The Week
Who will have more informants: the Stasi or Covid marshals?
Information overload The government’s plan to put ‘Covid wardens’ on the streets to enforce the new rule against more than…
Letters: In defence of seagulls
China’s covered Sir: If Charles Moore had contacted the BBC, rather than conducting a fruitless Google search, we would have…
Racism and the destructive power of language
Pursuing last week’s theme, this week’s column raises the question: if there is no such thing as ‘race’ — since…
Portrait of the week: new laws, illegal mingling and bungled tests
Home At one minute past midnight on Monday, new laws came into force prohibiting households in England increasing their numbers…
Labour’s identity crisis
On the face of it, there could scarcely be better conditions for a revival of the Labour party. Even before…
The Oscars’ self-defeating identity politics
I moved to this country from the USA 30 years ago and this year I’ve finally understood why: it was…
Letters: Why does No.10 seem so oblivious to the threat of Scottish independence?
Referendum risk Sir: James Forsyth’s excellent analysis (‘To save the Union, negotiate independence’, 5 September) has one flaw: it is…
Ministers need to defy the instinct to lockdown
One of the many ironies of the past few months is that young people, while least affected by the virus,…
Why Covid could be Britain’s new Crimea
This is a very British story. Because we Brits are often warlike but never militaristic, we often make a balls-up…
Portrait of the week: banned gatherings, stopped presses, and Frogmore’s refurbishment
Home Gatherings of more than six people from more than one household were made a crime in England from 14…
The Romans weren’t racist
Rod Liddle has questioned whether Ms Jolly, chief librarian of the British Library, was right to say that whites invented…
How important is coffee to Britain?
Lyrical errors ‘Rule, Britannia!’ begins with the lines: ‘When Britain first, at heaven’s command/Arose from out the azure main.’ —…
My run-in with the New York Times
It’s never a good sign when you’re watching a scene of street terror in yet another gut-churning YouTube video and…
How Boris can get Britain back to work
This week was built up by the Prime Minister to be the moment that would mark the return of economic…
Letters: The growing cladding crisis
Cladding fear Sir: Emma Byrne’s report on the cladding scandal (‘Ill clad’, 29 August) will have given many of those…
Portrait of the week: Case takes over civil service, Zoom profits rocket and Ocado adopts M&S
Home Simon Case, aged 41, the private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge 2018-20, was appointed Cabinet Secretary and Head…
From the archive: With the Benedictines
From 18 October 1946: Their whole aim and object is to exemplify in their lives and corporate activity their sense…
Who first committed ‘cultural appropriation’?
Culture clashes The pop star Adele was accused of ‘cultural appropriation’ for adopting a Jamaican hairstyle for the online Notting…
Museums need wonder, not wokery
The British Museum’s aim is to use its collection ‘for the benefit and education of humanity’. If that manifests itself…
Letters: Why do we need beavers?
It’s not about money Sir: Professor Tombs criticises Alex Massie (Letters, 22 August) for ignoring evidence when the latter claims…
Andrew Marr: Scotland is slipping away from the Union
Staying in Britain for the summer has been, in many ways, entirely glorious. We have zigzagged from Shropshire through Derbyshire…
The Romans wouldn’t have understood our exam obsession
Many commentators have argued that the recent grading controversy indicates just how important public examinations are. Up to a point,…
Tanking the tanks could be a big mistake
That an abundance of tanks is no guarantee of a happy and secure nation was evident from the Soviet Union’s…
The BBC tradition of trying to remove patriotic songs from Last Night
About Last Night It was suggested that the BBC might ‘decolonise’ the Last Night of the Proms by removing ‘Rule,…
Portrait of the week: BBC drops songs, museum drops Sloane, and KFC and John Lewis drop slogans
Home Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, made pupils wear face-coverings in school corridors. It didn’t take long for…
