We live in a one-way shame culture
Anyone who has ever published a book and been dismayed by an anonymous review online will have cheered inwardly at…
Is it time to ban second jobs for MPs?
There are some genres of newspaper story that never die. Among them are sightings of Lord Lucan, public moralists discovered…
In praise of the dashcam citizens policing our roads
Jeremy Bentham, thou shouldst be alive and doing a ton through the Mickleham Bends at this hour. Bentham’s great contribution to carceral theory,…
Let’s talk about sex education
Ah, sex education. I remember it like it was yesterday. It would have been 1987. Our entire year assembled in…
Blame, Brexit and the great tomato shortage of 2023
It’s funny how powerful a concrete example of something can be, isn’t it? The thing that brings a situation home to…
The senseless re-editing of Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was, in many respects, a horrible man. He was a narcissist, a bully, a liar, an anti-Semite, a…
It’s time for ‘reality-based’ politicians to start addressing Brexit
Praise be. A day or two ago, something potentially quite exciting took place in Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire. It was a two-day…
Liz Truss, Brexit and the petulant anger at reality
The time it takes to mount a political comeback gets shorter and shorter, doesn’t it? The last prime minister but…
Who thought the Prince Andrew sex bath picture was a good idea?
How big does a bath need to be for ‘sex frolicking’ to be a possibility? That’s not, if you’d asked anyone six…
The curious carefulness of Nadhim Zahawi’s ‘carelessness’
The cliché is that it’s scandals about sex that tend to do for Tories, and scandals about money that do…
Goldman Sachs and the culling of the surplus elites
Goldman Sachs laid off 3,200 employees with as little as half an hour’s notice. It will probably please the petty, pinched,…
Harry’s complete lack of self-doubt is a problem for the royal family
Watching Prince Harry being interviewed by Tom Bradby, one thing was clear: the man is in deadly earnest. He is…
What adults don’t get about children’s books
Children’s writing has been having a bit of a moment over the past couple of weeks, after a conversation on social…
‘Loss is a thing that we become’: Nick Cave on grief, faith and why he’s a conservative
Nick Cave on grief, faith and why he’s a conservative
ChatGPT: a world-class BS machine
Two weeks ago, like most people, I hadn’t so much as heard of ChatGPT. By last week, I was hearing of practically nothing but. After OpenAI…
The shabby dishonesty of Matt Hancock’s ‘diaries’
‘Standing in my kitchen in Suffolk after a quiet New Year’s Eve, I scanned my newspaper for clues as to…
Why ‘Uber for the countryside’ is a great idea
The disappearance of rural bus routes is one of the small tragedies of our time. It isn’t, alas, a very glamorous…
Elon Musk, Donald Trump and the trouble with free speech
The Cursed Ratio strikes again. Twitter users have voted 52-48 in favour of Elon Musk allowing the return of Donald Trump to…
Would the real Matt Hancock please sit down?
‘Politics,’ as the old quip has it, ‘is showbusiness for ugly people.’ That quote was minted in the good old…
Is it too much to expect the Home Secretary to obey the law?
As Home Secretary, on the whole, you’ll want to stay on the right side of the law, right? I mean, you’re in charge of the…
It’s not too late for footballers to boycott Qatar’s World Cup
If you go to Fifa’s website, you’ll find all sorts of things to make your heart sing and tears spring…
Even Rishi Sunak can't save the Tories
Once again, 357-odd Conservative MPs have complete control over what happens next in this country. There are three questions that…
Can you feel sorry for Liz Truss?
It is not easy to feel sorry for Liz Truss. She has a deeply unattractive streak of vanity – when…
A baby boom won’t solve Britain’s labour shortage
Quite the scoop in yesterday’s Sun. An anonymous cabinet minister has briefed the paper that to secure Britain’s economic future,…
Liz Truss's cliché-ridden speech was saved by Greenpeace
Liz Truss has, if nothing else, been working on her delivery. Her first speech to conference as Prime Minister was…
