It’s university open day season
It hasn’t been the same since the twins said they’ve just turned 18, and need a lift to the university.…
Why the UK hasn’t presented any specific, backstop proposal to the EU
The EU side regularly points out that the UK government hasn’t presented any detailed proposals on what it wants to…
Heroes saved us, politicians blamed the wrong culprit
“HEROES SAVE US” – That’s the headline on our local Noosa paper, superimposed over a dramatic photograph of a lone…
Corbyn is the only unthinkable outcome in this political crisis
For something that has yet to and may never happen, Brexit has reordered the fundamentals of British politics in just…
Gladys Liu and the danger of being everything to everyone
I don’t know Gladys Liu from a bar of soap, so I have no idea whether she has any compromising…
Britain’s jobs miracle proves there is no reason to fear technology
Another week, another set of economic figures that suggest the country is showing remarkable resilience while politics implodes. Rather than…
Portrait of the week: The Speaker resigns, BA pilots strike and Mugabe dies
Home A bill sponsored by Hilary Benn and supported by Alistair Burt and other dissident Tories was passed — becoming…
George Osborne: I tried to swap jobs with William Hague
I could be that rare thing: a former chancellor who is still a member of the Conservative party. Philip Hammond…
Does the outcome of the Ashes dictate who wins a general election?
Party speak Should the next Speaker of the House of Commons be a Labour MP on the basis that John…
Tacitus knew how to handle stories from ‘insiders’ and ‘sources’
We read much about ‘fake news’ these days and of efforts to rid the internet of it. But what of…
Letters: There is more to village life than shutters, benches and paint
Shambles at sea Sir: On 19 July Iranian Republican Guard forces captured the UK flagged tanker Stena Impero, as described…
Will turning the Tories into the pro-Leave party pay off for Boris?
An election might still be months away, but the parties have already made their big strategic choices. The Tories and…
Theresa May’s honours list makes me sick
The BBC featured a gay wedding on Songs of Praise recently. Of course it did. The thinking was, I assume:…
Britain’s political system is broken. America’s isn’t
American liberals perceive it as a jarring inconsistency: my opposition to Trump and support for Brexit. Especially outside the UK,…
The appalling vanity of Western feminists who think Margaret Atwood writes about them
Imagine a country where women have no jobs, no rights and are valued only for reproductive success. Imagine a country…
WeWork is no more than an overhyped and overstretched landlord
Long ago in my investment banking days I had a glimpse into the mind of the British Airways long-haul pilot.…
The rebel alliance has taken control of parliament – and Brexit. What happens next?
Every Monday, a group of unlikely bedfellows meet in Jeremy Corbyn’s parliamentary office. Jo Swinson, Liberal Democrat leader; Ian Blackford,…
Boris has more in common with Corbyn than he thinks
Boris Johnson’s opponents love to accuse him of using the ‘Trump playbook’. Some on the left have become so obsessed…
Why is everyone on Facebook so paranoid about their privacy?
There’s a line in Desperately Seeking Susan where Madonna (Susan) reads aloud the diary of Roberta, the bored housewife she…
Pericles for PM: Boris should forget Augustus and stay focused on his hero
Boris Johnson is a gung-ho classicist. He has supported the subject throughout his journalistic and political career, is a generous…
Katharine Gun: the spy who tried to stop the Iraq war
In his memoir of office, Decision Points, George W. Bush writes about going to see Tony Blair in the Azores…
For the first time since 1171, Ireland has more power than England
Watching Boris Johnson in Dublin, where he came to ask Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to get him out of a hole,…
American universities are fuelled by amphetamines – so I tried them
New York A biography of Freud to my left, a black leather lounger to my right. We were 30 minutes…
Inside the unassuming house where the Brontës’ creativity thrived
‘Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?’ Jane Eyre asks Mr…
No one held Susan Sontag in higher esteem than she did: Her Life reviewed
Towards the end of this tale of imperial intellectual expansion, Susan Sontag’s publicist goes to visit his shrink and, dealing…
