An all-female cabinet? Insert your own joke here
I wonder what Jacques Derrida would have made of the new leader of the UK Independence party? In the philosopher’s…
Frightful flights, a falling pound: why would you go anywhere but Britain for your summer holiday?
The epiphany came when I was standing in the oxymoron of a speedy boarding queue at Gatwick, waiting to have…
Reliably odd but the deranged proggery grates: King’s Mouth by The Flaming Lips reviewed
Grade: B- So a queen dies as her giant baby is being born. The baby grows very big indeed and…
Boris may end up delivering Corbyn
Alastair Campbell has written a longish ‘open’ letter to Jeremy Corbyn, helpfully explaining why he has decided not to contest…
The grim magnificence of Gisborough Priory
Gisborough Priory was founded in 1119, although the gothic chunks which remain of it today — including the grimly magnificent…
We’ve made morons of our police force
I never believed Carl Beech’s allegations that he had suffered multiple depravities, including sexual abuse, at the hands of various…
The ethnicity pay gap just doesn’t add up
I suppose it was a bit naive to wander on to Newsnight having been booked to talk about Brexit and…
On the standard of political debate
Just received this update from the Brexit Party: ‘Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage threw down a challenge to Tory leader-elect Boris Johnson:…
End this hate speech against my community
I am a football fan. Each fortnight I go to watch my club and, like the overwhelming majority of the…
I admit it: I enjoyed the Women’s World Cup
I was asked on to the BBC Today programme — my old manor — last week to talk about the…
Hideously tasteful elegies to useless country singers: Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars reviewed
Grade: B– The first Springsteen song I ever heard was ‘Born To Run’, back when I was 14. I clocked…
Why I’m not convinced by Boris
I had never heard of Mark Field until he was suspended for removing, in a commendably vigorous manner, the Greenpeace…
We’ve been Rotherhamed
I think we need a new source of ultimate evil for people taking part in political discussions, because Godwin’s Law…
Diversity’s valued — unless it’s diversity of opinion
The BBC has advised its journalists not to use the word ‘terror’ or ‘terrorist’ when some bloke blows himself up…
How to save the Tory party
How do you feel about the standard of political debate in this country? I ask this question at the very…
Much as I admire Morrissey’s refusal to conform, I don’t much like his music
Grade: B Rock stars who utter something a little gamey, something a tad right-wingish, are usually coerced by the lefties…
Rod Liddle: Tunnelling my way into Gaza
I’m meant to be peering into a tunnel hacked out by Hamas a few hundred metres from Gaza City into…
On milkshakes
Should we make it illegal to study the social sciences? Imagine the amount of tendentious rubbish we could erase from…
I’m starting to have doubts about Nigel Farage
The echo chamber is the defining characteristic of this berserk and entertaining political age: squadrons of foam-flecked absolutists ranting to…
Are the ‘village idiots’ right about Brexit?
The former BBC presenter Gavin Esler has very kindly given us an insight into how BBC people think (had we…
It made me want to go to sleep and never wake up: Vampire Weekend’s Father of the Bride
Grade: B– One of the things not to like about Vampire Weekend, other than their cloying preppiness, Ezra Koenig’s ingratiating…
Rape has become dangerously politicised
It is more than three years since the town of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, decided to ditch its motto ‘Land of Rape…
Maybe the best thing this skag head’s ever done: Peter Doherty & the Puta Madres reviewed
Grade: A Old skag head’s back, then — older (40 now!), probably none the wiser, still a very good songwriter.…
We condemned the ideology behind Christchurch. Why didn’t we do the same after Sri Lanka?
The carnage in Sri Lanka which left more than 300 dead may have been carried out by ‘Buddhists’, according to…
Why conservatives can’t survive in government
I had mixed feelings about the sacking of Roger Scruton from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, following comments…
