Columns
Is the English countryside racist?
I don’t know what your plans are for Easter. Mine generally include a nice walk in the English countryside. There…
The Union’s best hope
After the narrow victory of the Brexit campaign in 2016, it was often said that the result would lead to…
The rule of lawyers
Have you had your fourth Covid booster jab yet? They are being very quiet about it these days. I used…
Beware the AI voice thieves
After years of blissful indifference, finally I’m scared of AI. I’ve been complacent, slept soundly beside my husband as he…
Our poor deluded MPs
They say that death and taxes are the only certainties in life. But I would add a couple more things…
The Boris soap opera
Even now, months after he was forced to resign, Boris Johnson has a potency that no other British politician can…
Childcare: an inconvenient truth
Wyndham Lewis once said that ‘the ideas of a time are like the clothes of a season’ – but that,…
A day in a small town in the Andes
In the language of the Mapuche people of Patagonia, futa (I’m told) means ‘river’ and leufú means ‘big’. So Spanish–speaking…
The high price of low interest rates
You’ll recall that I’ve railed for years against zero interest rates, which transplanted a cancerous marrow into the very bones…
The joke is on America
I was brought up on Dan Quayle jokes. You know the ones – like the gag that the then vice-president…
Restraint now, rewards later?
The paradox of Rishi Sunak’s premiership is that even though he became Prime Minister because of the economy, it’s the…
The overuse and abuse of ‘fascism’
I would be very happy if I never had to hear the name Gary Lineker again. He was a vague…
Britain’s invisible East Asians
This week Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian to win Best Actress at the Oscars – and not by playing…
Who cares what Gary says?
There was a kind of peak BBC Radio 4 moment last week when the network put on a play called…
Small boats, big election issue
Rishi Sunak started the year with a speech announcing his five priorities. That was quickly followed by Keir Starmer, who…
No, minister
I am at a bit of a loss to understand the hoo-ha about the civil servant Sue Gray. She has…
Why ‘safe routes’ to asylum can’t work
I have never met Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, but I have not the least doubt…
Despotic social controls cost lives
Look, I realise you don’t want to read this column. I’m unenthusiastic about writing it. For most of us, any…
Please afford me this little gloat
‘Coad. Coad.’ I wracked my brain. Distant bells began to tinkle as I turned the name over. As though performing…
Rishi’s new momentum
When Rishi Sunak appeared in the House of Commons to outline the details of his new agreement on the Northern…
Unmasking the truth
You want some tomatoes? Come up here, we’re inundated. We’ve got a tomato mountain. That’s because nobody in the north…
Is your child a cake?
It was announced last week that another gender has been added to the list: nominalgender. Most news sites reported this…
The death of wisdom
In recent weeks I have been trying out a mental exercise. Perhaps you might join me? Cast your mind back…
Sunak’s Brexit gamble
Since Britain voted to leave the European Union, every prime minister has had to grapple with the conundrum of the…
Death, beauty, and the writing of a will
Perhaps there’s a German word – for there’s no English one – for that alloy of liberation with melancholy that…
