The Week
How Aesop’s fables apply to today’s politics
Aesop’s animal fables, as Robin Waterfield points out in his new translation, were certainly not written for children: the animals…
Labour’s little helper: the CBI is failing British business
What is the Confederation of British Industry for? Indeed, who is it for? The soi-disant voice of British business held…
Portrait of the week: Storm Bert, Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and Putin gives cockatoos to North Korea
Home A white paper outlined measures to counter economic inactivity (which had risen by September to 41.2 per cent among…
The Westminster Wag to watch
Surely charity is about helping others, not massaging your own ego? Ed Sheeran’s boycott of Band Aid is yet another example of…
Letters: Labour’s attack on farmers
Losing the plot Sir: Your leading article ‘Blight on the land’ (23 November) is right to call out the hypocrisy…
Who chooses assisted suicide in Canada?
Sign of the times A petition for an immediate general election gathered 2.7 million signatures in five days. What are…
Anger management, ancient Greek-style
A professor of neurophysiology has announced that anger is a good thing with a ‘very useful purpose’, unless it turns…
Letters: How to support the dying
Life support Sir: If the Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill is passed into law we will have crossed the…
Rachel Reeves can still repair the damage done to farming
The Chancellor of the Exchequer found time this week to edit her own page on the social media site LinkedIn.…
Get ready for Elon Musk’s sex robots
My old mucker Donald Trump’s return to the White House has predictably sent the woke brigade into hysteria. From posting…
Portrait of the week: Rising inflation, electric car targets and a tax on flatulent livestock
Home Thousands of farmers protested in Westminster against inheritance tax on farms. Tesco, Amazon, Greggs and 76 other chains belonging…
There was more to real-life gladiators than fighting
Many commentators have criticised the film Gladiator II on technical aspects of the fighting. But there was so much more…
The case against assisted suicide
Those in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill insist they’ve addressed critics’ principal concerns and that…
What Kemi Badenoch can learn from her enemies
Kemi Badenoch, in an act of unusual awareness for an MP, intends to learn from her own party’s mistakes as…
Nigel told me he’s the new Boris
Last week I arrived in London from the Cotswolds just in time to witness the collective meltdown from everyone around…
Portrait of the week: Justin Welby resigns, interest rates cut and Trump announces appointments
Home Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury, after not reporting to the authorities what he knew in 2013 of…
Who are the longest-serving Archbishops of Canterbury?
Arch rivals Justin Welby served longer as Archbishop of Canterbury than any of his four immediate predecessors, but others have…
Letters: How to argue with Trump voters
Unhealthy debate Sir: Matthew Parris is absolutely right to say that the time has come for facing populists with honest…
Portrait of the week: Trump’s victory, Kemi’s shadow cabinet and footballer killed by lightning
Home Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the Conservative party, appointed a shadow cabinet. She made Robert Jenrick, whom she…
The night I was turned away from the Ivy
How the mighty can fall. I was overwhelmed by the approbation I had received for my one-woman show, Behind the…
What Britain can learn from Donald Trump’s victory
This has been the year of ejection elections. Across the democratic world, incumbents have been thrown out and insurgents have…
Letters: What is the Chancellor trying to achieve?
Zero-sum game Sir: Though troubled by the impact of Budget measures on employers and economic growth, I am more baffled…
My bid to be chancellor of Oxford
I have spent the past couple of weeks in Oxford rediscovering the art of conversation while campaigning for election as…
