Toxic regulations, not the fire brigade, are to blame for the Grenfell deaths
It has been bizarre to hear the London Fire Brigade taking the brunt of the blame for the deaths of…
Don’t blame oil and coal companies for climate change
This year’s Nobel Prize for the silliest piece of scientific research must go to something called the Climate Accountability Institute,…
It’s unfair for Britain to take Tooba Gondal and other Isis brides back
I am sure that Tooba Gondal, the latest Isis bride to beg for a return to Britain, would, as she…
Bailing out Thomas Cook would have been a mistake
The biggest victim of the failure of Thomas Cook is the worldly reputation of its eponymous creator – a sober…
School climate strikers should answer these two questions
“The Earth is dying”, “the world is on fire”, we’re undergoing an “environmental extinction”: just three of the sentiments which…
The BBC’s latest attack on Netflix is galling
Lord Hall of Birkenhead is feeling pretty bullish about the quality of the organisation he leads. “We’re not Netflix, we’re…
The legal war of attrition against Brexit
Another week, another step along the road to Britain’s transformation into a kritarchy – rule by judges. Last week, the…
John Bercow and the abandoning of the Speaker’s impartiality
According to John Bercow he has chosen to step down on 31 October because it would be the ‘least disruptive…
Remainers may regret not backing an October general election
So there goes the reputation of Boris Johnson’s henchmen as cunning operators. It has been a bad week for Dominic…
Germany’s military has become a complete joke
It is not hard to think of times when German military weakness would have been lauded as good news across…
How renewable energy makes power cuts more likely
At 16 minutes past four on Friday a press officer at National Grid put out a tweet which seemed to…
The secret ingredient of successful seaside towns
The real secret behind Margate’s revival isn’t so much the restored Dreamland amusement park, but the trains. A decade ago,…
Is Britain really heading for a Brexit recession?
The sense of excitement among some Remainers is almost palpable. Finally – after three years of waiting – a quarter…
There is a far better option than HS2 – and it already exists
Just 48 hours before the conclusion of the Conservative leadership contest, Allan Cook, chairman of HS2, wrote to the government…
Boris’s critics are only making him stronger
If, as expected, Boris Johnson heads off to Buckingham Palace next Wednesday to become Prime Minister, I fear that a…
The forgotten joy of soap
Is there any invention as ancient and as fundamental as soap? Traced to Babylonian civilisation around 2,800 bc (handy for…
Boris and Carrie’s staged picture is a PR masterstroke
Whatever you think of Boris Johnson’s ability to be Prime Minister you have to admire the PR skills of Carrie…
There’s no denying the Boris tape was politically motivated
A neighbour records a domestic row through the wall of their flat, takes the recording to a newspaper which then…
Greenwashed: The strange triumph of eco-Toryism
Even before the government this week announced a legally binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by…
Could a global recession be around the corner?
How can a new incumbent of No. 10 survive without a majority and with Brexit to solve? It defies the imagination.…
The truth about air quality? It’s the best (and cleanest) in living memory
We are, of course, in the midst of an air pollution crisis which, like every other threat to our health…
Racist incidents are down since Trump’s election. Yes, really
The election of Donald Trump has, of course, unleashed the latent racist which lurks within millions of Americans. We know…
How do the Project Fear prophets explain the good news about Britain’s economy?
Of course, we shouldn’t read too much into a set of good economic figures when they are so obviously down…
A crowdfunded prosecution of Boris Johnson is nothing to celebrate
I have often wondered what would happen if politicians were bound by the same rules as advertisers, or if manifestos…
A booming economy makes Trump look wiser than his detractors
What delicious reading it makes going back over Paul Krugman’s missive in the New York Times on the morning after…
