Status anxiety
Can you be a great father and lead a Great Life?
I received a phone call the other day that I wasn’t expecting. It was a BBC producer calling about a…
The perilous prospect of forced paternity leave
Earlier this week, the law changed to enable men to share the leave that women are currently entitled to after…
Want an argument against positive discrimination? Just look at me
I read with some interest the proposal for Oxford and Cambridge to set up state-school-only colleges in the Guardian this…
I’m a celebrity, get me in there
I had thought that my days of being approached by reality show producers hoping to put together a cast of…
Was this man really worse than the Taleban?
Feature writers aren’t often acclaimed for their courage, but Neil Lyndon deserves a bronze plaque in St Bride’s. Twenty-two years…
You can’t teach character – it’s already too late
I participated in a lively discussion about character education at Policy Exchange earlier this week. For those of you who…
A pivotal moment on a Portuguese beach
I’m writing this from Portugal, where I’m staying with my old friend Sean Langan. His family has owned a farm…
Learning compromise the hard way
I’m often asked by other free school proposers what lessons I’ve learnt over the past five years. Any pearls of…
Brain food with zombies
I’m ashamed to say it took me a while to watch an episode of The Walking Dead, the fifth season…
Why a bill of rights is the wrong answer
I’ve been thinking about the Conservative party’s proposal for a Bill of Rights and am finding it difficult to make…
Nigel Farage’s class war
I initially thought Nigel Farage had made a mistake in unveiling Mark Reckless on the final day of his party…
I’m the moody one in this marriage
Women spend ten days a year in a grumpy mood, according to the Daily Mail. The top triggers include being…
Caught in Alex Salmond’s tractor beam
It was just after the Tory party conference last year that I met Alex Salmond. Not alone, obviously, but as…
If the Welsh secede next, blame me
Oh dear. I think I may have inadvertently contributed to the dissolution of Great Britain. I’m not claiming sole responsibility.…
The wolf in all of us
I had an interesting discussion with my friend Aidan Hartley earlier this week about whether the young men fighting for…
Facts aren’t created equal
I first locked horns with Michael Rosen, the former children’s laureate, on Sky News about four years ago. We were…
The mystery of festivals
I wouldn’t describe myself as a veteran of the summer festival circuit, but I’ve been to enough to have a…
The high price of public service
I feel some sympathy for Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP who’s resigned as a minister and is stepping down at…
The case for being wed
I’m due to speak at an Intelligence Squared debate on Saturday and I’m worried that I might be on the…
A noble tradition of benign neglect
I spent last weekend at Port Eliot in Cornwall. This is supposed to be a literary and music festival and…
Following in my father’s neglectful footsteps
A few years ago, a family friend described my father as being a bit like Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House,…
Cameron was right to move Gove
I tried to reach Michael Gove on Tuesday shortly after the news broke that he’d been moved to the Whips’…
Falling short of a true colossus
Unlike 99 per cent of my colleagues, I was quite touched by John Bercow’s comment about how fed up he…
Accept it, embrace it: Conservatives aren’t cool
The Times headline on Tuesday was rather cruel: ‘Stars turn down No. 10 invitation.’ This was a reference to the…
Has my negative charisma doomed free schools?
This isn’t a headline I was expecting to read: ‘Free schools could be a bigger negative for the Tories than…
