Press
The problem with Jeremy Corbyn’s populist media-loathing
The new leader walks across a bridge, in the dark, while the journalist asks him questions. He’s not shouting, this…
Jonathan Portes, master of the political correction
Jonathan Portes, master of the political correction
Ipso: 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,…
Matt Ridley’s diary: Why a Guardian contributor wants me beheaded
Martin Williams, former head of the government’s air quality science unit, has declared that the reason we have a problem…
How the other half of the press parties – a war correspondent’s letter from Washington
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 Mazher Mahmood
Undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, otherwise known as the Fake Sheikh, has been accused of dodgy dealing in luring the innocent…
Bourbon from Bush, envy from Nixon... and running into Herbert Hoover: encounters with eight presidents
Encounters with leaders of the free world – as a journalist, as a friend, and as a boy running in the hallway
Now that everyone’s a journalist, anyone can be sued
When everyone’s a potential journalist, it’s time to tame libel costs
Baghdad notebook: "Things were better in Saddam's time"
In the passport queue at Baghdad airport, my heart sinks. This place vies with Cairo for the title of most…
Ed Miliband’s problem isn’t his image. It’s us
That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was the cause…
At the Chiltern Firehouse, smugness should be on the menu
Here then is Gatsby’s house, after an invasion by the Daily Mail. It is called the Chiltern Firehouse. It is…
Peter McKay’s diary: Is Kate and William’s Scottish trip a pro-union initiative?
Having dampened local republican ardour during their recent tour of New Zealand and Australia, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…
Conrad Black’s diary: Why I won’t join the campaign against Rob Ford
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 proved 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…
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…
Billy Bragg's diary: The right does not own freedom
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…
Joan Collins’s notebook: Fighting libel and rude houseguests
I recently had to spend a great deal of time attempting to clear my name from a ludicrous assertion in…
Conrad Black’s farewell to the British press
The astonishing level of enthusiasm over the birth of the new prince goes far beyond the pleasure that people naturally…
Why partisan columnists (like me) are doomed
An email exchange with a Conservative-leaning friend this week left me feeling sheepish. But if shameful my behaviour be, I’m…
