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Without forgiveness, we’re all doomed
Over Christmas, I digitised slides from my twenties. In many an unidentified photograph, I didn’t recognise the scene. Where was…
Why are we allowing ourselves to be held to ransom by has-been Irish militants?
When politics goes round in circles, the columnist inevitably revisits issues that would have been sorted if only everyone read…
Demography has become the biggest story on the planet
One of my vanities is that all my novels are different. Yet one astute journalist identified a universal thread: ‘Too…
Why do authors have to be ‘moral’? Because their publishing contracts tell them so
Suppose you’re a writer with a self-destructive proclivity for sticking your neck out. Would you sign a book contract that…
Why flee France?
Pitching your tent for weeks on end in the cold and mud, with no power or plumbing. Running in a…
You can’t possibly hate cyclists more than they hate each other
I’ve cycled for primary transportation for 53 years. Accordingly, I’m not naive about the degree of resentment — nay, loathing…
Will racial blending undermine identity politics? Let’s hope so
Behold, the most incendiary statistic in America: the Census Bureau’s projection of when whites will become a minority in what…
Jazz is dominated by men. So what?
I’d recommend any aspiring writer to marry a jazz drummer. It’s done wonders for my powers of concentration. If I…
Trump is right about many things, which is why he must be stopped
At my lecture in Sheffield last week, the final question in an otherwise temperate Q&A was antagonistic. My last Spectator…
The march of the migrants poses a dilemma for America
Trump has hinted that Democrats may have been secretly funding the ‘caravan’ of more than 7,000 Honduran immigrants trooping towards…
In defence of women (and why I ain’t no little bird)
Following Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony about being sexually assaulted by the US Supreme Court nominee when he was 17,…
Why are men being such wusses over #MeToo?
‘There are two sides to every story’ is an aphorism you don’t hear often lately. Ask anyone amidst a family…
It’s not transphobic to question transgenderism
This column is not in my interest. But then, not for the first time. I cannot count the conversations conducted…
Millennials aren’t taking offence. They’re hunting for victims
In a recent column, I vowed to return to a point made in passing. To refresh your memory, the American…
Identity politics are – by definition – racist
To mark last weekend’s one-year anniversary of the violent right-wing demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, a meagre two dozen card-carrying white…
No apology is ever enough for the digital mob
Promoting physical fitness, the left has developed a bracing set of competitive callisthenics. Participants vie over who can complete a…
In the end, the Remainers will win. The powerful always do
Before the referendum, I predicted behind closed doors that even if Leave improbably prevailed, Britain’s political establishment would ensure that…
You don’t win an argument by getting personal
‘If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant,’ Democratic Representative Maxine Waters railed to a California rally last…
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…
When diversity means uniformity
I’d been suffering under the misguided illusion that the purpose of mainstream publishers like Penguin Random House was to sell…
I like a fight too much. That’s why I’ll never go on social media
During a dozen years in Belfast I collected a number of political coffee mugs, hailing from both sides of the…
The Irish border is the EU’s problem, not ours
In deference to public exhaustion, I’ve largely avoided Brexit in this slot. But a columnist’s output ought rightly to echo…
The Home Office nearly deported my husband
What I remember about preparing to leave for my husband’s appointment with the Home Office in Croydon in 2007 is…
Why catastrophising is my idea of a good time
When, on a test of general knowledge, the highly educated score far worse than chimpanzees, university degrees may be overrated…
Can you prove you’re not a racist?
After an essay in this month’s Prospect about literature and freedom of speech, it seems I was cited on Twitter…
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