Features
Does Brexit mean anything anymore?
Emma Bridgewater has, since 1985, produced pottery acceptable in tasteful middle-class kitchens. Some jars had Coffee on and some Biscuits.…
Harry, Meghan and the irresistible rise of the glamocracy
The world may be dazzled by Prince Harry marrying a divorced, mixed-race American TV star. But his grand friends and…
Welcome to the age of media feeding frenzies
Tony Blair once remarked, during one of the periodic feeding frenzies that engulf British politics, that public life was becoming…
‘The first 100 days will be radical’ – John McDonnell on the Corbyn coup and its consequences
John McDonnell looks exhausted, slumped in his parliamentary office chair. Nobody said the revolution would be easy. Do he and…
Why is China sending aid money to Surrey?
When I first hear that my well-heeled Surrey neighbourhood is receiving aid from China, I assume it must be a…
Meet the anti-immigrant federalist who could well be Italy’s next prime minister
The man who could become Italy’s next prime minister is sat just opposite the entrance to the huge US and…
The truth about The Watford Gap
In a shallow dip between two unremarkable Northamptonshire hills you will find a road, a motorway, a railway and a…
Why marriage is increasingly for the royals – and the rich
Whatever their views about the monarchy, most people will warm to the news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement.…
Is a Princess Meghan really such good news?
‘The thing is,’ said my friend, after the broadcast of the engagement interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, ‘you…
David Trimble: The Irish government is dragging Brexit into dangerous territory
When I negotiated the Good Friday Agreement nearly 20 years ago, no one foresaw a day when the -United Kingdom…
George Blake, the spy who stayed out in the cold
I suspect George Blake, the MI6 officer turned KGB double agent, would enjoy toddling over to the Hampstead Theatre to…
We’re all poorer for the loss of our small rail lines
To me, the strange words ‘Marsh Gibbon’ once meant I was nearly home. My heart lifted as we creaked and…
What Katie didn’t do: how Hopkins was silenced in Lewes
I had an all-day ticket for the Lewes Speakers Festival at the All Saints Centre on Saturday. I was keen…
Forget temples and tea – Sri Lanka is all about its birds
Standing in sweaty silence for an hour on a precipitous sliver of muddy footpath above a waterfall may not be…
Where did it all go wrong for Angela Merkel?
Trier, Rhineland Was it really just a few months ago that Angela Merkel was being hailed as the leader of…
Without Merkel in charge, Europe could fall apart
No leader is indispensable, but it does feel like the future of Europe stands or falls with Angela Merkel. She’s…
Cull the lawyers – there are too many for democracy to work
Last week the Daily Telegraph’s front page showed the 15 Tory MPs who had voted against the government under the…
LA used to be fun – dope has just made it dull
Los Angeles stinks. Not just of the usual things: sex, money, suntan oil, hipster food, surfer wax — odours that…
Norway is hard on migrants – but tough love works
When Angela Merkel invited refugees to Germany in 2015, tearing up the rules obliging migrants to seek asylum in the…
Cottaging in the age of Grindr
There are nights when, crossing the dark parkland by my house, I see a man beneath a remote streetlamp. He…
Politicians want to move us towards a cashless world. It would be a disaster
What could be more terrifying than a return to the 15 per cent interest rates with which homebuyers had to…
The English countryside on two wheels is like the best kind of poem
No seat belts. No airbags. Just air, and coming at you as fast as you like. Motorcycling shouldn’t be allowed,…
Corbyn knows elections are won on social media but the Tories have barely logged on
There is a naive belief at the top of government that because the Tories are only a fart’s yard behind…
The left-liberal media won’t admit it, but Donald Trump has global reach
It’s been a miserable two weeks for our Foreign Secretary. Not only did Boris Johnson trip up over the British…
Real democracy or a tribal bloodbath? Zimbabwe is on the brink
History will curse Robert Mugabe. When he took over as prime minister in the wake of the Lancaster House agreement…
