World
The master Kyè
Last month we took a quick trip to Tuscany. Among the wines we sampled was Sassicaia, the fabled Cabernet blend…
Memories of childhood snow days
I must have seen it in a movie, one of the old black and white ones: jovial carolers coming into…
The joy of Boxing Day football
Whether it’s food, music or movies, this time of the year is all about traditions. To my mind, there are…
Beware the middle of Lidl
If you’re a regular, or even an occasional, customer at Lidl, you’ll know what to expect. Own-brand foodstuffs that shamelessly…
Why the King’s speech still matters
Later today, the King will address the nation, as he has annually since he acceded the throne in September 2022.…
Life and death on the hospital ward at Christmas
Most people shudder at the thought of working on Christmas Day. Not me. I’ve worked as a hospital doctor since…
When will the BBC stop adapting Julia Donaldson books?
Another Christmas, another BBC adaptation of a Julia Donaldson story. This time it’s an animated version of Tiddler, the story…
The ancient depictions of the Nativity in England’s churches
For hundreds of years, the 12 days of Christmas have been a significant highlight of the English religious year. In the…
The plight facing Gaza’s Christians
On a steamy August morning in 2019, I went to Sunday mass in Gaza city’s Church of the Holy Family.…
Gaffe-prone Labour spend £17,000 on media training
Well, well, well. It now transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party has spent thousands of pounds on media training…
Labour is out of its depth with electric cars
When Vauxhall announced the closure of its Luton plant a few weeks ago it seemed that the government had finally…
South Africa dreams of a black Christmas
It’s 38C outside and I’m in a Johannesburg hypermarket owned by the Pick n Pay chain, one of the biggest…
Let’s hope Donald Trump doesn’t mess it up
There’s been a ‘vibe shift’. After the resounding victory at the recent US election, at long last things are changing,…
Australia’s godless Christmas
As Christmas comes around again, we will discover that Australia is no longer a Christian country. According to the most…
Why this Jew loves Christmas
Merry Christmas – or perhaps, I should say, Season’s Greetings. The festive period can be something of a minefield for…
How Santa came to recruit his elves
The Christmas elf is so familiar now that it could easily be the first character you think of when you…
A Christmas Carol is the gift that keeps on giving
It was November 1843, two years after Prince Albert first introduced Britain to the tradition of the Christmas tree. Charles…
Giorgio Perlasca’s Christmas in wartime Budapest
Artillery boomed over the Buda hills, the flashes of explosions slicing through the freezing winter dusk. The crack of rifle…
Reform is rattling the establishment
Everyone is talking about Reform: Rachel Reeves complains that Nigel Farage ‘doesn’t have a clue’ how to make the economy…
Wales exam board removes Steinbeck book from curriculum
In some rather strange news this festive season, it transpires that the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) has banned John…
The winners and losers in the fight to keep the government open
As the clock ticked down late Friday night, the US House and Senate finally passed a stopgap funding bill to…
What happened to ‘growth, growth, growth’?
This is hardly how 2024 was supposed to end for Labour. Free from the shackles of ‘14 years of Tory…
How much trouble is Rachel Reeves in?
Christmas may be two days away but there is little reason for cheer in 11 Downing Street. The Chancellor faces…
Mandelson is the wrong man, at the wrong time
Donald Trump’s campaign manager Chris LaCivita hardly minced his words on hearing that Peter Mandelson had been appointed as the British ambassador to…
Should AI be allowed to train itself off this column?
If you’re a writer, should AI companies be allowed to use your work to train their models without your permission?…
