Notebook
Bas Javid: Why I joined the police
There’s no such thing as a typical week in policing and this last one was no different. It started on…
In Madagascar, more will starve than die of the virus
Earlier this month, in his weekly address to the nation, our President, the former DJ and coup leader Andry Rajoelina,…
The joy of eating birdseed
Rather like unpacking after a holiday, when you take unworn clothes from the case still neatly folded because the occasion…
I’d never seen a princess wear statement socks – until Anne
Not since the befuddled twilight of George III has a monarch been confined to Windsor Castle for such a duration.…
We’re spending lockdown defending a family of mice
Austin My first Independence Day in the US for many years. Usually I’d be in Paris avoiding Texas heat. My…
The bluff and bluster of Boris’s bland boy Brexiteers
From the balcony where I take my daily exercise there is a view of the commercial centre of London that…
I thought I’d left looting mobs behind in the Middle East
Last week shattered all my sense of stability and permanence in New York, the city I’ve called home since 2012…
Why is it that age limits never apply to men?
I’d never have thought I’d be good at doing nothing. Or rather walking the dogs, loafing in the sun, trying…
Why is the WHO so worried about Tanzania?
Dar es Salaam The World Health Organisation has drawn up a shortlist of countries it’s most concerned about during the…
How to go clubbing without leaving your living room
To my surprise, what I miss most about life before the lockdown are parties. As others pine for restaurants and…
I hate joggers more than ever
Empathy and kindness in these difficult times come more easily to some than others, but I’m trying. I had heart…
Faith, hope and charity: how I survived coronavirus
I write this on Easter Sunday, sitting comfortably at home, recovering from my brush with Covid-19. I was hospitalised for…
In New York’s hospitals, we need all the help we can get
New York I hear it said now and again that Covid-19 is just a nasty winter bug, nothing more than…
My polar journey puts coronavirus isolation into perspective
I arrived on Novolazarevskaya base on the northern coast of Antarctica in a Russian plane, flown by an ex-USSR air…
David Baddiel: I’ve been cancelled - for real
‘Cancelled’ is quite a buzzword of our times, isn’t it? Up until about ten days ago, it referred mainly to…
Italians believe the coronavirus outbreak shows their superiority
During times of contagion, you begin to understand why fascist salutes were once so popular. The foot-tap is replacing the…
Joan Collins: Parasite didn’t deserve to win Best Picture
Recovering from a bad cold and bored to tears by the fare on television, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu (it’s shocking…
Torture a Tory, make him an MEP? Not any more
‘Epiphany.’ That was the word that Robert Rowland, soon-to-be-ex-MEP for the Brexit party, used to describe his discovery of the…
Cressida Bonas: Everyone seems to have very strong opinions about my wedding
White House Farm began last week on ITV; a six-part factual drama about the notorious murders. I play Sheila Caffell,…
Ben Schott: I’m Tony Blair’s brother (according to Google)
The globe (Golden and otherwise) has rightly fallen h-o-h for Olivia Colman who, before The Crown, The Favourite and Peep Show,…
Joan Collins: I’m an actress, not an actor. And yes, it matters
I recently tried to put my profession down as ‘actress’ on Instagram, but the only option available from the drop-down…
Andrew Marr: Twitter fooled everyone during this election
It’s an unfashionable thought, but having spent many hours in the university sports hall where constituency votes for Boris Johnson…
Corbyn’s problem was not that the media hated him – but that he hated the media
On the morning of the election, we buried my lovely mum. I write this 24 hours later, now on a…
Lady Hale’s Christmas diary (as told to Quentin Letts)
They say I must retire next month when I turn 75. Irritating. I have been a member of the Supreme…
Anne Glenconner: My Christmas gift from Queen Mary
At the age of 87 I find myself not just a first-time author, but a bestseller. I’ve always told stories,…
