Columnists
Dilyn the dog’s Downing Street diary (as told to Rod Liddle)
I heard them rowing again this morning, look you. I had just completed my first dump of the day in…
The curious rise of cottagecore
Cottagecore, not to be confused with cottaging, is an aspirational lifestyle trend. The word is relatively new —although you’ll find…
Carrie Symonds and the First Girlfriend problem
One of the least attractive aspects of American politics is epitomised in the ‘Office of the First Lady’. The office…
Who’s really to blame for the Post Office scandal?
The alleged frauds for which the Post Office prosecuted no fewer than 736 of its sub-postmasters has turned out in…
The difference between private and public conversation
Like almost everyone else writing on the subject, I have no idea whether Boris Johnson told colleagues in October that…
Crypto is a virtual Vegas whose towers must fall
What should we make of the valuation of Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange listed on Nasdaq last week at $80 billion…
Putin’s on manoeuvres – are we ready?
‘What follows plague?’ I asked a medieval historian at the start of the pandemic. ‘War,’ he replied. In recent days,…
How to get a police record (without committing a crime)
I couldn’t quite believe it when first I read the newspaper subscriber’s letter. Columnists for the Times and Spectator do…
The case against reparations for slavery
Last week, a bill cleared the US House Judiciary Committee that would establish a 13-person commission to consider federal reparations…
The strangeness of Britain’s BLM mania
The conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd makes last summer’s Black Lives Matter mania in British…
Our mental health is going up in smoke
As we creep back into the open, as the Covid wards empty and the mental health clinics fill up, how…
A word about Prince Philip and religion
The recent Sewell report on Race and Ethnic Disparities has been much abused and little read. It is full of…
How I’ll remember Shirley Williams
Shortly after the news of Prince Philip’s death was announced by Buckingham Palace, a woman called Karen Geier tweeted the…
Joe Biden’s party is over
Washington, DC The Democratic party is dying. That may be hard to believe since Democrats control both houses of…
What the demise of Quilliam teaches us about Britain and Islam
There was much rejoicing among Britain’s Islamists last week when the thinktank and campaigning organisation Quilliam announced that it was…
Can the ‘next Bicester Village’ take off without tourists?
Retail footfall will be the first measure of recovery this spring. Everywhere I look, from central London to small-town Yorkshire,…
Can Boris beat the vaccine passport rebels?
No prime minister wants to be dependent on the opposition to get the government’s business through the House of Commons.…
Aintree is doing Rose Paterson proud
On Grand National Day at Aintree this Saturday, the Rose Paterson Trust will be launched. This time last year, Rose…
Why fear a society that’s tearing itself apart?
In my teens, rubbishing the implacable edifice of the United States felt like kicking a tank in trainers. Richard Nixon’s…
Was Deliveroo the most embarrassing flop in City history?
The market emphatically endorsed my negative opinion of the Deliveroo share offer, which bombed from its offer price of 390p…
Vaccine passports are a ticket to freedom
In principle I’m in favour of vaccination passports, and don’t understand how — again in principle — anyone could be…
The dilemma of vaccination
We have a government which is basically libertarian in its instincts, despite its current affection for telling us what we…
Why will nobody publish my religious cartoons?
I am having very little success in getting my collection of cartoons of great religious founders published. Perhaps it is…
Why I won’t invest in Deliveroo
‘The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism — because of greed, my friends.’ So Boris Johnson…
In defence of Flannery O’Connor
I have a thought for the students of Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland: this Easter, why not resurrect Flannery O’Connor?…
