Diary
Holy hellfire: the Law of Unintended Consequences struck me out of right field for the first full week of the…
All aboard!
Brother, can you spare me a train? Or maybe just a Pullman carriage or two? There are so many brilliant…
Love-making in Water
Seals — well, they rhyme with steel — can stand the cold. And they can even dive and mate at…
Love-making in Water
Seals — well, they rhyme with steel — can stand the cold. And they can even dive and mate at…
Flowers of Stellenbosch
One aspect of the old South Africa’s racial policies cannot be faulted. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,…
Veterans’ day
As part of the after-dinner entertainment on a cruise ship recently, I encountered a couple of comedians. One claimed he…
A touch of class
Usually it is annoying when you have to board an aeroplane via a shuttle bus rather than an airbridge. The…
All aboard!
Brother, can you spare me a train? Or maybe just a Pullman carriage or two? There are so many brilliant…
A trio of gems
Jewels is everything a George Balanchine admirer could ask for. The sumptuous triptych, set to scores by Fauré, Stravinsky and…
Born to rule
Depending on how you look at it, the Chinese Communist Party is either the last non-ridiculous bastion of Marxism, an…
House prices are going up again. I fear this is not going to end well
It’s senseless to ask how things are going to end, because things as a general rule don’t. They rumble on,…
Ukip are playing it safe – so they’ve rejected me
So farewell then £80,000 salary, £150,000 expense account, secretary, team of assistants, constituency office, first-class travel, immunity from prosecution, Brussels…
Causes and effects
When spending money is declared to be a good in itself, it is certain that much of it will be…
Portrait of the week
Home Retail sales enjoyed their fastest July growth in seven years, thanks to demand for beer, sun cream, swimwear and…
Diary
Hay-making was easy this year, and over in good time for a holiday. I am opposed to holidays, having worked…
Epictetus on Twitter
One definition of addiction is repetition of a behaviour despite adverse consequences. Twitter users will know all about it, especially…
Barometer
Other people’s rocks Spain threatened to introduce a €40 border-crossing charge and find other ways of making life difficult for…
Is the EU stopping Britain’s shale revolution?
A few months after the last election, Oliver Letwin warned Cabinet colleagues that a chunk of Britain’s income would be…
It’s not hate that Caitlin Moran can’t stand. It’s being disagreed with
Hell, it’s been tough, but I think I’ve pulled through. I went out this morning to buy some cigarettes and…
Must we celebrate gay weddings twice?
Apparently I’ve proposed to my civil partner. He claims that on BBC Radio 2, on the Jeremy Vine show (he…
Every little helps as the big banks continue to clean up their act
By and large it was a good week for the big banks — underpinned by encouraging news from the wider…
Letters
In defence of bats Sir: I am saddened by the ‘us versus them’ stance taken by Melissa Kite (‘Bats vs…