We thought having four kids would be idyllic. What were we thinking?
You’d think the little buggers would be grateful. Caroline and I had just shelled out for our two middle children…
There’s space for a new party in Britain, but not for another SDP
I was 17 when the Labour party last split, in January 1981, and for a variety of reasons got quite…
If children want to protest against climate change, why not do it at the weekend?
Thousands of schoolchildren are planning to go on ‘strike’ on Friday to protest about government inaction on climate change. Called…
The hypocrisy of Ken Loach’s Eurovision boycott
The Guardian last week published a ‘we, the undersigned’ letter from 50 ‘artists of conscience’ urging the BBC to boycott…
An inconvenient truth: white children are underperforming everyone else in UK schools
The Department for Education (DfE) published its finalised data on the 2018 GCSE results last week, revealing that, for the…
The media were guilty of their own ‘fake news’ when it came to protesting schoolchildren
Donald Trump is often criticised by liberal news organisations like CNN and the New York Times for resorting to the…
Yes, the Brexit debate is robust – but UK politics is moderate, calm and civil
There’s a scene in Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s masterpiece about the collapse of western civilisation, in which a…
The unending war against masculinity and men
For the first time in its history, the American Psychological Association (APA) has issued guidelines for mental health professionals working…
The great awokening
Is the social justice movement that’s sweeping British and American universities a secular religion? The core beliefs of the members…
How to lose more friends and alienate more people
This used to be the busiest time of the year for me. If you do anything in public life —…
The mind-readers who know we’re all racists inside
For months I’ve been looking forward to the Guardian’s much-heralded report on racism in Britain, which was unveiled this week.…
Why we’re lying to ourselves over trans rights
On 21 November, a debate took place in the House of Commons about proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act…
My wife has gone back to work – and I’ve turned into a SADDO
When I proposed to Caroline back in 2000, she was a trainee solicitor and I was a freelance journalist. In…
Free speech is officially dead in British universities
When I first read about plans for a new academic periodical called The Journal of Controversial Ideas, I got the…
Roger Scruton becomes the latest victim of the Twitchfork mob
‘Once identified as right-wing you are beyond the pale of argument,’ wrote Sir Roger Scruton. ‘Your views are irrelevant, your…
I like the idea of meritocracy as much as my father hated it
Last week I spoke at an event at Nottingham University to commemorate the 60th anniversary of The Rise of the…
Science is on the side of the trans activists
Some interesting scientific research on gender differences was published last week. Two social scientists studied the preferences of 80,000 people…
Why are faceless accusations allowed to end men’s careers?
On 11 October 2017 an anonymous Google spreadsheet began doing the rounds of American newspapers and magazines — a document…
Shouldn’t the police be chasing down theft and assault, not thought crime?
West Yorkshire Police hit the headlines twice this week. First we learned that the fourth-largest force in England and Wales…
Alexa, who is Toby Young?
My oldest friend Sean Langan came to lunch last Sunday and, rather disappointingly, he seemed more interested in playing with…
Of course the young like socialism – they’re taught to
It beggars belief that Jeremy Corbyn can, with a straight face, announce that capitalism has failed and we’d all be…
It’s as I suspected – my defects can’t be cured
I’ve just finished making a one-hour documentary about character for Radio 4 that’s due to be broadcast on Saturday at…
Dr Toby’s booze advice: the better the wine, the less bad it is for you
I don’t hold out much hope for Drink Free Days, a new campaign launched by Public Health England and the…
The neo-Marxist takeover of our universities
According to Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, America’s universities have succumbed to ‘safetyism’, whereby students are protected from anything that…
Why is a BBC executive calling for the removal of middle-aged white men from television?
Cassian Harrison, the editor of BBC Four, told the Edinburgh International Television Festival last week that no one wants to…