Columnists
Maybe Nanny does know best
Not least among the shivers down my spine as I listen to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng pump up the…
Shame should not be heritable
Vice-chancellor Stephen Toope claims it was ‘inevitable’ that a university ‘as long-established as Cambridge’ would have links to slavery. Now…
City slickers’ reaction to Kwarteng’s unfunded plan is entirely rational
‘Fury at the City slickers betting against UK plc,’ shouted the Daily Mail on Tuesday, after Monday’s mayhem saw the…
How high a price will Truss pay?
This year’s Conservative party conference was supposed to be a moment of celebration for the new Tory leader. Instead there…
Are you feeling lucky?
There was an article recently in the increasingly woke but still useful New Scientist which attempted to gauge the degree…
The genius of Hilary Mantel
Yes, but why did the IMF put out its Tuesday night statement? Even if all its criticisms of the government’s…
Why are so many young women buying into polygamy?
The saddest thing I saw this week was a dating advert written by a woman – let’s call her Jane…
Labour has a problem – but it’s not Keir Starmer
I see that Green campaigning groups are angry that the Conservative party has received donations from the aviation industry, because…
Liz Truss’s first big test
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are determined to show that Britain’s economy is under new management. They want to indicate…
Is this really the moment to scrap bankers’ bonuses?
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng – keen to sharpen the City’s competitive edge, we’re told – wants to remove the legislative cap,…
Should Queen Elizabeth II be made a saint?
If this were a Catholic country, up would go the cry for canonisation. When Pope John Paul II died, the…
Leicester and the downside with diversity
As I have said many times in recent years, if you import the world’s people you import the world’s problems.…
Must Charles change?
When something starts to be said with such frequency that it fast becomes the conventional wisdom, one should pause, step…
The night the Queen refused to read my book
‘So it is come at last, the distinguished thing!’ exclaimed Henry James on his deathbed. Such a thought is reflected…
A hereditary monarchy is good for politics
I suppose it was inevitable that with the death of HM the Queen certain floodgates would open. During her reign…
In defence of badgers
My dog was bitten by an adder last week. Jessie had been snuffling around in bracken a few yards from…
Parliament is on pause
Politics is in suspended animation. The only proceedings in parliament are the tens of thousands of mourners moving through Westminster…
Let’s see some energy policy action
At His Majesty’s Treasury, it’s all looking a bit like Year Zero in revolutionary Cambodia. Kwasi Kwarteng’s first act was…
Not all Americans are so crass
In the face of American snark about the Queen’s death, many a British newspaper reader was disgusted. With bad tidings…
The BBC’s new direction
I am becoming terribly worried about the people of Sunderland with regard to how they will cope in this coming…
Can anything halt the pound’s fall?
My predecessor Christopher Fildes looked at exchange rates through a cocktail glass: three negronis for the Italian lira equivalent of…
Kill badgers to save hedgehogs
Until last month I hadn’t seen a hedgehog for close to 30 years, though they were part of everyday life…
Why Liz Truss’s political journey matters
As is now well known, Liz Truss has travelled politically. Her parents are left-wing, and there is a photograph of her…
Liz Truss’s plan to shake up Downing Street
How 10 Downing Street works – or doesn’t – always reflects the character of the prime minister who inhabits it.…
Who cares about Liz Truss's 'diverse' cabinet?
‘Great offices of state set to contain no white men’ was the way one national newspaper reported the formation of…
