Columns
Joe Biden’s docudrama
If Britain’s great flaw is the class system, America’s might be its obsession with classifying official information. There’s a reason…
The Tories’ poisonous culture wars
Aretha Franklin’s 1967 hit ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ should be removed from the music streaming network…
What would ‘winning’ in Ukraine mean?
I awoke in the small hours last week and began worrying about the Ukraine war. A friend had earlier taken…
Pride comes before a fall
Hockey is one of those games, like lacrosse, that alters as it crosses the Atlantic. In Britain, if a man…
The war against words
The University of Washington technology department has banned the word ‘housekeeping’. Not because the ‘problematic’ noun is overtly ist (ableist,…
Sunak, Starmer and the Davos divide
What self-respecting political leader would be seen in Davos? The World Economic Forum has become synonymous with sybaritic technocracy –…
Don’t medicalise tomboys
When the mist lifts and we can see clearly the carnage caused by the trans madness, and we blink and…
If not Biden, who?
Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States. And this year it was most memorable for two…
Everything in Britain is broken
It is rare to find an example of public art which one can applaud, unequivocally, but I think I have…
Can ‘stop the boats’ save the Tories?
When Rishi Sunak addressed his cabinet this week, he tried to strike an optimistic note. Despite Labour’s commanding poll lead,…
The genius of Adam Curtis’s TraumaZone
Topiary is the art of making something be something it wasn’t. This is achieved by subtraction. By clipping away everything…
Are we kidding ourselves over Ukraine?
Optimism can be surprisingly hilarious. In my last novel, two spouses agree to quit the planet once they’ve both turned…
If only Harry took after his grandfather
Do you remember the Duke of Edinburgh awards? Some of you may even have one somewhere. An award for map-reading,…
Sunak vs Starmer: the race is on
There’s a new rule for members of Keir Starmer’s team on their WhatsApp group: no messages linking to opinion polls.…
Help me, I’m Scottish
I did not enjoy the Christmas festivities this year: I sang no carols, ate no turkey and failed to watch…
Real memories aren’t ‘made’
If I could make a new year’s resolution for everyone in the English–speaking world, it would be that we all…
How to get nothing done
I sometimes wonder whether our government makes any decisions at all. In fact I’m trying to think of any area…
A world of our own making
Two very brief excerpts from Radio 4 last week. First, my wife turned on her radio in time to hear…
A year is a long time in politics
The year of the three emperors in Prussia changed world history. In 1888, Wilhelm I died and was succeeded by…
How to save the BBC
Towards the end of his life the art critic Hilton Kramer was overheard leaving a cinema with his wife. One…
Xi, Covid and seasonal schadenfreude
’Tis indeed the season to be jolly. Over the holidays, we can all put our feet up to view a…
The greatest threat to Holy Island since the Vikings
It’s hard to explain how sad it will be if, after Christmas, Defra officials ban fishing on Holy Island, also…
In defence of hot baths
I admire stout oldies who, even in good times, refuse to put the heating on unless it’s absolutely necessary. They…
The two books that made me a Conservative
From time to time newspapers invite writers to describe the ‘books that changed my life’. The resulting columns too often…
Rishi Sunak is about to feel winter’s sting
During the Tory leadership contest this summer, it was frequently said that whoever won would face the most politically difficult…
