The Week
The Afghan asylum leak cover-up saved lives
The United Kingdom’s immigration system is broken. Tens of thousands have entered the country who should not, and the bureaucracy…
What Aristotle would have made of Gregg Wallace
The BBC chef Gregg Wallace has been sacked for his objectionable behaviour over many years, but has blamed the BBC…
Letters: Let the King choose the Archbishop of Canterbury
Supreme idea Sir: My colleague Fergus Butler-Gallie is right about the deficiencies of the Church of England’s system for filling…
Orcas, dolphins and the ancient question of animal sentience
Killer whales have been seen offering titbits to divers – but as a gift or a lure? Plutarch (c. AD…
My P.G. Wodehouse summer
Normally I model myself on one of the more retiring of the Desert Fathers, as much as a man living…
Norman Tebbit was the symbol of an age
Norman Tebbit, who died this week aged 94, was a self-made man who shouldered his way to the top of…
Portrait of the week: Rachel Reeves cries, Rishi Sunak joins Goldman Sachs and a six-month bin strike
Home Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had given a theme to the week by sitting weeping behind Sir…
Letters: Why we need libraries
NHS origins Sir: Your leading article ‘Wes or bust’ (5 July) credited Labour with founding the NHS. In fact, the…
A book signing – or a mental breakdown?
The late John Updike once wrote an amusing article about signing books. This wasn’t at some literary event with a…
For the NHS, it’s Wes or bust
Labour swept to power on a pledge to ‘save the NHS’. As shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting said he would…
Letters: What public inquiries get wrong
Movers and shakers Sir: As a parish priest of 35 years, I read Francis Pike’s account of his supernatural experiences…
A Spartan’s guide to body shaming
Now that new drugs have allowed the government’s Fat Controller to celebrate a nation of skinnies – let us hope…
The abortion debate is as old as time
Now that parliament has decided to decriminalise abortion, it is interesting to see what the ancients made of the matter.…
Who wants to read an unemotional memoir?
On the hottest day of the year, St Pancras station would not have been my first choice for lunch, but…
Portrait of the week: Assisted dying, Israel vs Iran and Zelensky’s visit
Home MPs voted by a majority of 23 – 314 to 291 – for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of…
Let Kneecap play
During the Troubles, some 2,500 people were victims of kneecappings – punishment shootings, dished out by paramilitaries, for perceived crimes…
Letters: Israel’s attack on Iran was no surprise
Moral support Sir: All of Tim Shipman’s reasons for the PM’s reluctance to support Israel sound outwardly plausible, though, from…
Beware taking up running in your fifties
Over a hotel breakfast in Brisbane, I showed Sir Alan Hollinghurst my injuries. We’d met the previous week at the…
Portrait of the week: War in the Middle East, drought in Yorkshire and a knighthood for Beckham
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, announced a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs (which he had previously…
The unvarnished truth about rape gangs
Some crimes are so horrific that our instinct is to look away. And there can be few as appalling as…
What Seneca would have made of the assisted dying bill
Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill has generated much talk about the ethics of suicide. As far as the ancients were…
Letters: How lads’ mags spawned OnlyFans
Bad lads Sir: The articles on Britain’s relationship with porn were fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Fascinating in that…
Elon Musk and the art of flattery
Flattery will get you everywhere, as the sycophants that surround Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping know.…
