Politics
Inside the £2.9 million Downing Street press room
This afternoon ITV got the scoop they were all after – pictures of the elusive Downing Street press conference room. The…
My advice to Trump supporters? Smile and take it
New York There are times, living in this here dump, when I doubt if anyone’s heard of the word magnanimity.…
A cautionary tale about how democracy can subvert itself: Bunga Bunga reviewed
Italy has long captivated romantics from rainy, dreary, orderly northern Europe. Goethe, Stendhal, Keats and Shelley all flocked to Italy…
Enough plotlines to power several seasons of The West Wing: BBC1's Roadkill reviewed
Like many a political thriller before it, BBC1’s Roadkill began with a politician emerging into the daylight to face a…
The politics of hair dye
‘What are you going to put on my head to protect me?’ said the man outside the barber’s shop to…
How the Supreme Court became the ‘most dangerous branch’
From 1969 to today, presidents have appointed eighteen men and women to the U.S. Supreme Court. Of those eighteen justices,…
What angry young French men want
Chatting on the café terrace with my new friends Didier and Emile made me aware that certain political ideas, which…
Is left the new right?
I took a table on the terrace of the reopened bar and ordered une pression from the waitress. ‘Back to…
An 11-year-old’s birthday party was hijacked by Brexit
Saturday night we ate outside next to the floodlit rock face. Four adult guests came puffing up the path and…
In this strange new world, where do we find purpose?
Perhaps we are at least past the beginning of this crisis. The phase where the hunt for multipacks of loo-rolls…
How I fell out of love with the BBC
One of the many technological things I don’t understand is, how come I’m paying to watch television? I know why…
Oracles, perverts and the Dirtbag Left
For 500 years the State Oracle of Tibet has worked as a kind of angry immortal advisor to the Dalai…
Radio 4's new H.P. Lovecraft adaptation will give you the chills
Of all the many things I’ve learned from the radio so far this decade, the most deranging is that the……
Benjamin Disraeli — inventor of English political fiction
For our fractured times, the release of Disraeli’s Sybil in unabridged audio, narrated with the respect it deserves by Tim…
The Middle East for dummies
Gstaad The French have a saying: ‘Il n’y a rien de plus bête que le sourire du gagnant.’ In…
How the Conservative strategy is faring across the country
It’s the week of the election and Boris Johnson is to spend the final days of the campaign visiting every…
I’ve finally found out the truth about my horse-riding nemesis
She was a trade union activist, she told me. She wanted a second referendum. Well, they all do. I’m starting…
Dear Mary: What should I do about a Lib Dem friend who can no longer take a joke?
Q. I sent a WhatsApp message to a Lib Dem friend of 15 years. ‘How are you finding being a…
General de Gaulle’s advice to the young Queen Elizabeth
There were so many ear-catching moments in Peter Hennessy’s series for Radio 4, Winds of Change, adapted from his new…
Funny, short and cheap to stage, Hansard is an excellent bet for a transfer
Hansard is the debut play by actor Simon Woods, who enjoys a deep knowledge of his subject. The characters are…
I have no clue what’s going on, but can’t wait to find out: BBC1’s The Capture reviewed
How did the police ever solve any crimes before CCTV? That was the question which sprang to mind watching the…
Watching Stephen Fry was like being in the presence of a god
Stephen Fry lies prone on an empty stage. A red ball rolls in from the wings and bashes him in…
How did Richard Braine become Dick Braine?
Name calling Richard Braine was appointed leader of Ukip, leading to jokes about the party being led by a ‘Dick…
Let’s choose our politicians by random selection
Athens Standing right below the Acropolis, where pure democracy began because public officials were elected by lot, I try to…
Reshuffling ministers annually is no way to govern
‘Annual reshuffles are crazy,’ remarked one of the prime minister’s most trusted advisers in July 1999 as I hovered outside…
