Features
Continental drift
How the word lost its glamour
The whole of China is in an eerie state of shutdown
Shanghai ‘Do you want me to scan your temperature?’ asks the receptionist, brandishing an infrared thermometer. Arriving at my hotel…
Big Ben
The debate over whether Big Ben should bong to mark Brexit isn’t the first time the famous bell has caused…
The French connection
Macron has fallen under Boris’s spell
An avocado a day…
The latest fad involves eating your way to better mental health
Falling back
Ten years on, the Arab Spring’s legacy is hopelessness and helplessness
An upstream struggle
In a few years’ time, there could be no more wild salmon in Britain
Letter from Strasbourg
‘Epiphany.’ That was the word that Robert Rowland, soon-to-be-ex-MEP for the Brexit party, used to describe his discovery of the…
Inhuman resources
When did job-hunting become such an ordeal?
Kent’s sparkling wine
Driving home through Kent the other day, I was struck by how much the topography has changed. When I was…
Is slimming down the monarchy the only way to save it?
The crisis that has engulfed the royal family, sparked by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell announcement that they…
Warring Windsors: the real royal conflict is between Charles and his sons
Three years ago, Sir Christopher Geidt departed as the Queen’s private secretary. For years, he had done much to hold…
The people’s decade: how will history come to define the 2010s?
The 1960s were swinging. The 1970s were stagflationary. In the 1980s we made loadsamoney and greed was good. The 1990s…
Can Leo Varadkar defy the odds to win another term as Taoiseach?
Back in October, Boris Johnson and the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met for ‘last-ditch’ Brexit talks at a hotel on 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,…
‘A perfect knight’: Remembering Roger Scruton
Daniel Hannan Roger Scruton changed the course of my life. He addressed my school’s philosophy society when I was 16,…
I spent Christmas Day helping the homeless – and I was bored out of my mind
When I told friends that I would be spending Christmas Day helping the homeless at a Crisis at Christmas centre…
What is the only London Underground station to share no letters with ‘mackerel’?
Don’t worry, this isn’t a piece about fishing quotas. It’s about the word ‘mackerel’ itself. Specifically, the fact that St…
Donald Trump has just blown up his goal of isolating Iran
A blood-red flag was raised over the Jamkaran mosque in the Iranian holy city of Qom last week, one normally…
Is there method – or madness – behind Trump’s actions in Iran?
Leaders are often accused of escalating a conflict abroad in order to distract from headaches at home. On Tuesday, before…
Revealed: Boris’s blueprint for Brexit
For the first time since the referendum, the United Kingdom has a strong government that knows what it wants from…
Fight fire with fire: controlled burning could have protected Australia
Sydney By modern standards, my grandfather would probably be considered an environmental criminal. To clear land for his farmhouse in…
In defence of pocket money
Our grandchildren are penniless. They have pretty much everything their hearts desire and they have parents with wallets full of…
Britain after Brexit: it’s time to decide on our place in the world
‘Global Britain’: a phrase that provokes mockery and even indignation. As an alternative to EU membership many consider it impossible…
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,…
