s outrageous invasion of Ukraine has…

Who cares about partygate?

26 January 2022 5:30 pm

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable with the idea of the police investigating the elected government? I have laughed and fumed…

Maureen Lipman's 'Jewface' criticism of Helen Mirren isn't fair

6 January 2022 12:37 am

I’m not sure I should be writing this piece, given I am not Jewish. Are Gentiles like me allowed to…

Covid fearmongering has consequences too

24 December 2021 7:18 am

The scaremongers have overplayed their hand. Omicron could prove disastrous, they warned. They scoffed at the early indicators from South…

A war on drugs? I do hope so

7 December 2021 4:10 am

I’m not going to lie, I let out a little chuckle — maybe even a murmur of approval — when I read…

Covid restrictions have gone on for too long

30 November 2021 5:30 pm

We can’t carry on like this. We can’t keep resurrecting restrictions every time a new Covid variant emerges. We can’t…

The snobbery of Extinction Rebellion’s Amazon blockade

27 November 2021 8:17 am

Every week brings fresh proof of what a bunch of bourgeois snobs Extinction Rebellion are. The latest exhibit is their…

Abolish the Lords!

10 November 2021 5:00 pm

So three million quid gets you a seat in the House of Lords? That’s according to the latest revelations about…

The perverse fantasies of Extinction Rebellion's founder

5 November 2021 6:49 am

If we don’t cut carbon emissions, your mother will be raped. This is the deranged prediction of Roger Hallam, the…

The trouble with 'Angiemania'

29 September 2021 2:39 am

The most annoying thing about Angela Rayner’s branding of the Tories as ‘scum’ was not that it offended some Tories,…

Starmer's shameful silence on the Rosie Duffield trans row

21 September 2021 3:45 pm

One of the most shocking images from the Corbyn years of the Labour party was Luciana Berger flanked by police…

Alex Scott, Digby Jones and the snobbery of low expectations

2 August 2021 11:05 pm

Labour peer Lord Digby Jones has found himself in the eye of a Twitterstorm. His error? He criticised BBC sports…