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…
We Remainers aren’t going away
My voice is often recognised by people who don’t know me. My face, which is unmemorable, less so. But once…
Re-wilders forget that humans are nature too
‘Life pours back in.’ A score of us, listening to Charlie Burrell at the Knepp estate ten days ago, will…
Why are sensible Tories backing Boris Johnson?
It was when Matt Hancock went over to Boris Johnson that something snapped. ‘Every time a child says “I don’t…
Internet scammers can fool anyone – including me
Please don’t suppose I’m unaware I’ve been an idiot. I recount what happened to me last week without expecting your…
Only Boris can bury Brexit
Sit down, my swivel-eyed Brexiter friend, and pour yourself a stiff whisky. I’ve something to tell you that’s going to…
Tweedy or Trainer: Which kind of Brexiteer are you?
‘Too tweedy? Goodness gracious me!’ Rory Stewart sounded startled. A contender for the Tory leadership, he was being interviewed by…
How will history judge Brexit?
How will future generations revisit the Brexit years? Through what glass will we be seen? This spring and, I suspect,…
My advice to Leavers: go for a second referendum – you might just win
My first encounter with a plan to hold not one but two referendums on Britain’s European Union membership happened more…
What you learn standing on a street corner in Beirut
A pale sun had emerged from wintry clouds and the hillsides were topped snowy white. But all around me was…
Why we must make an example of Shamima Begum
The three most popular justifications for punishment under the law all (as it happens) begin with R. They are retribution,…
The day I had enough of experts
‘Don’t even try,’ said the man on the car deck as Brittany Ferries’ Finistère tied up on the dock in…
Leavers have just killed the best chance of Brexit ever happening
When intelligent, informed and rational people make a choice that onlookers can see confounds their own declared interests, we are…
We don’t need new categories for sexuality – we need to abolish categories
Long-suffering Spectator readers deserve a seasonal break from yet another Remoaner diatribe from me. My last on this page, making…
Why I don’t, never have, and never will trust the people
It was late, and a friend and I were left to talk Brexit. He’s a keen and convinced Tory Brexiteer…
Why are children so fearful about the future?
For any bosses from the Singapore education department reading this, I have a message. It comes from (I’d guess) most…
What does it mean to be ‘moved’ by something?
Catching a train last week at London’s St Pancras I encountered a man playing a piano. You can do this…
Is there a moral difference between an NDA and blackmail?
Reader, may I call you John? Now imagine, John, that you are my employer and I know (or claim) that…
In defence of Nick Clegg
As I write, the sneering at Nick Clegg has started. The first cuckoo I’ve heard in this chorus is calling…
What Darcy the demented sheepdog taught me about life
I met the late Darcy ten years ago, and wrote about him. I was 59 and he was 12. I…
The cuddly new John McDonnell is more dangerous than Corbyn
‘Wherever Sir Stafford Cripps has tried to increase wealth and happiness,’ wrote the Conservative Scottish journalist Colm Brogan, ‘grass never…
