The Week
Google is part of the free press. So hands off, Prime Minister
It is not quite clear what Google did to David Cameron, but the Prime Minister seems to be exacting some…
Portrait of the week
Home The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a boy, weighing 8lb 6oz, an heir to the crown, third in…
Douglas Murray’s diary: My gay wedding dance-off with Julie Burchill
The pilot refuses to get going until everyone is seated and quiet. When we take off there are raucous cheers.…
Letters: The EU diplomats hit back at Norman Lamont
EU diplomacy Sir: Lord Lamont’s article ‘The EU’s scandalous new army of overpaid diplomats’ (Politics, 20 July) revisits his oft-repeated…
Plato on the Today programme
A woman is invited to join the Today programme, and the chatteratae are immediately a-twitter on the subject of female…
Leader: Ring-fencing the NHS is only making matters worse
According to popular wisdom on the left — and even among some in the Conservative party — this ought to have been…
Portrait of the week
Home Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, put into ‘special measures’ 11 hospitals among the 14 with the worst death rates…
Nigel Farndale’s diary: The dread moment when they announce next year's school fees
Next time I’m in a sauna I’m going to say: ‘It’s like a school sports hall on prize day in…
Barometer
Running scared Three participants were gored at the Pamplona bull run. The event has reputation for danger, but how risky…
Letters: The Met Office answers Rupert Darwall, and a defence of Bolívar
Wild weather Sir: Weather and climate science is not an emotional or political issue — even though emotions and politics run…
Why Egypt needs a Socrates
No one seems to know, or is willing to say, whether the Egyptian army’s intervention in Egyptian democracy was legal…
Why Ed Miliband should stop paying his union dues
Ed Miliband’s relationship with Len McCluskey was defined in a brief camera shot at the Labour party conference in 2010.…
Portrait of the week
Home There was a fine game of hunt-the-issue over the process to find a replacement, as parliamentary candidate in Falkirk,…
Diary
The frantic promotion of the proposed HS2 rail line — a white elephant in the making — is a reminder…
Barometer
Family games Andy Murray said that as a child he lived in the shadow of his elder brother Jamie, who…
Ancient and modern: Socrates on TV election debates
Lord Hennessy has been arguing that, as a result of TV debates between party leaders prior to elections, ‘the plausible…
Letters: MPs’ salaries, Ruby the Heartstealer, and how to avoid washing up
Tax breaks for families Sir: Hugo Rifkind is wrong to imply (6 July) that the current income tax system is indifferent…
Egypt shows us that elections aren’t enough
Democracy and holding elections are not the same thing. There could be no better demonstration of this than the experience…
Portrait of the week
Home Business confidence in Britain was at its highest level since 2007, according to a survey by the British Chambers…
Christopher Sykes’s diary: David Hockney, Bridlington lobster, and the risks of a third martini
I began my week with a trip to Bridlington, the closest seaside town to my childhood home. ‘Brid’, as it’s…
Common enemies
One assumes that it will eventually dawn on those so deeply committed to slaughtering each other in Syria that, whatever…
Barometer
A place of greater safety CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden has claimed asylum in 21 countries. How do whistleblowers fare in…
Letters: Sir Peter Lampl replies to Charles Moore, and the memories of a wasteful GP
Medical waste Sir: Susan Hill’s article (‘Patient, heal thyself’, 29 June) dealt only with the unnecessary visits to GPs for…
