Housing
Don’t listen to those who tell you America is over
What has gone wrong for Americans? To listen to an increasing number of politicians and pundits on both sides, from…
Labour’s war on heritage
Britain’s heritage is slowly going up in smoke. Medlock Mill was Manchester’s oldest standing textile mill until it burnt down…
Should you leave the country? Other questions for 2025
I was intending to write one of those ‘Ten tips to change your life’ lists that fill so many column…
How can Ireland survive the seismic changes of the past three decades?
Historians in Ireland occupy a public role – unlike in Britain, where those with an inclination towards the commentariat usually…
How hot is too hot to work?
Gold standard The Paralympics were instigated in 1948 and first held alongside the Olympics in Rome in 1960. But disabled…
Letters: you can have a ‘good’ divorce
Splitting the difference Sir: Hannah Moore’s article ‘Split personalities’ (27 July) is brutal. ‘There’s no such thing as a kind…
Beware the bat police
My friend Andrew is angry. He has just had the bat people round to look at his building project in…
Save our grey belt!
While working as a callow speechwriter for the Labour party in the mid-1980s, I suggested to a member of the…
What the Tories got wrong on housing
Sir Keir Starmer may be our first atheist prime minister, but his manner in parliament resembles that of what, in…
How Elon Musk could solve the housing crisis
People sometimes ask me why I don’t go into politics. Why on earth would I do that? No, if you…
Unless the Treasury is tamed, there’s no solution to Britain’s problems
Two left-wing political analysts seek to bury the whole economic approach taken by the Conservatives since 2010 – or perhaps even 1979
Live the high life… in a mid rise
How radically left-wing is Labour’s proposed ‘renationalisation’ of the railways? Though militant Mick Lynch of the RMT union ‘strongly welcomed…
Louis XIV would envy your life
Some things in life acquire an outsize popularity which defies all common sense. The outlandish appeal of such things cannot…
Who uses Grindr?
Meet market Who uses the gay dating app Grindr? – The site claims 27m users worldwide, 80.5% of whom identify…
I’m not convinced Thomas Heatherwick is the best person to be discussing boring buildings
Architects are often snobby about – and no doubt jealous of – the designer Thomas Heatherwick, who isn’t an actual…
Flat broke
Help to Buy has been a disaster for me
It’s time for some home truths, Rishi
I wonder how many people in the country are bitterly disappointed that Liz Truss pulled out of her exciting one-to-one…
Britain is a vetocracy
England is in the grip of its most widespread drought in 20 years. Water companies are implementing hosepipe bans. Half…
The Tories will pay a price for Boris’s housing strategy
One of the themes of Conservative conference was that the government has dropped plans for a radical reform of the…
Letters
Driving force Sir: As a long-distance UK lorry driver I am very aware of the issues raised by Rodney Pittam…
Letters
Treading the boards Sir: As a teacher, I was sorry Lloyd Evans did not include school productions in his excellent…
Letters
Excess demand Sir: Liam Halligan (‘The house mafia’, 26 June) treats us to an exposé of the shoddy products of…
The political baggage of moving house
We are currently house-hunting — please let me know if you have one going spare. We are looking for a…
