The pleasures of reading aloud
pkkkfffffffrrrffff-ffff! pkkkfffffffrrrffff-fff! Hobble leg, hobble leg, Hobble leg owhmmm! Into the bottle of fluff, rubbed the stuff under! pkkkfffffffrrrffff-ffff! pkkkfffffffrrrffff-fff!…
Buzzing bees and chocolate trees
It is estimated that the world’s insects perform an annual pollination service for all humankind worth $215 billion. In return,…
Two small boys in the sea
An estimated 400,000 people drown annually worldwide, 50 per cent of them children. Roughly 150 drownings occur in the UK.…
High life
New York I’d gladly exchange waistlines with him if he’d teach me to cut a phrase the way he…
Inmates and Islamism
In response to the Westminster attack, a 100-strong new counter-extremism taskforce has been announced to deal with the terrorist threat…
War-war, not jaw-jaw
It’s often said that the Trump administration is ‘isolationist’. This is not true. In fact, we are now witnessing a…
My towering problem
Why don’t tall people get the same sympathy as short people? Everyone feels sorry for minnows, cutting them slack when…
Trump’s plan for Pyongyang
On several foreign policy issues, Donald Trump has mellowed since taking office. His administration still has concerns about the Iran…
In defence of Ken
We never loved each other, Ken Livingstone and I. We first clashed in public more than a decade ago, and…
Business/Robbery etc
How’s this for the ‘balance and objectivity’ that the United States Studies Centre claims to provide as an ‘objective and…
Battlelines drawn on free speech
With the Senate voting down the Coalition’s proposed reforms to section 18C, the battle lines for free speech have now…
Judging Turnbull
Recently, Malcolm Turnbull has from time to time tried to act like the centre-right leader of a centre-right government, which…
The sinister sharia sisterhood
‘Ayaan Hirsi (is) asking 4 an a$$ whippin’. I wish I could take (her) vagina away – (she doesn’t) deserve…
A fight to the finish
The Senate’s blocking of the government’s attempted modification of Section 18C indicates that there is something drastically wrong with the…
Gay Marriage Notes
Kudos to Tim Wilson (to whom I don’t, as a rule, give kudos) for defending Mark Allaby’s right to be…
Low life
My brother and I were taking a short cut through an alleyway and saw a copper coming towards us through…
An historic
Everybody’s saying it, even though the latest research declares that only 6 per cent of the population is given to…
Real life
‘Information,’ came the reply. ‘We want information.’ The voice echoed in my head. Oh no. Oh please God, no. A…
Meritocracy isn’t fair
I’ve just made a programme for Radio 4 about the populist revolts that swept Britain and America last year. Were…
All hail the new taxi-card revolution
From October last year, it was compulsory for all London black cabs to accept payment by card. London cabbies aren’t…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya For weeks the farm has been in the eye of a storm, with violence swirling all around…
Barometer
Nice littler earners Cressida Dick, the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, will take a voluntary pay cut from £270,000…
Diary
Donald Trump’s Washington is a city of many secrets, but no mysteries. So much about the Trump-Putin story remains unknown,…
Regressive Conservatism
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party is coming to resemble a drunk trying to get home on a bike.…
