Status anxiety
Why we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
Will the perfect school always be a pipe dream?
Civitas has just published an interesting book called The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools. Edited by Anastasia de…
Charlie Young, football star
My son Charlie was scouted by QPR last week. I say ‘scouted’, but that’s not quite accurate since he’s only…
The nailbiting run-up to Question Time
I was invited on Question Time this week, which gave me a few sleepless nights. Natalie Bennett’s disastrous interview on…
£67,000 is not enough for the brightest and the best
Last year, I had an exchange with Hugo Rifkind on Twitter in which I bet him dinner at Clarke’s that…
How do you define tax avoidance?
On the face of it, the moral case against tax avoidance seems pretty straightforward. If you’re a UK taxpayer and…
The myth of the ‘London effect’
I suppose we should be thankful that Nicola Sturgeon has acknowledged there’s a problem with Scotland’s public education system, even…
Why I won’t cry for Harry
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008…
The proof is in the league tables, Mr Hunt
For a brief moment earlier this week, I thought education might become an issue in the general election campaign. The…
Je suis Page 3
‘I for one would be sorry to see them go,’ wrote George Orwell. ‘They are a sort of saturnalia, a harmless…
Litter is a class issue
David Sedaris is my new hero. Not because he’s such a funny writer, but because he’s obsessed with litter. He…
Autism and the Turing Fallacy
When I first heard the story of Alan Turing in my late teens I made what must be quite a…
This year, I’m keeping my ambitions modest
This time last year, I wrote an article saying my main project in 2014 would be to unite the right.…
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…
