The march of the local council dictators
I was impressed with the passion Sir Keir Starmer managed to whip up within himself when presenting Gordon Brown’s interminable…
In defence of fairy tales
One by one, life’s harmless little pleasures are outlawed by an overweening, repressive government. The Online Safety Bill has been…
The truth about the World Cup
You have to admire their bravery, don’t you? The stoicism with which they put up a fight in the name…
A course in Rod Liddle studies
As someone who has always had a grotesquely inflated sense of his own importance, my experience speaking at Durham University…
What’s the point of these soul covers? Bruce Springsteen’s Only the Strong Survive reviewed
Grade: B What’s the worst-ever cover version (after Madonna’s hilarious stab at ‘American Pie’)? I reckon Creedence Clearwater Revival’s interminable…
Advertising’s false picture
An advert for jobs in the prison service has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority because it portrays an…
Cutting the links with reality
It was a difficult one for the BBC, but they got through it. The problem was this: how to do…
Why I won’t be watching Qatar’s World Cup
The pop-up ad I get most frequently these days is David Beckham’s promotional video for the Islamic sandpit of Qatar,…
Nobody wanted Liz Truss
One of the most important ingredients in the oil used to anoint King Charles during his coronation is becoming a…
The SDP is the anti-futility party
Two lessons learned from the breakfast buffet at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester. First, the plates are no longer minuscule,…
Smoking is more hassle than it’s worth
I gave up smoking one year ago this week, as part of a series of pitiful capitulations to the forces…
Are you feeling lucky?
There was an article recently in the increasingly woke but still useful New Scientist which attempted to gauge the degree…
Labour has a problem – but it’s not Keir Starmer
I see that Green campaigning groups are angry that the Conservative party has received donations from the aviation industry, because…
In defence of badgers
My dog was bitten by an adder last week. Jessie had been snuffling around in bracken a few yards from…
The BBC’s new direction
I am becoming terribly worried about the people of Sunderland with regard to how they will cope in this coming…
It’s time for some home truths, Rishi
I wonder how many people in the country are bitterly disappointed that Liz Truss pulled out of her exciting one-to-one…
How to run a school
Taking a short break from persecuting Roman Catholic faith schools for ideological reasons, Ofsted has stuck the boot into the…
The dangers of vegetarianism
I do not doubt that hot weather occasioned by climate change is the primary cause of the many wildfires we…
The death of saving
I was intrigued to learn from Tom Daley – that young man who became famous for jumping off a platform…
When did we give up on the truth?
During that rather strange summer of 2020 I used the phrase ‘the gentle armed robber George Floyd’ in several articles…
As good, and inventive, as modern rock music gets: Black Midi's Hellfire reviewed
Grade: A+ The difficult question with Black Midi was always: are you listening to them in order to admire them,…
What Keir Starmer’s got wrong
I see that Cricket Scotland is an appalling institution riven with racism. It has just been subjected to ‘the most…
The high price of failure
I was listening to a rich bastard on the radio explaining why he was feeling disinclined to give any more…
