Portrait of the week: Theresa May’s new role, England’s cricket victory and the world’s steepest street
Home In a televised debate between the rivals for election by members of the Conservative party as their new leader…
Nick Robinson: I’ve underestimated Boris ever since our Oxford clashes
By this time next week the Johnson era will surely have begun. ‘We can, we will, we must now escape…
When will man make it to Mars?
Mars missions When will there be a manned Mars mission? — As early as 1962, Nasa studied the practicalities of…
Roman plebs would have known how to tackle Corbyn’s cabal
Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to take serious action against Labour’s anti-Semitic members is no surprise: Marxists know who their friends are.…
Letters: Melissa Kite saved my life – twice
Leave we must Sir: It is interesting that as the Brexit process drags, people become more distanced from what was…
What would Jane Austen say about Debrett’s going digital?
Seventy-five years ago on Saturday, the July plot failed. Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg placed a bomb in a briefcase…
Will ‘chairman Boris’ revive cabinet government?
It has become something of a tradition in British politics: an incoming prime minister promises to restore proper cabinet government.…
The ethnicity pay gap just doesn’t add up
I suppose it was a bit naive to wander on to Newsnight having been booked to talk about Brexit and…
We Remainers aren’t going away
My voice is often recognised by people who don’t know me. My face, which is unmemorable, less so. But once…
The best response to hate speech is free speech
There’s a broad mainstream consensus on both sides of the Atlantic: Trump’s tweet telling four hard-left minority Congresswomen to ‘go…
Should we all be alarmed by Boris?
Back when Boris Johnson was editor of this magazine and MP for Henley, I was with him at a Tory…
Cutting out Corbyn: could Tom Watson’s centrist ‘Momentum’ save Labour?
Ever since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party, many of his MPs have dreamed of deposing…
I’m a doctor, and tried the new GP app. My experience was terrifying
Everyone agrees something dramatic has to be done to help the NHS. It is crumbling and the canary in the…
The hypocrisy of our politicians’ support for press freedom
Cynical old hacks like me have been amused by the chorus of establishment applause for the Mail on Sunday’s great…
Varadkar’s backstop gamble could cost Ireland dearly
‘The government has relished wearing the green jersey on Brexit and standing up to the British with the help of…
Why are there so few Polish people on British TV?
Have you ever seen a Pole on British television? Poles are the biggest immigrant group in Britain, numbering between 900,000…
Dangly earrings, hugs and controversy: here comes the new Bishop of Dover
East Kent is bracing itself. Its Church of England clergy are enjoying their last quiet months before Rose Hudson-Wilkin arrives…
Why nail-biting sports matches are good for mental health
Why do we need tie-breaks and photo finishes? If competitors have been nip-and-tuck all the way, why can’t they just…
The charm – and artifice – of the English cottage garden
The confusion is understandable. You arrive at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, keen to experience the quintessential cottage garden —…
Words of war: interviews with the children who survived Hitler’s invasion of Russia
In 1990s Russia, war veterans were a bossy, even aggressive presence, upbraiding people in shops and pushing to the front…
Andreï Makine’s new novel is ‘masterful’
The Siberian-born novelist Andreï Makine has, as we say in the book world, a shedload of French literary bling. He’s…
How to train your husband
Around 25 years ago it became clear that there existed only two groups that could still be bullied by journalists…
It’s time we treated the moon with some respect
At the very back of the eye is a cluster of cells called ipRGCs. They are cells that don’t depend…
All of nature in a village in Norfolk
Walking home from work one day during the half-year I lived in London’s Maida Vale (almost three decades ago now),…
The problem of being, and writing
The venerable Oxford philologist Max Müller held that ‘mythology, which was the bane of the ancient world, is in truth…
