Columnists
My lessons for David Lammy
There is worryingly little time left to make the appropriate preparations for Bridget Phillipson’s official birthday, on 19 December. As…
Will AI make bricklayers better-paid than barristers?
Old tortoise that I am, my head usually yanks back into my shell when people start talking about artificial intelligence.…
Sky News has lost its way
Occasionally I am told that I go too hard on the BBC. It is an understandable gripe which I sometimes…
The Murdochs’ next move: Rightmove
Next month’s Budget tax raids on capital have provoked a festival of creative doom-mongering on the fringes of Labour’s conference…
Whatever happened to Lionel Shriver?
For many readers, my absence from these pages may have gone unnoticed. Those few who’ve detected my disappearance might have…
Are the Tories brave enough to be conservative?
The Conservative party is out of power – and that’s not easy if you’ve been in power for more than…
The adult ADHD trap
I was on the bus recently and bored when I decided not to ignore but to answer one of those…
In defence of McJobs
The burden of higher taxation must fall on those with ‘the broadest shoulders’, says the Prime Minister, and City folks…
The tyranny of lawyers
I have spent most of the morning trying to convince people online that Huw Edwards’s conviction does not mean that…
Ed Davey’s game plan
Ed Davey owes much of his election success to Boris Johnson – and in more ways than one. The slide-loving,…
Do you have a ‘story’?
As someone who worked full time in the office for 24 years and has now worked full time from home…
The C of E’s raving madness
In February there was a commotion at Canterbury Cathedral. Or, to be more precise, there was a silent commotion. The…
The BBC’s strange silence
In the long and illustrious history of race chancing, there must have been many more egregious examples than that of…
Is Gordon Brown back?
Last week, there was a surprise visitor to the Treasury: Gordon Brown. The former prime minister and chancellor secretly returned…
Rachel Reeves is right to cut the winter fuel payment
Gordon Brown introduced the winter fuel payment shortly after becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1997, following his party’s landslide…
Don’t look back in anger… it’s just how ticket sales work
We expect Ryanair tickets to cost more on holiday Saturdays than term-time Tuesdays and Uber fares to surge in the…
Why people would hate a property tax
My friend Tim Leunig is a cerebral thinker of the best kind. Though not party-political, he has worked for Tory…
The joy of our deluded politicians
There are a number of joys in life that do not get enough attention. One is the sheer, unadulterated pleasure…
Why is no one marching against VAT on school fees?
How passively we respond to revelations of Labour’s real direction of travel. As millions of pensioners brace for the confiscation…
Starmer’s double standards
Sir Keir Starmer’s readiness to do ‘whatever it takes’ to support Ukraine seems to be qualified by his fear of…
The rise of the Gaza Five
What should the Tories do about Nigel Farage? The leadership candidates have made many speeches and written many columns explaining…
No one will change their mind about Hamas
Earlier this summer, my son and I biked over to fashionable east Hackney where it’s normal to pay £4.20 for…
What happened to pride in our nation?
I suppose there must be someone somewhere in this nation of ours who was surprised by the news that our…
Labour’s age of miracles
I am not yet eligible for the winter fuel allowance. Nor am I especially in favour of it, regarding it…
Who will protect me?
Police are hunting a ‘hooded figure’ who sprayed ‘no whites’ on the wall of a primary school in Birmingham. The…
