Columnists

A new water regime must still reward private investors

26 July 2025 9:00 am

The weekend’s torrential Yorkshire rain amid a hosepipe ban offered a handy metaphor for the chaos that has befallen the…

MAGA, Epstein and the paedo files

26 July 2025 9:00 am

Bill Clinton published another memoir last year, entitled Citizen, and I take it that everyone read the book the minute…

Raise the age of suffrage to 25

26 July 2025 9:00 am

If I had been given the vote at the age of 16, I would have put my cross beside the…

The best deer deterrent? Radio 4

26 July 2025 9:00 am

Behind the latest push for recognition of a Palestinian state – even though there is no agreement of what it…

Why wealth taxes don’t work

19 July 2025 9:00 am

The nation owes the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock an eternal debt for losing the 1992 general election when he…

The radical vegan ‘Zizians’ are the cult we deserve

19 July 2025 9:00 am

Every week brings a new revelation about the Zizians: the craziest, saddest cult in recent American history. Eight deaths have…

Why you should never trust a travel writer

19 July 2025 9:00 am

After one of Jeffrey Archer’s minor tangles with the absolute truth, his friend the late Barry Humphries remarked: ‘We all…

The pointlessness of ‘smashing the gangs’

19 July 2025 9:00 am

‘Smash the gangs’ is the fascinating slogan that Keir Starmer’s government has settled on for tackling illegal migration. What is…

Down with the middle class

19 July 2025 9:00 am

I suppose this magazine is probably not the best forum to launch a movement to sweep away the British middle…

‘Let Keir be Keir’: inside the cabinet’s away day

19 July 2025 9:00 am

Labour ministers face a range of terrible political choices, but when the cabinet met for an away day at Chequers…

What I’ll miss about Norman Tebbit

19 July 2025 9:00 am

This column comes to you from Auckland Castle, former palace and hunting lodge of the Prince Bishops of Durham. We,…

Don’t compensate drivers for mis-sold car loans

12 July 2025 9:00 am

Surprisingly big numbers are the theme of this week’s column, several having flashed up to disturb the pleasures of a…

How governments gaslight

12 July 2025 9:00 am

The posters now plastered around German public swimming pools are so hilarious that you may have seen them already. Keeping…

The reign of Rayner

12 July 2025 9:00 am

Angela Rayner declined an invitation to a hen do last weekend where the entertainment included axe-throwing. ‘She was worried about…

My tips to avoid arrest by the Met

12 July 2025 9:00 am

An interesting event occurred in London at the weekend. A young man who goes by the name of Montgomery Toms…

The unspoken truth about 7/7

12 July 2025 9:00 am

Did you take part in any of the mysterious commemorations last weekend? The newspapers were full of it – something…

What hope is there for today’s unlucky graduates?

5 July 2025 9:00 am

I’m fresh out of advice for those now leaving university and wondering how on earth they’re going to make a…

How Labour governments always end

5 July 2025 9:00 am

Couldn’t we just skip to the end? I’m old enough to have seen this so often: must I sit through…

My idea for a new grooming gang inquiry

5 July 2025 9:00 am

It’s disorienting but satisfying that Labour now accepts that Asian grooming gangs exist. Some of my left-identified friends are even…

Tim Davie shouldn’t quit over Glastonbury

5 July 2025 9:00 am

There probably never has been a time when a governing party much liked its MPs. If you are on a…

Farage is the pacesetter of British politics

5 July 2025 9:00 am

For the past year, Nigel Farage has served as the great pacesetter of British politics. Reform UK has shot to…

And now let’s bomb Glastonbury

5 July 2025 9:00 am

A small yield nuclear weapon, such as the American W89, dropped on Glastonbury in late June would immediately remove from…

Who really built this country?

5 July 2025 9:00 am

Anyone who has visited Canada or Australia in recent years might have noticed an interesting new tradition. This is the…

The hidden costs of Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill

28 June 2025 9:00 am

One peril of a sudden adverse turn of global events is that it provides cover for bad domestic government. If…

The dangers of toxic femininity

28 June 2025 9:00 am

The American critic and classicist Daniel Mendelsohn has just published a new translation of The Odyssey. In his superb introduction,…