Status anxiety
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…
The free market needs fighting for – again
As you’re reading this, I will still be recovering from the dinner I’m due to attend this week to celebrate…
I love Israel, so I’m allowed at least one bad joke about it
I expect all of us have said something we regret at one time or another, but not everyone does so…
How I joined the 99 per cent
In The Wolf of Wall Street, there’s a poignant shot towards the end in which we see an FBI agent…
Gove killed neither mice nor mockingbirds
I suppose I should be grateful that the liberal intelligentsia doesn’t bother to check any of the facts if an…
Americans can’t hack it
I was interested to read a story by Michael Wolff in USA Today saying that Graydon Carter may be about…
A lesson in humility
I went to a meeting at Penguin earlier this week to discuss ‘publicity opportunities’ for my forthcoming book. Chance would…
Making myselfherd
I find it hard to pinpoint the exact moment when my support for Queen’s Park Rangers crossed over into full-blown…
Why I’m a kamikaze cyclist
The only way to survive as a London cyclist is to behave like a complete nutter
Yes, Britain is a Christian country
I can’t say it was a great surprise to read a letter from a group of well-known authors, academics, comedians…
An initiation into anxiety
Before I had children I don’t think I appreciated what anxiety was. I’d been anxious at various points in my…
Two books I almost wrote (and one I did)
There’s nothing quite so burdensome as having a book to write. Maybe it’s not so bad when it’s your first…
The need to know
It’s scarcely possible to open a newspaper or magazine these days without reading an article about how the latest technological…
