When righteous anger goes wrong
From abroad I’ve returned to a country where, in language to which the word ‘shrill’ hardly does justice, fellow British…
The four big questions our politicians need to answer
Anyone would think (anyone, that is, who has followed our three main annual party conferences this autumn) that Britain’s principal…
The folk wisdom that’s just wrong
I was only a boy when I first began protesting against the idiocy of so much of the folk wisdom…
Australia’s disastrous indigenous voice referendum
My partner and I have just returned from the most magical trip. As guests of Western Australia’s tourist board we’ve…
Britain has an entitlement problem
An Institute for Fiscal Studies paper, published at the end of last month, makes grim reading. Through the prism of…
The hypocrisy of Nigel Farage’s supporters
Much heartened by the barrage of criticism I’ve been receiving from both Spectator and Times readers, I’m returning to the…
In defence of Coutts
Dame Alison Rose should not have resigned as head of NatWest over the Nigel Farage affair – and ministers who…
Don’t write off Rishi
Were I sure this was about me alone, I’d hardly bother to mention it: but I may be typical of…
Our God complex
Pantomime is meant to be silly and perhaps superficial, but fun. One does not (for example) join an audience for…
Why Conservatives must get behind Rishi
The hubbub about Boris Johnson is blocking the view. He is, of course, an easy and undemanding topic of conversation.…
Price caps are a slippery slope
Sometimes it’s the little things that depress most. I groaned last week to hear the news item. The government is…
Could Derbyshire survive on its own?
Since at least the beginning of this century there has been a mood abroad – cultural as well as political…
On looking without seeing
Guadix is a windy, dusty town on the slopes of the dry side of the massive ridge that is the…
The problem with St Paul
On Easter Saturday, I wrote for the Times about the victimhood of Christ, describing this as a regrettable foundation for…
My messiah complex
In June 1999, I described on this page jameitos, tiny, blind, albino crabs on the sea bottom in a cave…
What I’ve learned from a lifetime of travelling
In the language of the Mapuche people of Patagonia, futa (I’m told) means ‘river’ and leufú means ‘big’. So Spanish–speaking…
