Nobody will forget what Russia has done
At the heart of the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sits an ambiguity that it is convenient, perhaps…
I’ve found a little Eden in London
I’m not one of life’s early risers but an exception had to be made on Wednesday last week. In an…
Taking Ukraine would finish Putin
‘Never interrupt your enemy,’ said Napoleon, ‘when he is making a mistake.’ A Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine would…
The Chancellor's horrible task ahead
Whether Rishi Sunak is prime minister or still chancellor this spring, fate is handing him a poisoned chalice. Looking back,…
Good things can come from guilt
I do not know anyone in the Sackler family. I wouldn’t even have heard of them were it not for…
How to wrongfoot an anti-vaxer
The headline looked promising: ‘How to argue with a Covid anti-vaxxer.’ And, yes, a Times colleague had put together a…
The conflict at the heart of the migrant question
A friend, a Cambridge professor, passing my old college last week, was startled to encounter a young lady standing outside…
Anticolonialists have their myths too
Much is now being made of the evils of empire. As a child of empire I bridle. I acknowledge the…
Why can’t we remember our first few years?
I begin this column on a train from Paris to London. Opposite me are a mother and baby. I don’t…
Do you really need to see the GP in person?
Only later, perhaps even a decade later, as the pandemic of 2020-22 shrinks in our rear-view mirror, may we be…
The case for road pricing
Thornton Wilder remarked that there are individuals who fall in love with an idea long before its appointed rendezvous with…
We should never have been in Afghanistan
Two important studies have been published this autumn on the apparent failure of our almost 20-year war in Afghanistan. In…
The life of an ambassador’s wife
‘One day,’ she writes, ‘we had the Minister for Northern Ireland for the night. He arrived wearing a kilt, which…
Champagne, sex or the Tories: what could you live without?
In idle chatter the other evening, somebody pooh-poohed champagne. He was a brave soul because in certain circles — and…
Is it cruel to eat fish?
It was a hot late evening on the Greek island of Tinos, and we were sitting at a quayside restaurant…
The case for travelling abroad
I’m off. In the week when you may read this, my partner and I will be winging our way to…
The death of the dream my family fought for
Before plunging into a vexed question, it’s sometimes wise to point out that one is aware how vexed it is.…
My voyage back through the landmarks of my life
I was looking forward to my dinner at Daquise in South Kensington, a Polish restaurant that’s been there for ever…
The difference between looking and seeing
By the side of the road from Sudbury in Derbyshire to Ashbourne, there is a lone eucalyptus tree. This is…
What Dominic Cummings and the Prime Misfit have in common
Should the name of Dominic Cummings ever make it into the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, there’s one Cummings phrase…
The two halves of Ireland can’t be forced together
Last week, Edwin Poots was elected leader of the DUP. You will have read all about him. I have. You…
Who regulates the regulators?
This isn’t about David Cameron and Greensillgate; it isn’t about Boris Johnson and wallpapergate or Jennifer-Arcurigate. It isn’t about Westferrygate…
How to get a police record (without committing a crime)
I couldn’t quite believe it when first I read the newspaper subscriber’s letter. Columnists for the Times and Spectator do…
Shirley Williams: a woman apart
Shirley Williams, the Liberal Democrat politician, died peacefully at her home this morning, aged 90. In 2009, our columnist Matthew Parris reviewed her…
Vaccine passports are a ticket to freedom
In principle I’m in favour of vaccination passports, and don’t understand how — again in principle — anyone could be…
