Social media
Nicholas the miraculous
Miracles are not ceased. A few years ago, a kindly educational therapist took pity on John Prescott and set out…
Vaping’s appeal isn’t about the nicotine. It’s about the gadgets
Probably you never visited the flats of middle-class student drug dealers in the 1990s, because crikey, neither did I, and…
The internet’s war on free speech
The web was meant to empower us all. Right now, it’s empowering censors
I have seen the future, and it’s a racist, filthy-mouthed teenage robot
‘I’m a nice person,’ said the robot. ‘I just hate everybody.’ Maybe you know the feeling. The robot in question…
Why Joan Bakewell must be right about anorexia
You can always tell when a public figure has said something with the ring of truth about it by the…
A new taste of Twitter nastiness
Whenever I hear a leftie complain about being abused on Twitter, I think: ‘You should try being me.’ A case…
Whatever happened to ‘Snog first, talk later’?
Sometimes I sit my nieces down and treat them to tales of dating in the dark ages, before iPhones arrived…
Terry’s all gold
For once, the superlatives that have greeted Terry Wogan’s death from cancer have been entirely in keeping with the man.…
High life
This is going to be one hell of a year, hell being the operative word. It will be the year…
Ye who now will bless the poor Shall yourselves find blessing
I thought you might enjoy a little parable for Christmas, so here goes… The boardroom clock said twelve minutes…
Ian Rankin’s diary: Paris, ignoring Twitter and understanding evil
After ten days away, I spent last Friday at home alone, catching up on washing, shopping for cat food, answering…
High life
Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it, tweeted Jon Ronson, a man I’d never heard of until…
I may have to revise my view that crypto-currencies are Satan’s work
I confess to being an out-and-out Luddite when it comes to bitcoin and other so-called crypto-currencies. To the extent that…
Women’s issues are for everyone now, not just feminists
‘Women’s issues’ are for everyone. So feminism is obsolete
Isis takes its British schoolgirl jihadis seriously. Why don’t we?
When the first schoolgirls ran away to Isis I had some sympathy for them — at least, I could see…
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…
Twitter speak
‘Tweeting’s like text messaging, isn’t it?’ said my husband confidently, though not, as usual, from any knowledge of the matter.…
Eugenics for your email
You won’t read much about Sir Francis Galton nowadays because, while it’s inarguable that the man was a giant in…
Barometer
Peers’ peers Forty-five new peers were created. Are we alone in having an upper house of parliament made up of…
The breast test
New mothers who can’t keep to the breast-feeding orthodoxy face needless misery and shame
Long life
We learn from a new report that children in England are among the unhappiest in the world — more unhappy,…
The dangerous food fad
The ‘clean eating’ revolution is more likely to make you ill than healthy
Flashmob rule
It is the duty of MPs to resist Twitter storms and online petitions
Caught on the net
Going online does not make you invisible – as the adulterers who used the hacked site Ashley Madison are discovering
Dying for attention
In the social media age, breaking ‘the last taboo’ is de rigueur
