The joke is on America
I was brought up on Dan Quayle jokes. You know the ones – like the gag that the then vice-president…
The overuse and abuse of ‘fascism’
I would be very happy if I never had to hear the name Gary Lineker again. He was a vague…
Please afford me this little gloat
‘Coad. Coad.’ I wracked my brain. Distant bells began to tinkle as I turned the name over. As though performing…
The death of wisdom
In recent weeks I have been trying out a mental exercise. Perhaps you might join me? Cast your mind back…
Does anything not count as ‘far-right’ now?
Oh – and the Collected Works of Shakespeare. I forgot to mention that last week: that among the books on…
Prevent’s radical reading list
The late Robert Conquest adumbrated three rules of politics. Perhaps the most famous (also known as O’Sullivan’s law) is that…
Where have all the grown-ups gone?
Last week 100,000 civil servants from 124 government departments went on strike. This fact prompts a number of questions, not…
America’s colour blindness
How many black cops does it take to commit a racist hate crime? The latest correct answer is ‘five’. That’s…
Pride comes before a fall
Hockey is one of those games, like lacrosse, that alters as it crosses the Atlantic. In Britain, if a man…
Democrat deficit
Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States. And this year it was most memorable for two…
If only Harry took after his grandfather
Do you remember the Duke of Edinburgh awards? Some of you may even have one somewhere. An award for map-reading,…
How to get nothing done
I sometimes wonder whether our government makes any decisions at all. In fact I’m trying to think of any area…
How to save the BBC
Towards the end of his life the art critic Hilton Kramer was overheard leaving a cinema with his wife. One…
Reinventing the wheel
What is the most hubristic line ever written? Against some very stiff competition I would say it is that famous…
Displays of ignorance
The self-flagellation of British museums
A spectacular own goal
Unlike some fair-weather fans I maintain a fairly constant interest in the workings of Fifa. Not because I especially care…
New dogs, old tricks
Dame Edna Everage says one of life’s most precious gifts is the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others.…
The weaponisation of ‘bullying’
Bullying appears to be suffering from inflation, like everything else. Certainly as an art form it seems to be in…
The negligence of ‘not in my lifetime’
It is sometimes said, correctly, that conservatism is more an attitude than an ideology. And for me there have always…
Licence to kill
So much is happening on the surface at the moment that it can be difficult to notice certain undercurrents. Since…
How to protest the protestors
These are bleak times in our land, and we must take our pleasures where we can. Personally I have been…
The new rules of sex
There are times when I feel like certain rakes must have done when they realised that the Regency period was suddenly…
Things can always get worse
As I was saying, way back in July, it is hard to love the Conservative party. Every time it tries…
I’m in trouble with the police
There is almost nothing I like more than a running battle. As my friend Julie Burchill also says, when a…
Leicester and the downside of diversity
As I have said many times in recent years, if you import the world’s people you import the world’s problems.…
