Features
Jonathan Bowden: my eccentric school friend who became a far-right hero
When my old school, Presentation College, Reading, was demolished a decade ago, the Labour council desperately searched for famous old…
McSpaff: Scotland is the worst when it comes to government waste
No country in the UK receives more public money per head than Scotland. An extra £2,200 is spent on every…
Why possum beats cashmere
In 1990, an exotic Swiss-Canadian teenager of purportedly Habsburgian lineage descended on Cambridge in a cloud of cashmere. His wardrobe…
The anti-genius of William McGonagall, history’s worst poet
‘Not marble nor the gilded monuments of princes,’ wrote Shakespeare, ‘shall outlive this powerful rhyme.’ To be a great poet,…
Why is the NHS pushing pregnant women towards sterilisation?
It was a routine antenatal appointment. I’d done it twice before and knew the format. The obstetrician runs through the…
Stop scoffing food on trains!
I’m on the 10.45 slow train to Ipswich. It’s not even lunchtime, yet everyone around me is already gorging on…
The Gen-Z fliers obsessed with maximising their air miles
Oscar, 26, joins me on Google Meet from Buenos Aires, having arrived earlier that day from New York – by…
Dirty deal: what Trump really wants from Ukraine’s natural resources
In Sergio Leone’s epic spaghetti western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Blondie, played by Clint Eastwood, and Tuco,…
Buckingham University’s shameful treatment of Professor Tooley
One of many reasons I felt blessed, seven years ago, to be offered a professorship at the private University of…
Meet the Zoomer Doomers: Britain’s secret right-wing movement
One of the striking aspects of the AfD’s success in the German elections was the party’s popularity among the young,…
Are you Ramadan-ready?
‘Are you Ramadan-ready?’ That was the poster in Sainsbury’s advertising its delicious range of fast-breaking foods (rice was one). And…
The day I went missing
The Forcan Ridge off Glen Shiel can be a tricky place this time of year. There wasn’t a huge amount…
Make Bond great again
One of the great recurring James Bond tropes is to make it look as though 007 has actually been killed…
How Shrove Tuesday inspired the animal welfare movement
In some countries Shrove Tuesday (the day of merrymaking before the rigours of Lent) developed into a ‘carnival’ that lasted…
Nigel’s gang: Reform’s plan for power
A year ago, Reform party aides found themselves in a cramped office in Victoria, London, bickering about chairs. ‘There weren’t…
The strange beauty of the vigil for the Pope
Steady rain during the day stopped just before Monday’s evening prayers for Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Square. A line…
Are you too middle-class to adopt?
Too many books? Yes, we had too many books. That’s what our social worker told us when we were being…
How to ski when you can’t ski
I was 30 when I first went skiing, and up for absolutely anything. I was a successful party caterer who…
What does your name say about you?
In 2015, an orthopaedic surgeon called Limb, with three other doctors called Limb, wrote a paper on whether people’s names…
What the rise of the AfD means for Germany
In the Thuringian city of Weimar, opposite the theatre where the National Assembly hashed out Germany’s constitution in 1918, stands…
Get real: the harsh lessons of our new world disorder
Sir Roger Scruton may not be the Prime Minister’s favourite author. Apparently Keir Starmer prefers Victoria Hislop. But as he…
I was convinced by the cholesterol sceptics
It’s never a good thing when your cardiologist sounds alarmed on the phone. Come in tomorrow, he said: we’ll get…
China is not the West’s environmental ally
In the fight against climate change, China loves to present itself as the world’s White Knight. Armed with wind turbines…
Why is there no campaign to free novelist Boualem Sansal?
Paris What possible crime has the award-winning novelist Boualem Sansal committed that merits being locked away for three months now…
Is Britain funding organisations that wish us harm?
Frivolous state funding isn’t only going to chancers, the plain lucky and the devious, but also to those who would…
