Columns
My money-saving tips for Rachel Reeves
It is always upsetting to watch a woman enmired in distress and so I thought I might ride on my…
The hard truth about Britain’s soft power
How hard is your soft power? According to David Lammy, Britain’s soft power is so strong and underrated that he…
Don’t believe the ‘Believe Her’ movement
I never expected to have strong feelings for a member of Germany’s Green party, but I really do feel extremely…
Britain is losing friends – and making enemies
Whatever way you voted in 2016, I suspect that many of us have the same image of post-Brexit Britain. It…
Is Keir Starmer a lawyer or a leader?
Keir Starmer surprised his colleagues during his first week in power when he appointed his old friend Richard Hermer KC…
The truth about Southport
When I first saw the headline I was highly optimistic. Sir Keir Starmer had identified the threat to society posed…
Immigration’s theatre of the absurd
On the cusp of an almighty row over Trump’s planned mass deportations, let’s look to Europe for light relief. Last…
The answers Starmer must give
It will probably only damn me further in the eyes of many, but when I was a government minister I…
My guide to liberals
Last Saturday I was making my way across the road from St Pancras to King’s Cross when I noticed a…
The day DEI went up in smoke
What’s in a word? ‘Equality’. ‘Equity’. It’s the sort of thing that Channel 4 newsreaders find impossible to understand. Surely…
The inevitable rise of the divorce party
Have you been to a ‘divorce party’ yet this season? If you haven’t, not to worry, there’s still time. Divorce…
Why was everyone fooled by Rachel Reeves?
It is some time since I could claim any close acquaintance with the daily skirmishes of workaday Westminster. From risers…
‘We’re pretty bullish’: Farage’s plan to transform politics
‘We’ve had enough of living in two-tier Britain,’ bellows Nigel Farage to cheers from an 800-strong crowd at Chester’s Crowne…
Donald Trump and new political disorder
Donald Trump isn’t back in the White House yet, but already his victory is being felt across the world. Greenland…
Who’ll join my war against liberalism?
I can see one possible benefit of having a full inquiry into the almost exclusively Muslim grooming gangs who raped…
Keir Starmer, school harmer
Twin studies are one of the most useful exercises in scientific inquiry. Take two biologically identical children who are brought…
The case against a ‘climate emergency’
January is the ideal month for gaining a sense of perspective. I’m increasingly convinced that the ‘climate emergency’ is another…
Should you leave the country? Other questions for 2025
I was intending to write one of those ‘Ten tips to change your life’ lists that fill so many column…
Is Reform unstoppable?
Lying in bed pissed on Boxing Day night, I was visited by the ghost of Christmas Future, dressed in a…
Rachel Reeves’s new year’s resolution
On Christmas Day, 12 million people watched the will-they-won’t-they couple Smithy and Nessa finally marry after 17 years in the…
The nightmare of ‘maladaptive daydreaming’
At the beginning of the spring term of my second year at university, a French boy called Xavier looked up…
Can you tell a good guy from a bad guy in the Middle East?
Please excuse the tone of jubilation, but I have been dancing around my kitchen for the past couple of days,…
What’s in store for politics in 2025?
Santa will have a tricky time this year fulfilling all the Christmas wish lists in Westminster. Keir Starmer is desperately…
The nuclear family? We blew it up years ago
Now that John Lewis has produced a Christmas ad that celebrates family, starring white people as humans, all sorts of…
My rules for church readings
It is that time of year when people in churches across the land have to face the difficult question of…
