Columnists
Trump is divisive. He splits his opposition perfectly
Washington, DC Donald Trump, the unity president — doesn’t sound right, does it? Trump is, we know, divisive. Under his…
Arthritis, nerve pain and chronic fatigue: my life with Lyme disease
Some medical experts claim that Lyme disease is worse than cancer. It’s not a competition, but I do know one…
The Nissan move shows Britain is losing its competitive edge
Has ‘Jay’ Powell gone wobbly, or does he know something we don’t? That was the question being asked after the…
Is it society’s job to stop people singing racist jokes?
Where would you rather come from, Pakistan or Liverpool? Assuming you were somehow given a retrospective choice in the matter.…
Why are we allowing ourselves to be held to ransom by has-been Irish militants?
When politics goes round in circles, the columnist inevitably revisits issues that would have been sorted if only everyone read…
The super rich aren’t all bad – some even pay their taxes
Paying tax — which many of us have been doing this week before HMRC’s 31 January deadline — is a…
Could Kamala Harris be the Democrats’ dream antidote to Trump?
Washington, DC It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has women problems. His relationship with his wife seems strained. Feminists…
The EU’s hard-border bluff will soon collapse – and then it can get serious about Brexit
The House of Commons does work better than it seems to, I promise you. When a big subject comes up,…
When ‘politician’ is the biggest insult of them all
This column has laughed before at the BBC’s satirical wit in having a slot called ‘Reality Check’ on Brexit. If…
Brexit goes back to the backstop
As the prime minister walks up the main staircase in No. 10, he or she must pass the portrait of…
Even in moderate Malaysia, anti-Semitism is rife
The question I had hoped to pose this week was this: ‘Do people dislike Diane Abbott because she is black…
The scent of London has changed: all I can smell now is cannabis
Fewer people are smoking cannabis these days, down to 1.4 million from two million, they say. I say, if you…
No luxury has ever disappointed me as much as my wood-burning stove
When I first heard rumours that Michael Gove was planning to go round the country with his environmental Gestapo, ripping…
Nobody who’s anybody was at Davos this year. Here’s why
Nobody who’s anybody is in Davos this week and, as usual, neither am I. World leaders from Donald Trump to…
In defence of unicorns
The scale of the government’s defeat on Mrs May’s deal is, as everyone keeps saying, amazing — yet also not.…
It’s Salmond vs Sturgeon – and whoever wins, the SNP loses
Amid the wreckage of a Brexit process that has disrupted every aspect of British political life, it is easy to…
On Nobel Prize winners and Mastermind losers
I once worked my way through two whole books of IQ tests devised by Hans Eysenck and by the time…
Leavers have just killed the best chance of Brexit ever happening
When intelligent, informed and rational people make a choice that onlookers can see confounds their own declared interests, we are…
Why do authors have to be ‘moral’? Because their publishing contracts tell them so
Suppose you’re a writer with a self-destructive proclivity for sticking your neck out. Would you sign a book contract that…
An energy crisis is looming – but ministers are distracted by Brexit
Transfixed as you were by Westminster chaos, did you also spot the news that Hitachi is about to cancel or…
Behind the story of Anna Soubry being called a Nazi lies a classic Brexit sequence of events
Behind the incident of Anna Soubry being called a Nazi by a small group of Leave yobs beside College Green…
Does May even have a Plan B?
Cabinets these days are fractious affairs. Ministers take increasingly unsubtle digs at each other as they rehearse the same old…
Can the National Trust please forget about ‘heteronormative privilege’ and just look after houses?
There is a satirical website called ‘Guardian headline generator’ which purports to offer a service to aspirant journalists who wish…
How to become a country squire – like me
In the days when I was less happy in my skin than I am now, I used to feel stabs…
Why Macron is happy to leave Renault’s chief shivering in his Tokyo cell
In France after New Year, the only gilets jaunes I spotted were a rather dejected bunch near an autoroute exit.…
