When does ‘middle age’ end and ‘old age’ begin?
I was a bit irritated by all the millennials saying the Superbowl half-time show made them feel old. The 15-minute…
The day Boris tried to bribe me
It’s not every day that a future prime minister offers you a bribe, but that’s what happened to me 38…
Why don't I come with a trigger warning?
Last week brought the news that some universities have attached more ‘trigger warnings’ to certain books, concerned that students may…
Why Neil Young’s Spotify boycott is a mistake
When Neil Young issued his threat to Spotify – get rid of Joe Rogan’s podcast or remove my music from…
The Highway Code to hell
I did a speed awareness course on Monday. For the uninitiated, you have the option of doing one of these…
I got Covid (again) – is it time I got jabbed?
I got Covid a couple of weeks ago. Second time for me, which was annoying because I’d told Caroline that…
The unexpected brilliance of Don’t Look Up
I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Don’t Look Up, the new satirical film on Netflix. It’s about a couple of…
Where are all the Turners in the Turner Contemporary?
I learnt a horrible new word during the holidays: Twixmas. It refers to the 27-30 December period and has its…
Some (tentative) reasons to be cheerful in 2022
Someone sent me a job advert recently for a Junior Research Fellowship at Queen’s College, Oxford. It states: ‘The Queen’s…
The good and bad news about the Online Safety Bill
If you care about free speech, the just-published report of the Joint Committee on the Online Safety Bill – a…
Let’s not become Scotland
The Law Commission has published a string of recommendations following its recent consultation on changes to hate-crime laws in England…
Why punish a scientist for defending science?
As a defender of free speech, I sometimes feel like a man falling through a collapsing building. Just when you…
I’ve become a social pariah – just for having children
When Caroline and I got married in 2001, having four kids was not only fashionable, it was the socially responsible…
The day I became a prize contrarian
Something rather unusual happened to me a few weeks ago: I was shortlisted for a prize. Not the GQ Men…
Racism, cricket and the problem with ancient allegations
Last week, the former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan revealed that he’d been accused by another cricketer — Azeem Rafiq…
Sky Sports is ruining my football season
When I promised my 13-year-old son, Charlie, that we would go to as many QPR games as possible in 2021-22…
Why lockdown sceptics like me lost the argument
I’m optimistic that the government won’t implement ‘Plan B’, let alone impose another lockdown — but not because sceptics like…
Virtue signalling is really status signalling
A £19,000-a-year London day school was in the news this week because it has started instructing its pupils about ‘white…
‘Retain and Explain’ won’t end the culture wars
I’m sympathetic to Oliver Dowden’s formula for defusing culture-war disputes about statues of controversial historic figures: ‘retain and explain’. That…
Who let the dog out?
Caroline and I are just back from a weekend break in Scotland and, nice though it was, I hadn’t realised…
The thrill of running late
‘Dad, why is it that whenever we go anywhere, we’re always running to catch a train?’ asked Charlie, my 13-year-old.…
My wife is caught in a web of fear
Even in my shed at the bottom of the garden I can hear the screams coming from the house. Shrieks…
Has Boris Johnson given up on free schools?
For the founders of the West London Free School, of which I was one, last Thursday should have been a…
The stories that are too good to check
Last weekend, Rolling Stone ran a story about an interview an emergency room doctor had given to a local news…
Why Gove’s night on the dance floor is good news
I was pleased to see pictures of Michael Gove at a nightclub in Aberdeen last weekend. According to press reports,…
