Features
Why is maternity care in Britain getting worse?
Chelsea and her partner had been trying for a baby for two years. Following several miscarriages, she became pregnant again…
What no one tells you about dairy farming
It has been calving time in Devon and I arrive from London ready to work hard. The day starts at…
Is your wellness smoothie giving you cancer?
There’s a question I’ve started being asked at work. Given I’m a psychiatrist, it isn’t one I’d ever expected to…
Are any fans weirder than Michael Jackson fans?
What does a star need? A great lawyer, a good publicist, a silent plastic surgeon on speed dial – and…
Russians no longer believe Putin’s war propaganda
A year ago, Russia marked the 9 May Victory Day celebration with a spectacular display of fireworks that lit up…
Who cares if fridge magnets are naff?
Let’s dispense with the obvious question first. Are they common? While there’s a clear temptation to consult Nicky Haslam on…
The inverted imperialism of the royal visit
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Christian Turner, the UK’s new ambassador in Washington. He’s only been in post…
In defence of celebrity rosé
Alan Watkins, the late parliamentary sketch writer, told a story about his time on the Sunday Express in the 1960s.…
Is the country ready for Chancellor Ed Miliband?
When Morgan McSweeney concluded his evidence on Tuesday to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about the Mandelson affair, a senior…
What your whippet says about you
‘Whippets are simply ducal,’ a grand friend pants at me in her drawing room when I ask her why she…
Shameless Britain: we are a nation of shoplifters
It’s been more than a week since Sean Egan, a manager at Morrisons in Aldridge, announced that he’d been sacked…
March of the Greenshirts: Polanski’s party are the real racists
‘Back us to stop the far right,’ say the Greens. But what if parts of the Greens are the far…
My miracle match against the Vatican’s cricket team
Many have come to Rome seeking spiritual guidance: Thomas à Becket, Lord Byron, Lionel Richie. I came for a different purpose:…
The joy of liquorice
‘I’ll swap you two of my rolls for three of your spogs.’ That was the sort of thing you’d hear…
‘It’s worse than during the worst of Boris’: how the civil service turned against Starmer
Somewhere in the vast array of documents the Cabinet Office has gathered on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the…
The new AI system causing panic over cybersecurity
It’s tempting, even fashionable, to pooh-pooh the hyperbole from our tech overlords. The release in 2022 of ChatGPT, the first…
Lena Dunham’s memoir is everything wrong with feminism today
Is the right to be angry and miserable the best that modern feminism can do? Or is it possible, while…
How Gaza became one of the biggest issues of the local elections
As Tony Blair contested a third election in 2005, the Labour government’s popularity was in tatters. The divisions in the…
The unlikely link between Nuremberg and The Devil Wears Prada
In the aftermath of Peter Magyar’s victory in Hungary, while I watch people dancing in the streets as they celebrate…
The new age of transgender rage
It’s a year since the Supreme Court ruled that gender means biological sex – and not much has changed. The…
My shameful confession: I’m not a good baker
Contrary to popular conception, I’m not a great baker. I was hired by Bake Off for my judging experience, not…
Trump has underestimated the Pope
Donald Trump’s latest clash with the Catholic Church stunned even the most hardened veterans of culture-war Twitter. According to the…
Flat out: the property squeeze crushing the young
Last month, a new account called London Price Drop appeared on X. It has already gained more than 14,000 followers…
Treasure Britain’s last railway dining car while you still can
The 17.48 from Paddington does not, on first sight, seem exceptional. Over-hard seats, over-bright lights and a scrum at the…
What’s Britain’s place in the post-Iran world order?
Midway through James Joyce’s Ulysses, the character J.J. O’Molloytips his hat to ‘Our watchful friend, the Skibbereen Eagle’, a playful…
