Who cares if Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is nothing like the book?
You could think of it as a Venn diagram. One circle would contain all the people who have read Homer’s…
George Cottrell and the troubling incuriosity of Nigel Farage
I wrote in this space not long ago, in the context of Nicola Sturgeon, about how incuriosity can, when taken…
The EES border check debacle is the EU at its worst
Among my many unpopular and unpatriotic opinions is that, in most of the ways that matter, the terrorists responsible for…
If you’re 12, you’ll love this game
Grade: B+ Why do elephants paint their balls red? So they can hide in cherry trees, of course. The principle…
Must we give Andy Burnham a chance?
“Why don’t you write,” my commissioning editor suggested yesterday, “an optimistic piece on Andy Burnham? Give him a chance, sort…
Keir and loathing: the hatred of Starmer has gone too far
It’s possible, though not popular, to feel a bat-squeak of sympathy for Sir Keir Starmer on a human level these days. It can’t be much fun being…
Will Starmer’s under-16 social media ban actually work?
Today, with much fanfare, HM Government is rolling out its new policy to protect young people from online harms. Here…
Who really owns your iPhone?
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed…
Nicola Sturgeon is no victim
They should make a film about Peter Murrell, shouldn’t they? Starring, possibly, Leonardo DiCaprio. Nicola Sturgeon’s ex-husband is not only a crook…
The Andrew investigation is looking increasingly desperate
‘Show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime’ is the can-do attitude attributed to Stalin’s chief of the…
AI paranoia has come for fiction
‘Polished and confident, with a melodic voice that lingers long after the final line, Jamir Nazir’s prose pulses with a…
Keir Starmer is an even worse PM than Boris Johnson
Remember when Sir Keir Starmer was sold to us as, effectively, the anti-Boris? Where Boris was slapdash, Keir would be…
TV doesn’t ruin childhood, but phones might
When I was a nipper, a staple of children’s television was a show called Why Don’t You? The full title,…
Potholes could pave the way to victory for Reform
When I was young and green and working as a gossip columnist, I learned much from the energy and enthusiasm…
Britain has a Prime Minister problem
I wrote not all that long ago about this disconcerting situation we’re in where the only news story the Prime…
The perfect game for any thwarted sadist
Grade: B+ Some of us lost a lot of our early twenties to a god-game called Dungeon Keeper, in which…
Andrew Lloyd Webber and the dangerous truth about alcohol
There’s something, I think, very heartening and touching in reading Andrew Lloyd Webber talk about joining Alcoholics Anonymous at the ripe…
London hasn’t fallen
“London Has Fallen.” Little did I imagine, when I sat on the sofa with my friend Tanya gorging on Quality Street and enjoying…
Why Artemis II matters
Weren’t those images beamed back from the Artemis II mission something to catch the breath in the throat? If something…
The illusion and delusion of Matt Goodwin
Sometimes, a nickname comes along so excellently unkind that you know it’s going to stick. One such is “MattGPT” – which will,…
The case for cloning the Queen’s corgis
‘Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar,’ was the verdict of the late Lord Charteris on Sarah Ferguson. He did not, I think, mean…
Richard Tice’s tax trickery shows he is a true patriot
Reform’s Richard Tice has been the subject of what I fear is intended as a hit-piece in the Sunday Times. “The Deputy Leader…
Trump is heading for a hard reckoning over Iran
The social media video with which the White House has promoted its attack on Iran is, even by the standards…
