Columnists
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…
The royals who do best are those who restrain their personalities
The last time we had a royal wedding of comparable dynastic importance (i.e. only a bit important), Prince Andrew married…
We need to stop buying into this ‘divided Britain’ narrative
Amid all the argument in Westminster, everyone can agree on one thing: the country is bitterly divided. The 52:48 divisions…
Turns out life’s not so easy – just look at Ulysses S. Grant
When Winston Churchill was at the nadir of his career, he wrote a biography of his ancestor, the Duke of…
Why this deluded affection for the Palestinians?
The worst entry for this year’s Euro-vision song contest was that vast cater-wauling aboriginal. I can’t remember her name, only…
We might be plunging towards Brexit chaos – but at least everyone has jobs
It’s heartening to see an authentic British entrepreneur heading this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, the industrial-ist Jim Ratcliffe, who…
