What I learnt trying to buy lunch for an anti-Tory protestor
The mood at the Conservative party conference this week was a little subdued, and no wonder. As those who watched…
Steve Jobs was a genius, but was he a monster too?
Last week I went to a screening of Steve Jobs, the new biopic about the co-founder of Apple directed by…
Rail nationalisation: Jeremy Corbyn’s stupid flagship policy
Amid all the excitement about David Cameron this week, I fear that Jeremy Corbyn’s first major policy announcement may have…
My obsession with litter is bordering on mental illness
It’s no good. I’ve tried to resist it, but I’ve succumbed. I’m now a full-blown litter Nazi. Whenever I leave…
Let the poor have designer babies on the NHS
I’ve just written an essay for Quadrant, an Australian periodical, in which I propose a controversial solution to the problem…
My wife and I have become Mr and Mrs Twit
This is a cautionary tale for any young couples out there thinking of tying the knot. Be wary of what…
Once again, the French are relying on Americans and Brits to protect them from murderous fascists
Boy, am I glad I’m not a Frenchman. Last week’s dramatic incident on board a Paris-bound train, in which a…
It's fun at France's answer to Butlins – but there's a catch
I’m currently at a French campsite in the Languedoc, having been persuaded by my wife that it would be a…
If the bombing of Hiroshima was a moral obscenity, blame Emperor Hirohito
The 70th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has produced some predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth about the horrors of…
Even the Chinese can’t teach British teenagers
Watching a group of unruly children make mincemeat out of a well-meaning teacher has become a television staple and Are…
It's my duty to expose my children to the moral depravity of Acton
A few years ago, I got a bit fed up with receiving Christmas cards from my friends designed to show…
Why I was right to vote for Jeremy Corbyn
Is the ‘Tories for Corbyn’ campaign politics at its most infantile? As one of the few conservative commentators willing to…
What are we going to do about urban foxes?
Forget about the countryside. When is the government going to do something about the vulpine creatures wreaking havoc in central…
Why I’m proud to be a (sometimes) pushy parent
I took my three boys for a cycle ride in Richmond Park on Sunday. Under normal circumstances, this would have…
Giving up alcohol is not as much fun as I’d hoped
Two months ago, I set myself the target of losing 11 pounds in time for the Spectator’s summer party on…
In defence of Michael Gove’s grammar guide
Few things are more likely to provoke the disapproval of the bien-pensant left than criticising someone’s grammar. The very idea…
The best way to end the ‘poshness test’
There’s a warning buried in the detail of the new report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission on…
Meet the Canadian Ed Miliband
I’ve been reading Fire and Ashes, Michael Ignatieff’s account of his disastrous foray into politics, in an attempt to understand…
If I were a cultural Marxist, I might be thinking about giving up
In his Memoirs, Kingsley Amis includes a story about meeting Roald Dahl at a party in the 1970s. Dahl advises…
Nicola Sturgeon protests too much about Alistair Carmichael
I couldn’t believe it when Nicola Sturgeon called for the resignation of Alistair Carmichael, the former Scottish Secretary, over his…
It's hard not to gloat, but I'm trying my hardest
I was disappointed to hear Andy Burnham on Marr last Sunday declare his opposition to free schools. He put plenty…
Why I still have a deep attachment to the BBC
After I failed my O-levels and decided to leave school, my father suggested I go to Israel to work on…
Satire is dying because satirists are too successful
I appeared on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago to discuss the age-old question of whether political satire is…
My Brasenose college reunion was great (even if David Cameron didn’t turn up)
A couple of weeks ago I returned to my old Oxford college for a ‘gaudy’ — posh, Oxford-speak for a…
Fatherhood is killing me
Not a day passes when I don’t look on my father’s record with shock and awe. I’m not talking about…
