Columnists
How does anyone manage to navigate the maze of our second-rate NHS?
Next month the National Health Service turns 70. The institution is greatly loved, and not for nothing. The fear of…
The myth and menace of cryptocurrencies
‘So, Professor Shin, tell us what you really think about cryptocurrencies.’ I’m guessing that’s the brief the Bank for International…
The pressure on Theresa May is rising
Cans kicked down the road, last–minute concessions made, the process kept on track — just. This is how many people…
Justin Trudeau is far more pointless than Donald Trump
‘Trudeau or Trump?’ was a choice which Theresa May, with unusually ready wit, evaded in Parliament on Monday. No doubt…
What kills migrants on boats? The left’s good intentions
I have been scouring the internet trying to find a right-wing festival to take the family to this summer. I…
Is it ok for Muslim parents to stop their kids having non-Muslim pals?
Is it all right for the Muslim parents of children at British state schools to prevent their sons and daughters…
How to raise and train a teenage daughter
‘Dad, am I driving like a normal driver yet? Are you relaxing like a normal relaxed passenger or are you…
For Pester of TSB, like Patterson of BT, the only way is exit
Should he stay or should he go — or will he already have gone by the time you read this?…
This period of British history is like the first months of the second world war
A distinguished retired EU diplomat from a small EU member state sends me a thoughtful letter. He complains that Brexit…
Brexiteer MPs know it’s going badly wrong but can’t agree what to do next
Brexit could look very different by the end of this month. In the coming days, the government is expected to…
There are too many women on Radio 4 and they’re always moaning
We had a long drive back from the north-east last weekend. Six hours or so, including a stop halfway, just…
Sweet sorrow: the only grief we mention is that with comfort buried inside it
It was the phrase ‘sad sweet feeling in your heart’ that arrested my attention. But who would have thought it…
When diversity means uniformity
I’d been suffering under the misguided illusion that the purpose of mainstream publishers like Penguin Random House was to sell…
Let’s hope for a better, demerged, RBS when it’s back in private hands
At last the government has restarted the process of selling its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland. A first £2…
The EU should go the way of the British Empire
To understand how the European Union works, and how it doesn’t, it helps to think of it as an empire.…
Could a eurozone crisis benefit Brexit?
Is it better to negotiate with a confident, optimistic European Union or a nervous, fretful one? Even Brexiteers are split…
When will the Tories learn: murdering animals isn’t a vote-winner
Buoyed by its huge popularity in the opinion polls and the fact that it is managing Brexit so well, the…
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s transgender superman
Comics aren’t what they used to be. In 1976 I was 11 — the perfect target audience for probably the…
WH Smith, Britain’s worst high-street retailer, is ripe for disruption
I’m not in the least surprised to learn that WH Smith has been voted Britain’s worst high-street retailer in a…
Michael Gove’s stove ban is a direct attack on country life
Michael Gove wants to punish those who use wood-burning stoves and possibly even open fires. It would be hard to…
Donald Trump’s murky past is catching up with him
Washington, DC It was a petulant Donald Trump who appeared at a White House press briefing on Tuesday with the…
Is Meghan’s wedding our ‘Obama moment’? Let’s hope not
Here’s something to bear in mind over the next few years. Be wary of taking advice on social justice from…
Is ‘woman’ now an offensive word?
I do not know whether the Speaker of the House of Commons called the present Leader of the House a…
I like a fight too much. That’s why I’ll never go on social media
During a dozen years in Belfast I collected a number of political coffee mugs, hailing from both sides of the…
Why Mark Carney’s successor is likely to be woman
If Ben Broadbent’s Daily Telegraph interview last week was the launch of a bid for the governorship of the Bank…
