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…
The Green party manifesto is even crazier than you’ve heard
I’m disappointed that Ed Balls’s suggestion that the Office of Budget Responsibility should audit the parties’ manifestos was never taken…
Is this election a Champions League game? Or Millwall vs Brighton?
I’ve been trying to think of a good football analogy to describe the battle between the two main parties as…
Lefty myths about inequality
As a Tory, I’ve been thinking a lot about inequality recently. Has it really increased in the past five years?…
How (and why) we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
I’m working to make education fairer. But I’m still not sure what ‘fairer’ means
Civitas has just published an interesting book called The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools. Edited by Anastasia de…
Could my son Charlie become a Premier League footballer?
My son Charlie was scouted by QPR last week. I say ‘scouted’, but that’s not quite accurate since he’s only…
My plan for Question Time: mug up and fail anyway
I was invited on Question Time this week, which gave me a few sleepless nights. Natalie Bennett’s disastrous interview on…
If you think Britain’s corrupt now, watch what happens if we ban second jobs for MPs
Last year, I had an exchange with Hugo Rifkind on Twitter in which I bet him dinner at Clarke’s that…
I don’t know why I’m against tax avoidance (and I bet you don’t either)
On the face of it, the moral case against tax avoidance seems pretty straightforward. If you’re a UK taxpayer and…
Immigration, not money, will improve Scotland's most deprived schools
I suppose we should be thankful that Nicola Sturgeon has acknowledged there’s a problem with Scotland’s public education system, even…
Like Arthur Daley playing Garry Kasparov: why I won’t miss Harry Redknapp
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008…
Come on, Tristram Hunt, if you think you’re hard enough
For a brief moment earlier this week, I thought education might become an issue in the general election campaign. The…
Page 3 was harmless. Here’s why I’ll miss it
‘I for one would be sorry to see them go,’ wrote George Orwell. ‘They are a sort of saturnalia, a harmless…
