Columnists
An old wound takes its toll at last
This is probably the most self-indulgent column I’ve written. I hope not to make a habit of it. It’s an…
The real luck of the Irish is that they recognised the folly of the boom
My man in Dublin calls with joy in his voice to tell me ‘the Troika’ — the combined powers of…
An old wound takes its toll at last
This is probably the most self-indulgent column I’ve written. I hope not to make a habit of it. It’s an…
Even if the ‘No’ campaign wins in Scotland, the Union will lose
Westminster has been gripped by talk of a referendum this week. But the excitement hasn’t been about the vote in…
The Spectator’s Notes
The most extraordinary thing about the scandal of Unite at Grangemouth and in Falkirk is how long it took the…
The night I fell back in love with Shakespeare
‘Dad, it’s three hours long,’ says Boy, worriedly. ‘Yeah. And whose bloody fault is it we’re going?’ I want to…
Why I’d never be a Tory princeling
Since I was a child, pretty much everybody I have ever met has asked me if I want to be…
The moral of the Co-op Bank’s ruin: good ethics can lead to bad lending
‘Satan seizes control of saintly bank’ would be a fair summary of much of the coverage of the deal that…
Why I’d never be a Tory princeling
Since I was a child, pretty much everybody I have ever met has asked me if I want to be…
The night I fell back in love with Shakespeare
‘Dad, it’s three hours long,’ says Boy, worriedly. ‘Yeah. And whose bloody fault is it we’re going?’ I want to…
The next election will break all the rules
Ed Miliband’s aides used to scurry around the parliamentary estate, their shoulders hunched. A look in their eyes suggested that…
The Spectator’s Notes
As I write, the World Islamic Economic Forum is opening in London, the first time it has been held in…
It’s a tough life when you wear a burka. Believe me, I know
I dressed up in a burka to wander around the streets of Canterbury recently, to see what level of Islamophobic…
The human condition in a scuffed yellow line
My preferred route from the Times’s offices in Wapping on to the main road takes me across a precinct then…
Arise, Sir Jim: Grangemouth’s offshore billionaire is an industrial hero
You know my theory that Unite leader ‘Red Len’ McCluskey is a Conservative secret agent? Well, having watched events at…
The thrill of the bore draw
A successful gambler once told me: ‘Never bet on football, never bet on multipliers, and never ever bet on football…
The human condition in a scuffed yellow line
My preferred route from the Times’s offices in Wapping on to the main road takes me across a precinct then…
The thrill of the bore draw
A successful gambler once told me: ‘Never bet on football, never bet on multipliers, and never ever bet on football…
The thrill of the bore draw
A successful gambler once told me: ‘Never bet on football, never bet on multipliers, and never ever bet on football…
How the Tories can win the next election
The mood was grim when David Cameron, George Osborne and their advisers convened for a crunch meeting on 4 February…
The Spectator’s Notes
I do not know whether the Greek gypsy couple accused of abducting a girl called Maria are guilty, but I…
What do we call the people who abducted Maria? It’s a minefield
How should we describe the people who allegedly abducted that little girl in Greece, after a neighbour claimed that they…
Why can’t the BBC be impartial in the climate change debate?
‘Well, you’re arguing facts against opinions. OK, I mean, the fact that the amount of carbon dioxide in the air…
What is Facebook? That’s the problem – nobody really knows
I’d never noticed that there aren’t any tits on Facebook. The place always seems brimming with right tits to me.…
A new nuclear plant is better than a stab in the dark
Prediction, as Mervyn King once observed, is ‘a stab in the dark’. Who can say with confidence where the wholesale…
