Features
Sex and the shires: Plum Sykes reveals all
‘I looked at a picture of him today and thought: “Why are you wearing those expensive clothes, you twit?”’ Plum…
Could RFK Jr be America’s kingmaker?
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Winston Churchill’s description of Soviet Russia in 1939 could also apply…
Is Rishi ready for the rebels?
Ever since Rishi Sunak became leader of the Conservative party, he has been preparing for this week. Entering 10 Downing…
Paris, city of blight
You know that feeling when you haven’t seen someone for several years and when you do, you really notice the…
Meet Hillingdon Man, Britain’s unhappiest chap
It’s official. I live in the unhappiest place in Britain. Who says so? My neighbours here in Hillingdon, that’s who.…
Wales is facing a US-style opioid crisis
In Europe at the end of the Noughties, the problem drug was krokodil. The semi-synthetic, necrosis-causing alternative to heroin was…
In praise of the 1/3 pint
The worst thing that happened to me over the pandemic was I got ‘really into beer’. I was already into…
Joseph Stiglitz: ‘We know where fascism led last time’
When Joseph Stiglitz talks, the left listens. The Nobel laureate has advised multiple Democratic presidents and the World Bank, where…
The government’s pathetic response to the Now Teach scandal
One Saturday last July, a couple of hundred people gathered in a conference centre on the bank of the Thames…
Why were Germany’s Covid files redacted?
There are two kinds of long Covid. One is a medical syndrome, the other manifests as a healthy obsession –…
How the Jilly Cooper Book Club turned toxic
The Jilly Cooper Book Club was set up about a decade ago by two friends who’d had enough of book…
Has the C of E got its reparations bill all wrong?
Reparations have a troubled history, and rightly. The word itself, in its familiar sense, seems to have been a euphemism…
The Xi files: how China spies
Most states spy. In principle there’s nothing to stop them. But China’s demand for intelligence on the rest of the…
Daniel Dennett’s last interview: ‘AI could signal the end of human civilisation’
Do we still need philosophers? Daniel Dennett, who died last week, believed strongly that we do. ‘Scientists have a tendency…
Hyper-history: why did politics go crazy?
On the day Theresa May signed her Brexit withdrawal agreement with Brussels, Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, resigned. She tried…
Forget Eton. This Mumbai team should play Harrow at Lord’s
The first thing I do is turn my watch upside down. India is five-and-a-half hours ahead of the UK, so…
Men, step away from the trainers
What is it with men and trainers? Or rather, men of a certain age and trainers. I’m still trying to…
Why Mummy smokes
It’s 7.02 p.m. and I’m standing outside my house by the bins smoking a fag. Upstairs, I can hear that…
My night with Youth Demand
‘Won’t you take me to… Funkytown!’ At around 10 p.m., in a bar under a railway arch in south London,…
Inside the new Arab-Israeli alliance
As Jordanian fighter jets shot down Iranian drones heading for Israel on Saturday night, there were joyful cries of Allahu…
Why does the West protect Israel but not Ukraine?
When Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles, they demonstrated what an effective air defence…
Confessions of a defecting Starmtrooper
Next month, Keir Starmer is expected to lead his party to victory in the local elections. The Tories are forecast…
The Lebanese always return home
Beirut You might have thought that the threat of the Gaza war spiralling into an all-out regional conflagration, along with…
The dangers of political prosecution
At the start of January, Donald Trump offered up a cheery new year message for Americans. ‘If I don’t get…
Kippers could save your life
I miss kippers. My wife won’t let me eat them at home, and they have become a rarity in restaurants.…
