Cardinal memories
Just over three years have passed since the death of George Cardinal Pell. The publication of this tome, which Tracey…
Baton of iron
The Choral Directed by Nicholas Hytner Starring Taylor Uttley, Ralph Fiennes, Mark Addy, Carolyn Pickles. If it were in a…
From terra nullius to terror Australis
The demonisation of settler colonialism underlies the left’s antisemitism
Celluloid nostalgia for lost worlds
There’s a poignancy in turning back the clock to the Fifties and early-Sixties. Everyone remembers Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday,…
Kiwi life
How very odd that former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern should have led the stampede exiting this year’s now-aborted…
Language
In a column in the Daily Telegraph Andrew Bolt used the word ‘pretendian’. I conducted a careful search, and so…
Robert Jenrick: Why I defected to Reform
Those pondering why Robert Jenrick defected to Reform UK have focused on the political momentum of Nigel Farage or the…
Donald Trump’s Putinist view of history
Donald Trump’s long-standing and ever more ardent desire to own Greenland helps explain his attitude to Putin. Putin used cod…
The lost brilliance of football’s Pink ’Un newspapers
If you can remember Pink ’Un newspapers and the days when FA Cup shocks really were shocks, then God bless…
Dear Mary: How do I get guests to help with the washing up?
Q. My daughter is temporarily living abroad and we communicate daily on WhatsApp. She’s always desperate for any local news/gossip…
Portrait of the week: Jenrick sacked, Chinese super-embassy approved and Trump makes a grab for Greenland
Home President Donald Trump of the United States made Britain and other countries dance to his tune. Sir Keir Starmer,…
A restaurant so perfect I hesitated to review it
Sometimes you find it, H.G. Wells’s door in the wall, but to tapas: a restaurant so perfect you hesitate to…
Are you ‘marred’ or ‘mired’ in scandal?
My husband made a noise which he thinks is like a klaxon but sounds as if he is choking on…
The Tories and Reform should present a united front
In the summer of 1643, as the dispute between Charles I and parliament raged on, Sir William Waller wrote to…
Which royals have appeared in court?
Political frenemies Nigel Farage accepted Robert Jenrick into Reform UK in spite of having previously called him a ‘fraud’ (for…
Arctic role: what does Trump really want from Greenland?
Donald Trump has probably not read Machiavelli, even the short one, The Prince. Machiavelli’s most famous advice was that it’s…
The Chinese takeover of Britain’s public schools
Roedean is now known as ‘Beijing High’. Cheltenham Ladies’ College is ‘Hong Kong College’. In the country’s most elite boarding…
The EU vs the farmers
It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the European Union. There was the news from Donald Trump that he…
The real reason Farage wants Kemi gone
The invitation came from Ewan Venters, a Scot who currently steers the Paul Smith brand, and the venue was Angela…
The allure of Reform
Kemi Badenoch’s travails with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party have taken me back to the politics of the 1980s and…
