Rory Hanrahan

Starmer’s war on pubs shows he was never serious about growth

20 January 2026 1:39 am

To a landlord in a draughty Victorian boozer staring at his latest business rates bill, it will read more like…

Social media visa vetting would protect Britain’s Jews

4 January 2026 5:00 pm

You don’t need to be a fervent admirer of Donald Trump to recognise that, on matters of national security and…

Why pubs shouldn’t ban Labour MPs

27 December 2025 8:07 pm

In Britain’s public houses, a rebellion is brewing. Landlords, hit hard by the Labour government’s fiscal measures – higher employer…

It’s no surprise that the Bondi Beach attackers are related

17 December 2025 4:20 pm

The sun had barely set over Sydney’s Bondi Beach, when horror unfolded at the Hanukkah celebration. A father and son,…

Dublin’s quiet march toward Judenfrei

1 December 2025 6:26 pm

Dublin’s councillors have seen sense – for now. They were due to vote today on a proposal to rename the…

Rachel Reeves may have just killed the Great British pub

27 November 2025 6:04 pm

It is just after tea-time on Budget day, and my pub is already half-empty. A few hours ago, Rachel Reeves…

Britain has imported Ireland’s sectarian strife

8 November 2025 11:00 am

At times, I still hear my late father, Sean O’Callaghan’s, voice echoing in my mind. Sean died in 2017 but…

Why Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog, is thriving

2 November 2025 4:30 pm

The tale of the death of the British pub has been well told. Around eight boozers a week are serving…

Charlie Kirk could have been president

12 September 2025 11:30 pm

As with so many political assassinations across the Atlantic – the Kennedys, Martin Luther King –Charlie Kirk’s killer is likely…

Let’s raise a pint to BrewDog – and hope it bounces back

7 September 2025 3:45 pm

BrewDog is in trouble. Its beers have been axed by nearly 2,000 pubs. Punk IPA – once a craft beer…

The great British pub is not dead yet

9 August 2025 4:00 pm

My Oxfordshire taproom used to sing on Fridays: carpenters, teachers and office clerks, knackered from the week’s graft, would elbow…

Norman Tebbit, forgiveness and my father, the IRA bomber

13 July 2025 4:00 pm

Norman Tebbit, who died this week at the age of 94, embodied a sterner Britain. His political career was remarkable…

Red tape is ruining Britain’s pubs

29 June 2025 4:30 pm

Takings were falling. Regulars were drifting away. Our pub was in a bad way. It was clear that things needed…

The sad death of the English pub

26 May 2025 3:46 pm

It was a drizzly Tuesday evening in the 17th-century Oxford village pub I manage, the kind of night when regulars…

Why do some Irish people hate Israel so much?

9 May 2025 3:30 pm

It was a quiet lunch shift at the pub in Oxford where I work, the kind of day when the…