Ideology in council
I’m running for Mayor in the City of Sydney council elections because it’s quite clear we are living through a…
Ed Miliband’s Grangemouth hypocrisy
To Scotland, where the closure of the country’s only oil refinery has been announced today. The site will shut next…
Policing minister’s purse stolen at conference about theft
Sir Keir’s Labour government may be determined to deprive daily life of all fun, but there’s still a little humour…
They are not ‘peace’ activists
Only the naïve, which seems to include a number of respected commentators, regard the mobs that gather to ‘protest’ against…
The NHS is not underfunded
John Bell, the former Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, was interviewed on today’s episode of the Today programme podcast.…
Facing down the Democratic legal tsunami
Sydney Smith (1771-1845), the great English wit and Anglican divine, once said that he never read a book before reviewing…
What has the SNP got against school blazers?
The much-maligned school blazer has come under attack once again, this time by Scottish government. In new guidance issued this morning, head…
Tim Walz’s Minnesota vibes
The first thing a Minnesota political activist tells me when I ask about Tim Walz is this: when he gets…
What does Appalachia mean?
The selection of J.D. Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate has made Appalachia the regional epicenter of America’s political universe.…
The pro-life problem
The pro-life movement has reason to be grateful to Donald Trump, even as it has reason to feel exasperated as…
Israel is turning its sights on Hezbollah
As its Gaza campaign cools, Israel’s attention is returning northwards. Approximately 60,000 Israelis from northern communities are still refugees. A…
Is Keir Starmer serious about reforming the NHS?
Does Keir Starmer want to use Lord Darzi’s report on the NHS today merely as the latest ‘shocking’ piece of…
My parental lobotomy
On August 25, 1953, neurosurgeon William Beecher Scoville drilled holes into the skull of a young epileptic named Henry Gustav…
The thrill of being recognized
I had just left Tate Britain and was heading toward the Pimlico underground station when I noticed an attractive woman…
A matter of presidents
Virginia spawned four of the first five US presidents. Between Reconstruction and the roaring twenties, Ohio’s executive fecundity earned it…
The Basement Government
The last presidential election was one in which the term “popular front” took on new meaning owing to the Covid…
Eighty years on, Smokey Bear has aged like a fine oak
On a muggy mid-morning in early August, I arrived at the Berks County (Pennsylvania) Heritage Center to celebrate the birthday…
Mick Lynch blasted for ‘bonkers’ pro-Palestine comments
To the Trades Union Congress conference, where Mick Lynch is once again at the centre of political controversy. The RMT…
The return of CRT TVs
Cathode-ray televisions — the thick, “fat” CRT TVs of my youth — were dead. You couldn’t find them in secondhand…
Violent peaceful protesters, and other hypocrisies
Australians have long watched overseas riots on the telly. ‘Those crazy foreigners, lucky it doesn’t happen here,’ we’d say. Well,…
Falling in love with Montana
“You have a big mountain to climb!” is not the sort of text you eagerly await from your girlfriend’s father.…
The real reason the Treasury can’t find the fiscal ‘black hole’
The Chancellor was so shocked when she received the briefings from Treasury officials that she had no choice but to…
Batteries not included
The enormous hidden cost of the green transition
This report is a damning indictment of the NHS
Lord Darzi had only nine weeks to conduct his investigation into and assessment of the National Health Service. But this…
The vision behind Woolsery
At first glance, it looks like any other sleepy village in southwest England. A medieval church and manor house face…
