This election has made me understand how it felt to be a lefty under Thatcher
On the weekend of 25 April 2015 I started to believe that the party I supported might not win an…
The British public is about to make a big mistake
On the weekend of 25 April 2015 I started to believe that the party I supported might not win an…
Scotland knows the power of a common enemy. We English don’t
When last Sunday Pope Francis took the brave step of acknowledging the Armenian tragedy as the ‘first genocide of the…
The power of collective grievance
When last Sunday Pope Francis took the brave step of acknowledging the Armenian tragedy as the ‘first genocide of the…
Peru's Indians are repressed with more efficiency than blacks ever were in South Africa
In The Spectator of 21 March a column by Toby Young caught my eye. Discussing the pros and cons of…
South America’s silent apartheid
In The Spectator of 21 March a column by Toby Young caught my eye. Discussing the pros and cons of…
Was 'Je Suis Charlie' just an example of people venting their hatred towards Muslims?
Something dangerous is brewing beneath the surface in our country, and it worries me that warning lights are not flashing…
The zealotry of anti-zealots is alarming me
Something dangerous is brewing beneath the surface in our country, and it worries me that warning lights are not flashing…
Skunk has changed me. But art has changed me, too
Two recent preoccupations have led me to the same reflection. The first is a Channel 4 programme on the effects…
Yes, skunk has changed me. But so have Zoran Mušic’s drawings
Two recent preoccupations have led me to the same reflection. The first is a Channel 4 programme on the effects…
Of course you can choose to get up early (and maybe you can choose to be gay)
‘Oh, I’m an owl,’ said my friend Nick. ‘You’re probably a lark.’ I raised an eyebrow. He explained. Apparently all…
Woke up late? Don’t blame your genes
‘Oh, I’m an owl,’ said my friend Nick. ‘You’re probably a lark.’ I raised an eyebrow. He explained. Apparently all…
To reform the NHS, use the politics of envy
‘Let’s make the rich pay more.’ Does that sound so right-wing? To me it has a positively socialist ring. It…
The NHS needs the politics of envy
‘Let’s make the rich pay more.’ Does that sound so right-wing? To me it has a positively socialist ring. It…
The Stonewall dinner left me with one question: why are volunteers so horrible to one another?
I watched the video with some trepidation. Stonewall (the campaigning gay and lesbian equality organisation) had just sent me the…
Why are volunteers so mean to one another?
I watched the video with some trepidation. Stonewall (the campaigning gay and lesbian equality organisation) had just sent me the…
When did we become a nation of police informers?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
When did we become a nation of narks?
There’s a danger that in what follows your columnist may seem to be recommending an attitude. Please don’t think that.…
Why it’s time to revive the commonplace book
Among the gifts that have come my way this Christmas season, none has given me pleasure more immediate or more…
The rare joy of the commonplace book
Among the gifts that have come my way this Christmas season, none has given me pleasure more immediate or more…
Matthew Parris: the barbarism of the Twitter mob
Are we heading for a new barbarism? Is this the return of the 18th-century mob? Here are more questions than…
Signs that the virtual mob is starting to rule
Are we heading for a new barbarism? Is this the return of the 18th-century mob? Here are more questions than…
What you’re missing now that you don’t read this in print
The internet is a frighteningly efficient place for hunter-gathering – but the pleasures of undirected browsing are harder to find online
The lost pleasures of reading a proper newspaper
Liverpool airport is a curiously unreal place in the half-light before dawn on a cold November morning. Out across the…
Help me become an addict
When the White Queen told Alice she had sometimes believed as many as six contradictory things before breakfast, she spoke…
