Columns
What’s next for the Union?
The Union faces two simultaneous challenges in Northern Ireland and Scotland that both look set to worsen in the coming…
The problem with Britain’s mental health
Experts tell us that we are facing a mental health ‘time bomb’ in the UK, partly as a consequence of…
The true cost of make-believe money
I like Bill Maher. He’s a rare practising left-wing comic who’s actually funny. But last week, his routine on cryptocurrency…
Dilyn the dog’s Downing Street diary (as told to Rod Liddle)
I heard them rowing again this morning, look you. I had just completed my first dump of the day in…
The curious rise of cottagecore
Cottagecore, not to be confused with cottaging, is an aspirational lifestyle trend. The word is relatively new —although you’ll find…
Carrie Symonds and the First Girlfriend problem
One of the least attractive aspects of American politics is epitomised in the ‘Office of the First Lady’. The office…
Putin’s on manoeuvres – are we ready?
‘What follows plague?’ I asked a medieval historian at the start of the pandemic. ‘War,’ he replied. In recent days,…
How to get a police record (without committing a crime)
I couldn’t quite believe it when first I read the newspaper subscriber’s letter. Columnists for the Times and Spectator do…
The case against reparations for slavery
Last week, a bill cleared the US House Judiciary Committee that would establish a 13-person commission to consider federal reparations…
Our mental health is going up in smoke
As we creep back into the open, as the Covid wards empty and the mental health clinics fill up, how…
How I’ll remember Shirley Williams
Shortly after the news of Prince Philip’s death was announced by Buckingham Palace, a woman called Karen Geier tweeted the…
Joe Biden’s party is over
Washington, DC The Democratic party is dying. That may be hard to believe since Democrats control both houses of…
What the demise of Quilliam teaches us about Britain and Islam
There was much rejoicing among Britain’s Islamists last week when the thinktank and campaigning organisation Quilliam announced that it was…
Can Boris beat the vaccine passport rebels?
No prime minister wants to be dependent on the opposition to get the government’s business through the House of Commons.…
Why fear a society that’s tearing itself apart?
In my teens, rubbishing the implacable edifice of the United States felt like kicking a tank in trainers. Richard Nixon’s…
Vaccine passports are a ticket to freedom
In principle I’m in favour of vaccination passports, and don’t understand how — again in principle — anyone could be…
The dilemma of vaccination
We have a government which is basically libertarian in its instincts, despite its current affection for telling us what we…
Why will nobody publish my religious cartoons?
I am having very little success in getting my collection of cartoons of great religious founders published. Perhaps it is…
In defence of Flannery O’Connor
I have a thought for the students of Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland: this Easter, why not resurrect Flannery O’Connor?…
Want to see your friends? Call it a protest
I wonder exactly when we agreed that it is more of a priority to gather with strangers than to meet…
The sad decline of Britain’s buses
‘If anybody can write an interesting column about buses, Matthew,’ the then comment editor on the Times told me decades…
How to make the facts fit the narrative
Distracted by vaccine warfare, for once the British haven’t leapt onto America’s latest bandwagon of fake self-excoriation. Following last week’s…
My eight ‘good reasons’ for leaving the country
We commemorated one year of lockdown by sacrificing a goat to the Highly Revered Virus Deity on a hastily assembled…
Sturgeon fights on – but at what cost?
A year ago this week Alex Salmond was acquitted on all 13 charges in his sexual assault trial. In normal…
The Church of England’s new religion
With a heavy heart I must return once more to the subject of the Church of England. I recognise that…
