Press
The problem with Corbyn’s hatred of the media
The new leader walks across a bridge, in the dark, while the journalist asks him questions. He’s not shouting, this…
Pedant’s revolt
Jonathan Portes, master of the political correction
This is Leveson’s legacy: a great new way for bullies to muzzle the press
One of the fundamental principles of English common law is that you are innocent until proven guilty. And rightly so,…
Diary
Martin Williams, former head of the government’s air quality science unit, has declared that the reason we have a problem…
Washington Notebook
This week has been all about the election, the US presidential election that is. It is 18 months away but…
It’s not Netanyahu’s fault that Jews in Europe are afraid
Have you seen the prices for houses in Israel? Astronomical, mate. You wouldn’t believe it. An arid and perpetually embattled…
Aristophanes on the Fake Sheikh
Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, otherwise known as the Fake Sheikh, has been accused of dodgy dealing in luring the innocent…
Eight presidents
Encounters with leaders of the free world – as a journalist, as a friend, and as a boy running in the hallway
This time it’s personal
When everyone’s a potential journalist, it’s time to tame libel costs
Baghdad notebook
In the passport queue at Baghdad airport, my heart sinks. This place vies with Cairo for the title of most…
A bacon bap isn’t Miliband’s problem. We are
That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was the cause…
Dinner with the paparazzi
Here then is Gatsby’s house, after an invasion by the Daily Mail. It is called the Chiltern Firehouse. It is…
Diary
Having dampened local republican ardour during their recent tour of New Zealand and Australia, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…
Diary
When visiting Britain and Australia last November, I discovered that the mayor of Toronto, Robert Ford, is now the world’s…
How the MPs’ expenses scandal proves the wisdom of Alain de Botton
Whenever I’m tempted to pretend to be nicer so that fewer people hate me, I remember my old friend Alain…
How being assaulted nearly put me on trial
Way back in the late 1990s, I spent a lot of time in court. What happened, see, was that in…
Diary
A great night to be in Pittsburgh. The local baseball team, the Pirates, were attempting to reach their first play-offs…
Welcome back, TSB: your founder’s spirit is alive and well and living in Airdrie
A big hello to the revived Trustee Savings Bank — the spin-off of 631 Lloyds branches that were going to…
St Tropez Notebook
I recently had to spend a great deal of time attempting to clear my name from a ludicrous assertion in…
Diary
The astonishing level of enthusiasm over the birth of the new prince goes far beyond the pleasure that people naturally…
Columnists are still partisan. Our readers aren’t
An email exchange with a Conservative-leaning friend this week left me feeling sheepish. But if shameful my behaviour be, I’m…
