Columns
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…
Biden’s victories look a lot like defeats
Joe Biden’s week did not get off to a good start. When running for office in 2020 he repeatedly boasted…
Why the Tories must face the truth about energy bills
One influential figure on the centre-left told me recently that he isn’t bothered about who wins the Tory leadership contest.…
The next PM’s growing to-do list
In theory, the Conservative leadership contest could have stretched to the autumn, but the 1922 Committee and CCHQ decided to…
Trussonomics doesn’t add up
I’ve been lucky enough in my working life so far to hold a string of jobs that have allowed me…
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…
Why should straight white men 'pass the power'?
If you happened to be walking through Southwark this week you might have been accosted by a big public sign.…
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…
Liz Truss is no Margaret Thatcher
The late Senator Lloyd Bentsen was 26 years older than the young Senator Dan Quayle when in 1988 they crossed…
The future of the Tories is at stake
To govern is to choose. So leadership contests for a party in government tend to come down to a key…
Why I won’t have a Covid booster
In the news recently, we’ve heard from multiple Britons who’ve lost family members or sacrificed their own health to Covid’s…
The ruthless inefficiency of the Tory party
It is hard to love the Conservative party. But one reason it has at least always commanded a certain amount…
Where do the Tories go from here?
The hardest thing for any political party to achieve is renewal in government. The Tories have managed it twice since…
Why it has to be Kemi
Have you considered a career in whoring? It can be very rewarding, apparently – especially financially. World’s oldest profession and…
Parents must resist Stonewall’s gospel
I think by now it’s becoming horribly apparent to parents of every political persuasion that we can’t sit out the…
Shouldn't we feel sorry for Hunter Biden?
Scandal is such a wonderful driver of human emotions. Just think of the number of things you get to feel…
The age of the anti-natalists
As of 2023, the novel for which I may still be best known will have been out for 20 years.…
Playing the ace card
The radical feminist publishing house Verso has begun, in its tweets, to refer to a section of the population as…
The truth about life as a gay Tory MP
Male Tory MPs molesting young men? Buttock-squeezing and groin-fumbling at a private members’ club? A middle-aged politician slipping into a…
Who’ll stop the art attackers?
One problem of being mugged, I am told, is not just the event itself but the dreams of violence that…
‘It’s just about him’: who can dislodge Boris?
Westminster has always been run more by convention than by rulebook. Prime ministers are seldom forced out: they are persuaded…
Will Hispanic conservatives transform US politics?
If you had to take a guess on which American political party would produce the first Mexican-born Congresswoman, which one…
Beware the sex party bores
You know you’re getting old when your friends start going to sex parties. In our twenties, there were parties, and…
The law of unintended consequences
When I awoke the other morning and switched on my radio, the airwaves were alive with the sound of furious,…
Why tactical voting is so dangerous for the Tories
Boris Johnson has always been a celebrity politician. It is one of the reasons why the normal rules of politics…
