Features
Is the CCRC fit to decide on Lucy Letby’s appeal?
Whatever happened to the likes of the BBC’s Rough Justice and Channel 4’s Trial and Error? Why did human rights…
What can save Britain’s ash trees?
The next time you drive or walk down a country road, you may well notice that something is not quite…
Is it time for me to move back to Britain?
I first saw America 50 years ago. I spent the summer of 1974 with my New York girlfriend. Richard Nixon…
How bus travel lost its magic
At the former Chiswick Works in west London, I recently celebrated the Routemaster’s 70th birthday. I owe my existence to…
What’s the real aim of Ukraine’s Russian offensive?
On Monday morning, Vladimir Putin was briefed about Ukraine’s audacious invasion of Russian territory. With his military chiefs in front…
Zelensky’s new offensive could push Putin to the brink
A Russian friend speaking from Kursk tells me the latest war joke. Vladimir Putin summons Stalin’s ghost. ‘Comrade Stalin!’ asks…
The global fertility crisis is worse than you think
For anyone tempted to try to predict humanity’s future, Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book The Population Bomb is a cautionary tale.…
In defence of strict teachers
Labour have become alarmed by the strict, ‘cruel’ approach to discipline in schools and the rise in the number of…
‘I came here to escape radical Islam’: the asylum seekers who understand the rioters’ fears
Sousou is a 24-year-old Syrian-Palestinian woman who arrived in Britain a few weeks ago in a rubber dinghy from Calais.…
My ringside seat at the Nixon resignation melodrama
American politics seem particularly febrile in 2024. The sitting President has withdrawn from the election, days after his predecessor was…
Why children have stopped reading
It’s only when you read the old stories again, to a child maybe, that you become aware of the extent…
Sharing riot videos? You’re part of the problem
We’re told these riots are about immigration, racism, angry Islam, elite blindness and identity politics – and, to a point,…
Why Britain riots
Riotous summers seem to occur in Britain with about the same frequency as sunny ones: roughly every decade. Sometimes it’s…
‘Yobbos come in all sorts of colours’: on the ground in Rotherham
The Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, is opposite an RSPB nature reserve. For months, its 130 rooms have been…
Can anything stop a full-scale conflict in the Middle East?
The fact that the Middle East stands on the brink of a catastrophic war can be explained by a scene…
How students toppled Bangladesh’s despot
Dhaka On Monday, Bangladesh’s long-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country by helicopter to India. Parliament was…
Who is your favourite character in children’s literature?
Rod Liddle Rabbits, always rabbits. I remember at age 13 forcing my poor parents to trudge despondently across hilly downland…
Britain needs to join the new space race
Elon Musk’s Starship is the biggest rocket ever built. Sending it into space is hard; bringing it back to Earth,…
Love it or loathe it, ragwort is winning
White, lacy cow parsley frothing along the roadside is a familiar sight during the British summer. But 2024 is the…
Beware the bat police
My friend Andrew is angry. He has just had the bat people round to look at his building project in…
Let prisoners phone home
‘A society is measured by the treatment of its prisoners,’ Winston Churchill said. Last year, in England and Wales, every…
Keir Starmer’s plans to soften Brexit
Anew political bromance is brewing on the continent. Keir Starmer has met Olaf Scholz, his German counterpart, three times since…
The cult of Bedales
Another of my ageing Bedales school cohort has died and so there’s an ad hoc reunion in his honour at…
The mystery of teaching composition
Summer study courses for young composers have been popular for a few generations. After the second world war, up-and-coming experimental…
