Social media

The dismal rise of the modern elopement

15 August 2020 9:00 am

I didn’t realise how attached I was to the traditional British wedding — the whole messy, pricey, drunken business —…

How many people would refuse a Covid vaccine?

25 July 2020 9:00 am

Worth a shot? How worried should we be about people refusing to have a Covid-19 vaccine if one is developed?…

facebook

Facebook is right. Twitter is wrong

29 May 2020 7:46 am

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey opened up a Pandora’s box two days ago by dropping a fact-check on a tweet by…

Fake news is spreading faster than the virus

9 May 2020 9:00 am

The uncontainable spread of fake coronavirus news

I've lost patience with podcasts and their presenters

24 April 2020 11:00 pm

‘To be recognised and accepted by a peregrine,’ wrote J.A. Baker in 1967, ‘you must wear the same clothes, travel…

twitter

Twitter is manipulating the election

10 March 2020 9:17 am

Twitter announced last month it would start flagging content the company and moderators decided was manipulated to deceive their users.…

TikTok is the world’s fastest-growing – and goofiest – digital platform, but should we fear it?

18 January 2020 9:00 am

In November last year, an internet video made by a 17-year-old American went viral. The video was less than a…

The new trend for ‘gender reveal’ parties sums up the mood of the past decade

21 December 2019 9:00 am

OMG, the end of the decade is almost here, which means it’s time to start reflecting on what on earth…

Be more carthorse: why we would all benefit from a little self-loathing

16 November 2019 9:00 am

Leaving the auditorium of the Royal Opera House last week after The Sleeping Beauty, I passed a woman taking selfie…

OK zoomer, is that really the best you’ve got?

16 November 2019 9:00 am

Every generation and teen subculture likes to put the boot into baby boomers like me. I’ve been physically attacked by…

I’d rather live under communism than the tyranny of social media

16 November 2019 9:00 am

At the time it felt like a century, but it was only 12 years. I began this column in 1977…

Abba, Twitter vs Instagram, and papal selfies: the modern face of the Catholic Church

21 September 2019 9:00 am

As a lifelong Catholic, I’ve often thought that two of the Church’s chief characteristics are a) how weird it is…

donald trump re-elected

Trump will be re-elected because of left-liberal stupidity

6 September 2019 3:32 am

Not such a long time ago, in a galaxy that now appears far, far away, the public space was clearly…

Social media is making it harder to hear legitimate criticism

20 August 2019 2:16 am

When was the last time you were in a Twitter mob? We know these maelstroms of anger so well now,…

Parent trap: WhatsApp groups are feeding our fears

25 May 2019 9:00 am

The mother of a little girl in my son’s year at school recently committed suicide. On the surface she was…

Credit: coffeekai

Why I could kiss Mark Zuckerberg

16 February 2019 9:00 am

Since posting some of my research into the RSPCA on Facebook, I now better understand the way social networking works.…

Getting the sack was a shock but not a surprise

20 October 2018 9:00 am

It was a shock but not really a surprise. I came back from holiday at the beginning of August to…

Can democracy survive the tidal wave of technological progress?

30 June 2018 9:00 am

For a brief moment in 2011, standing among thousands of people occupying Syntagma, the central square in Athens, it looked…

It is a sin to die in the Land of the Depraved

21 April 2018 9:00 am

New York Remember when the internet, Twitter, Facebook and other such useless gimmicks were supposed to usher in an era…

I’ve faked my own iPhone death

17 February 2018 9:00 am

After much thought, I am toying with the idea of faking my own death. I mean in a virtual sense,…

Corbyn knows elections are won on social media but the Tories have barely logged on

18 November 2017 9:00 am

There is a naive belief at the top of government that because the Tories are only a fart’s yard behind…

Ignore the Twitter cry-bully brigade – on social media, you reap what you sow

4 November 2017 9:00 am

The nastiest person on Twitter has quit Twitter. Because I’m so generous I shan’t mention his name. All I’ll say…

The new tycoons

14 October 2017 9:00 am

The giants of the internet have long said that they are not publishers but mere platforms — or couriers —…

High life

30 September 2017 9:00 am

I think this week marks my 40th anniversary as a Spectator columnist, but I’m not 100 per cent certain. All…

The turf

16 September 2017 9:00 am

Racing moves off the back pages only when its opponents have bad news to gloat over. Two examples lately have…