Status anxiety
The real reason Nicola Sturgeon is campaigning against Brexit
Nicola Sturgeon, who claimed this week that ‘Scotland is rich enough, strong enough and big enough’ to take its place…
You have to laugh at Extinction Rebellion
I ventured out into Westminster earlier this week to take a look at the Extinction Rebellion protest and it reminded…
Is it time to revive our play about Boris’s sex life?
I’m writing this from the Conservative party conference where Boris’s attempt to ram home the message that he’s the only…
Abolish private schools? Bring it on!
I cannot recall a week in which Britain’s private schools have received better PR. The Labour party has pledged to…
David Cameron is more authentic than Boris Johnson
I don’t recall exactly when I first met David Cameron, but it must have been in Oxford in 1985 shortly…
How John Bercow saved me from Short Man Syndrome
I think my colleagues on the pro-Brexit side of the aisle have been a little unkind in their response to…
The political pact that could save Brexit
If there is to be an election before we leave the European Union, some kind of non-aggression pact between the…
Must try harder: education is still a vote loser for the Tories
The reluctance of the Conservative party to take credit for the success of its education reforms is a source of…
I’m back on the ‘public humiliation diet’ – thanks to my kids
I’m on holiday with my family in Turks and Caicos, and maintaining my current weight is proving difficult. Regular readers…
By taking on grouse-shooting, Labour is risking rural jobs
The Glorious Twelfth this year, signalling the start of the grouse-shooting season, was overshadowed by a Labour party press release…
Donald Trump isn’t to blame for America’s mass shootings
The BBC’s flagship news and current affairs programme wasn’t in any doubt about who to blame for America’s latest bout…
I’m considering joining the police – they need me
I was driving to Gunnersbury Park last Sunday for my weekly 10K run when I caught the tail end of…
If you want a pro-Boris pundit, please pick me!
The changing of the guard at 10 Downing Street always creates opportunities for the commentariat. I don’t just mean it…
I’m starting a trade union for intellectuals
I have just returned from Minneapolis after attending the annual conference of the International Society for Intelligence Research. That’s ‘intelligence’…
I love Boris for not firing me when I wrote a play about his sex life
Fourteen years ago, almost to the day, Lloyd Evans and I received a note from Boris. It was the press…
Scotland and Wales have much to learn from England’s education reforms
I’ve contributed a chapter to an education book published this week by the Institute of Economic Affairs. I was asked…
Britain is becoming more meritocratic, not less
You have to admire the Sutton Trust’s PR skills. For those who don’t know, the Sutton Trust is a social…
Is this a turning point in the culture war?
Something rather wonderful happened last week for those of us who have been the victims of a public shaming —…
It’s a scandal that the BBC can still tax anyone who owns a TV
If I were a pensioner, I’d be a bit miffed by the BBC’s decision to end the policy of giving…
Budweiser flags up how Pride has been taken over by woke corporations
Maurice Bowra, the flamboyant warden of Wadham College from 1938 to 1970, once argued against the legalisation of homosexuality on…
The fanatical thinking that’s on its way to British schools
For anyone who isn’t following the long march of racial self-flagellation through America’s institutions, last week’s revelations about the excesses…
How paranoia has infected our politics
The politics professor Matthew Goodwin made an interesting observation on Twitter this week. He pointed out that many of the…
In defence of British landowners (and the truth about grouse moors)
I was surprised to read the article by Ben Macdonald in last week’s Spectator urging Britain’s grouse moor owners to…
The UN’s extinction warning doesn’t add up
Anyone watching the BBC’s News at Ten on Monday would have been surprised to learn that economic growth poses a…
Charities are allowed to be political – if they’re left wing
On Monday, I appeared on Good Morning Britain to debate President Trump’s forthcoming state visit with Asad Rehman, the executive…
