Boris Johnson: Perhaps my campaign was ‘clunking’. But sometimes, clunking is what you need
You may wonder why I am up at 4.45 a.m. writing this diary when I have a country to run, Queen’s…
What did psychics predict was going to happen in 2019?
Bah humbug Some of the things reported to have been banned this Christmas: — Mulled wine banned from being sold…
It’s science, not protest, that will save the planet
One might expect that the challenge of climate change would encourage many young people to take up Stem (science, technology,…
A coalowner on coal
From 16 June 1866: Mr Stanley Jevons, Mr Mill, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are all agreed that there is…
Letters: Should conservatives be worried that high-spending Boris has a majority?
My father’s imprisonment Sir: Harald Maass’s piece on the plight of Uyghurs in China (‘A cultural genocide’, December 14) captures…
The mysteries of the Corbyn world-view
It is worth fixing for posterity the feelings which, on polling day, swirled in the breasts of many who wanted…
Indyref2 could be the biggest headache of Boris’s premiership
Nicola Sturgeon is the only opposition leader who survived the general election. She has emerged far stronger. The Tories had…
Caroline Flint could have beaten Boris
There were not many moments of gloom on election night. I spent most of it, so far as I can…
Why I changed my mind about Catholicism
I grew up in a traditional English family, surrounded by cousins, chivvied by aunts, presided over by my grandmother, who…
Labour’s failure isn’t necessarily the Tories’ success
A moment arrives when one does just have to admit defeat. We shall leave the European Union and there isn’t…
The persecution (and vindication) of Kevin Myers is a parable of our times
It seems seasonably suitable to celebrate good news. Unfortunately, as in most serviceable stories, for something good to happen, something…
The new trend for ‘gender reveal’ parties sums up the mood of the past decade
OMG, the end of the decade is almost here, which means it’s time to start reflecting on what on earth…
My 2019: mice, Marrakesh and a fond farewell to my dear friend Christopher Booker
Another year over and it wasn’t all bad, you know. Here are some of my personal highlights. Best birthday parties:…
Neil Woodford could do the washing-up at my fantasy Christmas lunch
It’s the season for kindness and conviviality. In that spirit — and recognising that business, like personal life, rarely follows…
Boris’s Britain: How the PM intends to deliver for his new friends in the North
The era of uncertainty has ended. Boris Johnson’s decisive victory has not only broken the Brexit deadlock created by Theresa…
Joan Collins: I’m an actress, not an actor. And yes, it matters
I recently tried to put my profession down as ‘actress’ on Instagram, but the only option available from the drop-down…
The best Christmas gift you can give yourself is to learn some poetry by heart
Every Christmas I find I am living in the past. I blame my father. He was born in 1910 —…
Comedy in the era of Twitter outrage: An interview with Ricky Gervais
There’s a moment in Ricky Gervais’s 2018 Netflix stand-up show Humanity when he talks about buying a first-class air ticket,…
Andrew Marr: Twitter fooled everyone during this election
It’s an unfashionable thought, but having spent many hours in the university sports hall where constituency votes for Boris Johnson…
Islam’s reformation: an Arab-Israeli alliance is taking shape in the Middle East
When Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman in 2018 in a gesture of goodwill to Israel’s neighbours, the welcome was not universal.…
Petronella Wyatt: The time I saw Boris cry
Boris Johnson is nothing like Churchill, a view with which my friend Andrew Roberts concurs. But in the 20-odd years…
‘I aspire to write for posterity’: An interview with Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard is Britain’s — perhaps the world’s — leading playwright. Born Tomas Straussler in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, in 1937,…
Corbyn’s problem was not that the media hated him – but that he hated the media
On the morning of the election, we buried my lovely mum. I write this 24 hours later, now on a…
This year, I’m performing all 32 of Beethoven’s sonatas. Here’s why
For the past several decades, little in my life as a professional pianist has been as constant as my relationship…
Words to live by from Saint John Henry Newman
On 13 October, John Henry Newman, a distinguished and distinctive Englishman, was officially declared a Saint. A well-known saying of…
