Columns
The state of the Union
The greatest single danger to this government is the state of the Union. Prime ministers can survive many things, but…
My fears for my church have been realised
The only memorable argument I have ever heard in that tedious debate about whether Shakespeare was a Catholic came from…
She was just a damn cat – and I loved her
I’ve never dug a grave before. But that was how I spent my Sunday afternoon. Three feet is awfully deep…
No one loves a despot
Displaying the pristine neutrality that has made her such a popular figure, Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis apparently tweeted the following last…
How the Spanish cover their faces, or don’t
We self-critical British should never forget that other nations are pretty crazy too. I write this from Andalusia, Spain; and…
Can the young avoid the Covid crash?
Coronavirus is deadlier for the old than the young. But for the young, it is economically devastating. A third of…
We’re making a spectacle of shame
When I was about ten, on return home from church I ate a peach, the juice of which dribbled down…
The pandemic’s invisible victims
I sometimes pick up some food at Tesco for an 86-year-old pensioner who lives a few streets over. At the…
Starmer has already reshaped Labour
For the first time in 13 years, the public, when polled, think a Labour leader would make the best prime…
Rhyme and reason
‘It’s no go my honey love, it’s no go my poppet; Work your hands from day to day, the winds…
Don’t play a game you can’t win
Of all the people who have made cash in the past month, few can have raked it in like Robin…
Will Covid change anything?
Earlier this month, a curious report caught my attention. Apparently there exists no rigorously established evidence that electric shock therapy,…
Why Biden might be better for Brexit Britain
At the best of times, US presidential elections require the British government to walk a tightrope. In 1992, a Tory…
Political pandering won’t prevent Covid deaths
When the media have gone large on the conclusions of an overpoweringly tedious report, one of the biggest favours a…
Flipping, flopping and failing
I don’t know what’s happened to our football hooligans. The modern malaise, I suppose. A gradual descent into ineffectuality. Back…
Why ‘football thugs’ want to defend statues
‘Saturday the 13th … everyone’s out to go up town to do Antifa. Loads of West Ham, Millwall, Chelsea, Arsenal,…
Is the Brexit deadlock about to be broken?
Trade talks between the UK and the EU are in a better place than they have been at any point…
Worship anywhere – apart from in church
During these months of inertia, I confess to having on occasion made illicit trips to churches in the English countryside.…
Marching against racism is too easy
When I first saw the footage of George Floyd being asphyxiated by a policeman’s knee on his throat, my reaction…
Normality won’t return until schools do
From Monday, you will be required by law to wear a face covering on public transport. Paradoxically, this is a…
Free speech matters
The Eastern Orthodox Church has decided that yoga is incompatible with Christianity. This is an enormous problem for me, as…
Lessons from the dying
A nurse friend recently finished six weeks in a Covid intensive care unit where she witnessed many deaths and always…
A magnificent way to topple a slave trader
I couldn’t disagree more with Sir Keir Starmer (it was ‘completely wrong,’ ‘it shouldn’t have been done in that way’)…
There can be no return to the Whitehall status quo
During the pandemic, Nicola Sturgeon has developed a reputation for announcing things just before the UK government does. But there…
The great Newsnight delusion
The Twitter feed of BBC Newsnight editor Esme Wren (remember, I read this stuff so you don’t have to) is…
