Columns
Reform’s strange balancing act
Nothing illustrates the challenge facing Reform UK better than the strained interview Danny Kruger gave to the Today programme on…
Might Restore scupper Reform?
I was as appalled as I dare say many of you to discover that Reform’s candidate in the forthcoming Makerfield…
When did Sturgeon first notice her husband’s kleptomania?
What would you say if your spouse bought a luxury campervan? I know what I would say – something along…
Pity Andy Burnham
There is something infinitely melancholy in hearing what political ambition does to perfectly nice people. I awoke on Monday to…
The rise of the child-haters
On Petersfield station, southbound side, there’s a huge billboard advertising a tropical holiday with a photo of a beautiful couple…
Kemi has saved herself – but can she save the Tories?
Instinct matters in politics. Overthink and you can underperform. Try to box too clever and you get punched in the…
My encounters with Wes Streeting
The Labour party seems to have ignored the advice I gave it in last week’s column, and so we are…
The secret shame of being ‘Reform-curious’
As a sucker for any melody which relies heavily upon fourth and eighth notes hammered out on a piano, I…
If you think your bills are bad now, just wait
Forgive the doom-mongering, but the US, and especially the UK, may be dangerously on course for a sovereign debt crisis.…
Things can always get worse
I have spent the past week marvelling at the behaviour of our commentating class. They seem to have whipped themselves…
Farage’s plan to win over the left
The loudest man in politics knows when to keep his silence. Nigel Farage held his tongue on Monday as Keir…
The unstoppable rise of stupidity
Hold the front page: I’ve found a very good contemporary novel to occupy my time. Such things have become vanishingly…
What the Two Fat Ladies taught us about Britain
‘Grab that crab, Clarissa!/ Eat that meat, Jennifer!’ It was with these words – the start of their self-sung theme…
Stopping the boats shouldn’t require magical thinking
The BBC’s tracking-down of Kardo Ranya as a people-smuggling mastermind is a triumph of investigative journalism. But anyone who thinks…
18 ways to save your political career
Dear wannabe leaders of Britain. What a lot of you there are! I’ve been writing about leadership and the craft…
I admit it: I was wrong about the Premier League
Yes, of course, one sometimes yearns for the old days. The friend who, appearing in court on a charge of…
Let’s ditch the idea of the ‘black vote’
I long took for granted that US opinion polls break down respondents into white people, black people and Hispanics. But…
The obvious truth about anti-Semitism
There are many ways to do nothing. One is to sit on your hands; another is to call for ‘a…
Is Reform now Scotland’s leading unionist party?
In Scotland, a changing of the guard is near. But while Hearts are set to break the duopoly of Celtic…
When will we admit that the special relationship does not exist?
It was to King Charles’s great credit that he refused to fall for the Trump power handshake thing and instead…
The ‘sensible’ class is losing control of the House of Lords
The House of Lords is often described as ‘the best private members’ club in London’. Certainly, it has an appearance…
With a shudder, I’m voting Labour in the local elections
You may be disturbed by a column urging whites (among others) to vote as a bloc in the coming local…
My night under fire at the White House correspondents’ dinner
Last Saturday evening, the American media class descended for its annual jamboree of back-slapping at the Washington Hilton. Protestors outside…
‘Even Corbyn at his worst never lost here’: how bad will it be for Labour in Wales?
Of all Labour’s heartlands, none has more mythos or magic than Wales. Its history of pits and pulpits produced Nye…
Voters get the politicians they deserve – so get ready for PM Polanski
It is a truism that in a democracy the voters get the government they deserve – and so we should…
