The moment Starmer lost control of the Labour left
‘Tony Blair walks on water.’ Decades ago this statement led a Times photographer and me to the front door of…
Are ultra-processed foods really so bad?
Last week saw a flurry of media reports, of whose headlines one of the worst preceded one of the best…
Save us from the plague of plastic tree protectors
Can nothing protect us from a plague of plastic tree protectors? They’ve descended on us like locusts, covering our hills,…
Donating to charity is too easy
It’s been a torrid few weeks for anyone who knows anyone who was running in the London Marathon. In have…
What is there left to say about the Tories?
Spare a thought for us political commentators. We stare into the void between now and a (presumed) decisive Labour victory…
Euthanasia is coming – like it or not
Throughout the short life of the Assisted Dying Bill which failed in the Commons, the ‘faith community’ (a quaint term…
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…
Folk wisdom gets so much wrong
I was only a boy when I first began protesting against the idiocy of so much of the folk wisdom…
Australia’s disastrous 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 the Farage outcry
Much heartened by the barrage of criticism I’ve been receiving from both Spectator and Times readers, I’m returning to the…
Coutts, Farage and the trouble with choice
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…
My idea of a true Conservative
The hubbub about Boris Johnson is blocking the view. He is, of course, an easy and undemanding topic of conversation.…
