Columnists
Am I alone in not wanting to download the Covid app?
As I begin, I’m tortured by the doo-do-doo-do of The Twilight Zone’s theme music. I’ve hurtled back in time. Suddenly…
Is the airline ‘booking surge’ a load of hot air?
Be glad you’re not in Dr Mike Lynch’s shoes. A London judge has ruled that the founder of the Cambridge-based…
The West’s moralising over climate change will cost India
On Tuesday, I chaired a session at Policy Exchange addressed by Tony Abbott, the eloquent former prime minister of Australia,…
Should Britain be vaccinating teenagers?
Last week there was acute concern in government about the country’s re-opening. Would restrictions need to be reimposed when schools…
The sorry state of the modern apology
I think I would like to apologise for this article in case someone who reads it takes offence. I will…
What Dominic Cummings gets wrong
Anyone who thinks Boris Johnson lacks statecraft should pay attention to Dominic Cummings’s attacks on him. They often to seem…
The true cost of the convenience economy
‘Where’s the car?’ said my wife Alice, interrupting my Zoom meeting on Saturday morning. ‘It’s where you left it,’ I…
The clever radical who led the City’s transformation
It’s a vivid example of unintended consequences that the swimming-pool builders of southern England should owe so much to Sir…
Will England pull out of the World Cup?
I wonder if the moral guardians of our country — the England football team — intend to participate in the…
The tax-and-spend Tories
When you ask a government minister why something hasn’t happened, you get a one-word answer: ‘Covid’. It has become the…
The 2020s will be boring, not roaring
Earlier this year, I noted the suggestion (made by an American academic and run with by a swathe of the…
Could hydrogen power turn air travel green?
Have you been scanning airline websites for exotic destinations to which your double-jabbed status might allow you to slip away…
What did the Romans ever do for us?
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is planning to install a statue of John Chilembwe in Trafalgar Square. Mr Chilembwe…
Immigration is Joe Biden’s Achilles heel
Having indulged an unhealthy interest in human migration for decades, I’ve been intrigued by how the number of illegal immigrants…
The rise of the robot lawnmower
A special animus is aimed at Priti Patel, perhaps because the combination of being Indian, female and firmly Tory is…
Can Boris crack the unwhippables?
‘Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won,’ wrote the Duke of Wellington after…
The death of the dream my family fought for
Before plunging into a vexed question, it’s sometimes wise to point out that one is aware how vexed it is.…
The long list of problems waiting for the Tories after 19 July
The long-awaited easing of restrictions will not be the triumphant moment that many expected back in May. The Delta variant…
Will a John Lewis home be up Boris and Carrie’s street?
The Financial Times carried a curious story at the weekend about ‘the secretive process to elect the Lord Mayor of…
Should trains have mask and non-mask carriages?
In deciding whether or not to wear a mask after 19 July, I am sure Boris Johnson is right that…
Why the mangling of language matters
I thought that this week I would share with you a bunch of words and phrases which are currently overused…
The bogus business of stigma-busting
Our society is bristling with social stigmas, we’re told, even in the progressive West, even in London. Life is so…
Oli London and the trickiness of being ‘trans-racial’
Not everyone will have heard of Oli London, a British social media influencer who made news for two reasons last…
The political baggage of moving house
We are currently house-hunting — please let me know if you have one going spare. We are looking for a…
The Nicola Sturgeon effect on house prices
Nicola Sturgeon depresses me and seems to be having the same effect on Scottish house prices. In a housing market…
