Features
‘It’s Liz Truss territory’: how bad are things for Kemi Badenoch?
Around 5 p.m. on Monday one of Kemi Badenoch’s aides was having a drink with a friend in the Two…
We should welcome regime change in Iran
On the first night of what Donald Trump has called the ‘12-day war’ between Israel and Iran, someone spray-painted a…
In defence of exorcism
British politics and ghosts are subjects that rarely meet. Sometimes an MP or parliamentary aide might report a sighting of…
Israel’s attack on Iran has been planned for years
It was clear at the time that what happened on 7 October 2023 would change the Middle East. What was…
Pope Idol: Leo’s singing should be celebrated
‘But will anyone be interested?’ the vicar asked cautiously. It was a fair response to my latest madcap scheme. One…
Starmer’s war zone: the Prime Minister is in a perilous position
Sir Keir Starmer was alerted in the early hours of Friday by his national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, that Israel’s…
Venice deserves Jeff Bezos
Venetians are once again revolting. Not, this time, against cruise ships, wheeled luggage, over-tourism or rule from mainland Mestre. No…
Toppling Iran’s Supreme Leader could be a mistake
Are we already seeing an ominous mission creep in Israel’s blistering attack on Iran? First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s air…
Who’s pushing Trump to be an Iran hawk?
‘This never would have happened if I had been president,’ says Donald Trump, whenever the international news goes from bad…
Suburbanites vs the countryside
‘Same old boring Sunday morning, old men out, washing their cars.’ So begins the punk anthem ‘The Sound of the…
Heaven is Angel Delight
I once heard an American complain that, being married to an Englishwoman, he was regularly baffled by the contents of…
The right rape gang inquiry
Another inquiry into child sexual abuse, another minister insisting that this time it will be different. Yvette Cooper promises arrests,…
Is Xi Jinping’s time up?
Stories about Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, are blowing up on social media. He died in 2002, so why the…
The depressing rise of ‘direct cremations’
Twenty per cent of last year’s funerals in Britain were direct cremations – up from 14 per cent in 2020.…
How to game the social housing system
Westminster council has announced that every single social housing tenant in the borough will receive lifetime tenancies. No test of…
Why OnlyFans has young British women in its grip
The porn star Bonnie Blue offers a straightforward explanation for her decision to join OnlyFans. She was in her early…
Can Pope Leo end the liturgy wars?
Last weekend, under windswept banners depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, nearly 20,000 young pilgrims marched…
A lament for the lads’ mags
Do you remember the lads’ mags? I do because I worked on them for years. FHM, Maxim, all those gloriously…
Why is the MoJ making life so hard for prison charities?
For 15 years The Clink charity has run commercial restaurants in prisons, training inmates to cook and teaching them front-of-house…
OnlyFans is giving HMRC what it wants
Fenix International occupies the ninth floor of an innocuous office block on London’s Cheapside. The street’s name comes from the…
A love letter to lonely hearts ads
Published in Britain for at least 330 years, lonely hearts ads are now a rare sight – driven to the…
Assisted suicide could destroy the hospice movement
The hospice movement is one of the great achievements of post-war Britain. Inspired by the doctor Cicely Saunders, who in…
Why I burnt the Quran
My name is Hamit Coskun and I’ve just been convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence. My ‘crime’? Burning…
Why corporate wokery refuses to die
Everyone thinks they know what the Blob is. A great wobbly blancmange of Sir Humphreys and (these days) Lady Tamaras:…
The truth about Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater
In the 2004 film Mean Girls Ms Norbury (Tina Fey) cries to her High School students: ‘Girls! You’ve got to…
