Columnists
The 14 questions that will define British politics in 2026
Contemplating a new year always raises questions. Was there a Third Protocol? What was wrong with Oral-A? Can Keir Starmer…
David Walliams deserves to be cancelled
A traditional British Christmas is not complete until we have all enjoyed the seasonal cancellation of a celebrity, under the…
‘Islamist’ is a dishonest confection
Convicted last month of plotting what could have proved the worst terrorist attack in British history, Walid Saadaoui had hoped…
Pubs, schools and water in crisis: my economic forecast for 2026
Forecasting is a mug’s game, as the Bank of England governor Mervyn King once said. But I’ll sketch a few…
Alaa Abd el-Fattah and our misplaced priorities
What would you like the priorities of His Majesty’s government to be? I have quite a long list. Sorting out…
The year wokery went into decline
We will remember 2025 as the year that a madness which had gripped us for a decade finally succumbed to…
Should I wear a burka in the House of Lords?
On Advent Sunday, our grandson Christian became a Christian. He was baptised, sleeping, in the font of our parish church.…
Will Keir still be Prime Minister in a year?
Keir Starmer will start the new year as he means to go on: by attempting to convince his troops that…
The pleasure of not knowing
A few years ago the podcaster Lex Fridman published a list of books that he was hoping to read in…
Snobbery is the best weapon against screen time
I can’t be the only neurotic mother to have rejoiced when the Princess of Wales revealed recently that she has…
Do we really need a ‘new spin’ on Jane Austen?
If you like your period dramas butchered, then you are in for a real treat. The 250th anniversary of Jane…
Why we are all solipsists
I once tried to write a novel but lacking any ear for dialogue or skill at characterisation, I abandoned the…
What England’s old folk songs can teach us
I grew up in the 1980s but in many ways it was more like the 1880s. We lived with my…
Discrimination is good, actually
Many years ago, a friend described one of my serious literary novels as ‘clever’. I was offended – but I…
Why does Netflix never show us business heroes?
God bless Netflix: I’ve just watched all 28 episodes of Foyle’s War, the 1940s detective series set in Hastings and…
Where was my invitation to Your Party?
For perhaps the first time in my life I have experienced ‘fomo’ – fear of missing out. It is strange…
The mind-body conundrum
I’m committed this winter to too many expensive building projects at once. As the balloon of my bank balance drifts…
Why the Budget let banks off the hook
‘Banks don’t vote and citizens don’t love them, so they’ll always be the Chancellor’s target of choice,’ I wrote in…
The conservatism of Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard, who died last week, never wrote a memoir, but he did sort of speak one. Just over…
Labour’s plan to unite the left
It is easy to criticise the Budget. The process was a chaotic mess. For many on the right, Rachel Reeves’s…
Hands off my prostate
Too much information. That’s what you’re about to get. I wouldn’t read another line if I were you. I will…
What’s Trump got to do with the price of turkey?
During last week’s excruciating Oval Office make-nice between an insultingly buddy-buddy American President and a fraudulently obsequious New York City…
The theatre isn’t a thinktank
Readers tend not to approve of rows between columnists, but I must take issue with something Lloyd Evans wrote in…
The obvious truth about BBC bias
For quite a few members of the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee, the answer to the claims…
Rachel Reeves’s road to ruin
Rachel Reeves is lucky that the name ‘omnishambles Budget’ has already been taken. When the entire document was published long…
