The trouble with Greta Thunberg
In popular mythology Greta Thunberg is a one-girl revolution who has inspired millions of young people into action by being…
Carmageddon: The future is catching up with the motor giants
When Nissan announced it would not, after all, produce its new X-Trail in Sunderland, this was reported as proof of…
Looking for a guilt-free vegetable? Good luck with that
Last week’s Lancet report and its ‘planetary health diet’ of next to no red meat will have bolstered the egos…
Project Fact: how scared should we really be of a no deal?
Food shortages, diabetics going without insulin, outbreaks of salmonella and swine flu: a no-deal Brexit has become a dystopia of…
Money is already draining from Britain but because of Corbyn, not Brexit
What’s wrong with UK financial markets? The global economy is recovering, but British stocks and shares are not keeping pace.…
Sperm donors and the incest trap
It is hard to think of a code of behaviour which is common to all societies on earth, let alone…
The bad science of cannabis oil
Was there ever a more fatuous contribution to a political debate than Lord Hague following up the case of 12-year-old…
The Scouts can’t offer equal access to the disabled – they won’t survive
A couple of years ago, Simon Barnes wrote a moving piece in this magazine about how his son Eddie, who…
Revealed – the truth about plastic
Has an albatross ever wielded so much influence? The bewildered chick who regurgitated a plastic bag in front of Sir…
Politicians want to move us towards a cashless world. It would be a disaster
What could be more terrifying than a return to the 15 per cent interest rates with which homebuyers had to…
His first 100 days
Many assume that if an election were held soon, Jeremy Corbyn would win. But what if, say, the government fell…
Crime and prejudice
Beware of jumping to conclusions about Brexit-induced violence
Hostile climate
The subtitle of Al Gore’s new film is ‘Truth to Power’, which is supposed to give the impression of brave…
Road to nowhere
When I heard the government’s announcement that petrol and diesel cars are to be banned from 2040, I resorted, as…
Generation wars
British general elections have often evolved from contests between parties into battles between two opposing themes or ideas. In 1964,…
A hard lesson is coming
Private schools have undermined their charitable status by dashing so shamelessly upmarket
Big boxes are the next growth story
Some time ago my eye was caught by the story of a boy who had taken his father’s credit card…
Out but not down
No group of the population voted to remain in the EU more enthusiastically than students. According to the polling organisation…
The Brexit bounce
Next time it comes to redesigning the PPE course at Oxford, I suggest a module beginning with a quotation from…
Let’s grow our own money
No 1960s vision of the 21st century was complete without an attentive robot-scuttling around doing household chores. At the time,…
Why British investors are wrong to panic about China
The western stock-market panic over China is excessive and irrational … so buy now
The Hinkley Point disaster
Britain’s new nuclear plant has hardly left the drawing board, but it’s already a case study in what not to do
The Volkswagen diesel scandal was driven by carbon obsession
A fixation on carbon emissions will produce many more scandals like the one that has shamed Volkswagen
Inside George Osborne’s empire: how the Chancellor rules Westminster
The Chancellor has Westminster in his grip
Why housing associations are the true villains of the property crisis
The trouble with housing associations
