In an age of science, why are face masks a matter of opinion?
In 1846 Vienna, as across much of the world, a relatively new disease called puerperal (or ‘childbed’) fever had reached…
The Spanish approach to face masks
We self-critical British should never forget that other nations are pretty crazy too. I write this from Andalusia, Spain; and…
Will the shock of Covid change anything?
Earlier this month, a curious report caught my attention. Apparently there exists no rigorously established evidence that electric shock therapy,…
Toppling a statue isn’t erasing history – it’s writing it
I couldn’t disagree more with Sir Keir Starmer (it was ‘completely wrong,’ ‘it shouldn’t have been done in that way’)…
Why has coronavirus fled London?
My partner, Julian, hovered at my shoulder on Friday as I tapped out my Times Saturday column (about travel quarantine).…
You’re not special – just ask Google
My research assistant, John Steele, is also a songwriter. A friend emailed him with the lyrics of a Fleetwood Mac…
Lessons from the plague village that isolated from the world
Locked contentedly into the rhythms of farming life and digging for lead on its Derbyshire Peak District slopes, the village…
The difficult balance of public vs political agony
Fear is the politician’s friend. When terror grips the public, an opportunity arises for those in power to step forward…
We’re all guilty of recruiting this virus to our cause
There must be a quote from Shakespeare for this, but so far I haven’t found it. It’s the way we…
Don’t let anyone tell you there’s a war on
‘Shut up — don’t you know there’s a war on?’ Strong hints of that attitude have emerged in recent weeks,…
The secret excitement that lurks beneath our distress
Something about the word ‘bomb’ has always thrilled me, and I know why. No school today. In the 1950s we…
The unbearable lightness of Boris Johnson
Months ago, not long after Boris Johnson’s 2019 general election triumph, I wrote a Times column of a cautiously hopeful…
The concept of Evil is an evasion
A week of remembrance marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz last month had me thinking hard about…
Vegans are brave – and they have a point
It was a clear and icy night at home in Derbyshire last week. I love these times and, before bed,…
My fellow Remainers should not aim for a ‘soft Brexit’
‘I like to write when I’m feeling spiteful,’ remarked D.H. Lawrence. ‘It’s like having a good sneeze.’ A perennial challenge…
Labour’s failure isn’t necessarily the Tories’ success
A moment arrives when one does just have to admit defeat. We shall leave the European Union and there isn’t…
The Tories will win – but with no thanks to the North
It’s time to stick my neck out. What follows is anecdotal and my hunches have often been wrong. But I…
What on earth are the Lib Dems up to?
Jo Swinson is right. Most of the gains that it’s worth her party aiming for would be made at the…
I’ll vote Lib Dem – but I can’t join them
I don’t believe that before last week I’ve ever quit any organisation on an issue of principle. I tend to…
The question a second referendum must ask
Mostly I stay confident the Prime Minister’s team are playing a weak hand badly, but my confidence does occasionally falter.…
All ages are gullible – including our own
In the great days of the Daily Telegraph’s Peter Simple column, when I was a youth, that acid but hilarious…
Eight reasons why I know I’m a Conservative
‘Why don’t you just join the Liberal Democrats?’ If I’ve heard that once in the past couple of years I’ve…
History will soon judge this fraught time
Good stories have a dénouement. The Act III moment when all is revealed and the narrative comes in to land…
I’m giving £200 to whoever can tell me who has made the nation’s buttocks ache
Look out. Here comes a column banging on about something that, in the grand scheme of things, really doesn’t matter.…
I’ve started talking like a hardline Leaver
Our involuntary responses know us better than we know ourselves. As I left King Charles Street in Whitehall last week…
