The ruthless inefficiency of the Tory party
It is hard to love the Conservative party. But one reason it has at least always commanded a certain amount…
Is anything off limits in politics?
Scandal is such a wonderful driver of human emotions. Just think of the number of things you get to feel…
Where’s the art attack fightback?
One problem of being mugged, I am told, is not just the event itself but the dreams of violence that…
What Mayra Flores reveals about America
If you had to take a guess on which American political party would produce the first Mexican-born Congresswoman, which one…
Is America about to break apart?
Here’s a fun fact: almost half of Americans believe that there will be a civil war in their lifetimes. Less…
The shame game
In this most holy month of Pride I have been making my observances by thinking about shame. After all, shame…
A case of double standards
Is it possible to hold two ideas in our heads at once? If so, I should like to put forward…
A win for the film critics of Bradford
As a general rule, you should never talk about a film you haven’t seen. But The Lady of Heaven is…
In defence of masculinity
Anyone who has passed through an education in thepast decade will have encountered the term ‘toxic masculinity’. It is one…
Along comes monkeypox
I hate to be one of those columnists who says ‘I told you so’. But I told you so. Looking…
The dishonesty of our age
It isn’t hard to notice that some crimes are more important than others. Or at least more politically advantageous. It…
What gets lost amid silly scandals
I wonder if we will ever be able to resist fixing the suffix ‘gate’ to the end of any not-yet-sufficiently-salacious…
Abortion is still one of the great moral issues
There are two things non-Americans can almost never understand about America and should probably never speak about. The first is…
West is best
So why be ashamed of ourselves?
Being reasonable isn’t easy
Some years ago there was a study at Harvard that tried to find out what people did when they held…
Why Rishi shouldn’t quit
Perhaps I should stress from the get-go that I do not know Rishi Sunak. So far as I know, we’ve…
How to lose elections
I have remarked here before about our era’s tendency to accept election results if your side wins but to reject…
Sorry is the hardest word
It is uncanny how swiftly British culture imitates the worst of American culture. Take Whoopi Goldberg, who distinguished herself again…
The day I nearly brought RT down
It is interesting to watch Ofcom finally remove the broadcasting licence from the Russian propaganda channel Russia Today (RT). I…
Will the West’s unity against Russia last?
Over recent days I have been reflecting on War and Peace. Or Special Operation and Peace as it must now…
Life must go on
Well, at least Covid is over. No sooner had Vladimir Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine than the UK’s Covid advisory…
What the right gets wrong about Putin
A fracture on the international right may seem small fry given everything that is going on right now. But it…
Trudeau’s tyranny
Early in the corona era the historian David Starkey gave some thoughts on Covid. ‘We’ve got a Chinese virus,’ he…
Work is no place for your ‘whole self’
One of the few things I have learned in this life is that Dante Alighieri was wrong. In the Inferno…
In defence of bad jokes
I was once at a terrific Shabbat dinner where late in the evening one of the other guests suddenly said:…
