Who is the worst political commentator?
We are approaching the deadline for the prestigious ‘Most Odious Political Commentator of the Year’ award. Alastair Campbell and Rory…
Can you tell a good guy from a bad guy in the Middle East?
Please excuse the tone of jubilation, but I have been dancing around my kitchen for the past couple of days,…
How can we complain about the 2034 Saudi World Cup?
I suppose it is a mild surprise that Fifa didn’t choose Yemen to host the 2034 World Cup, as the…
The BBC vs Gregg Wallace
The last time I took my wife to watch Millwall play a home game, a gentleman a few rows in…
The absurdity of ‘buffer zones’
The evangelical preacher Stephen Green has had his conviction upheld – for standing quite near an abortion clinic in Ealing with…
I hope you didn’t sign that petition
Did you sign it, then? And if so, what were your expectations? That Sir Keir Starmer would look at the…
Can you win the Booker Prize without being able to write?
I mentioned a couple of days ago being underwhelmed by Orbital, Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize-winning novel. But I am a…
I made the mistake of reading a book that won the Booker Prize
I’ve just broken one of my own golden rules – never buy a book that has won the Booker Prize,…
Is swimming racist?
I think we can all be delighted that, at last, the University of Leicester has taken action to end one…
Labour’s Chinese takeaway
I was thrilled to learn that our government intends to enjoy an ‘open’ relationship with China – one of my…
Europe’s blind spot over anti-Semitism
You would think that we Europeans might have learned a thing or two about anti-Semitism over the past century or…
Goodbye to MC5, the holiest of rock’s holy cows
Grade: D+ Ah, the original Linkin Park, except even more spavined. MC5 came outta Detroit in the mid 1960s and…
I have no time for Radio Four’s dross
I switched the radio on in my car today and it went straight to the BBC World at One on…
Why Farage should – and shouldn’t – be UK ambassador to Trump
It is very kind of Nigel Farage to offer his services as a kind of intermediary between our government and…
Does being right-wing make you violent?
I notice that the police are not treating the killings of those children in Southport as a terrorist attack. While…
Farewell, Quincy Jones – I’ll always remember you
There are many reasons to remember Quincy Jones, who has died aged 91 in Los Angeles. Let me deal with…
Why does ITV hate Trump?
It would be consoling to think that the BBC, alone among our supposedly unpartisan TV news providers, is guilty of…
The reparations racket
I have been trying to interest MPs of all parties in joining my call to persuade Barbados to say ‘thank…
The lessons of the Chris Kaba case
I wonder if we should join with the radical campaigning organisation Buy Larger Mansions (BLM) in order to protest about…
Should we prioritise the LGBTQI community when disaster strikes?
Are homosexuals and transgendered people more at risk from natural disasters than the rest of the population? I dare say…
Less Riot Grrl than Riot Lladies Who Lunch: Sleater-Kinney’s Little Rope reviewed
Grade: B- Given that Carrie and Corin are now in their fifties and one of them has settled down with…
Liberals are not just stupid – they’re dangerous
We held a small party to celebrate the news that the UK had seen its largest rise in population in…
In defence of Rosie Duffield
Rosie Duffield’s magnificently rancorous resignation of the Labour whip has reduced the number of MPs on the government side who…
My lessons for David Lammy
There is worryingly little time left to make the appropriate preparations for Bridget Phillipson’s official birthday, on 19 December. As…
Ten times better than Taylor Swift: Romance, by Fontaines D.C., reviewed
Grade: B+ Almost all modern popular music is afflicted by a desperate yearning for importance, and thus – as it…
