Columns
Is Burnham preparing to call a December election?
What is the purpose of a Budget? To stabilise the national finances? To kickstart economic growth? If you’re John Healey,…
Will we always have Paris?
Two worlds met in Paris last week. Thanks to the presence of Art Basel, some of the world’s most valuable…
The uncomfortable truth about Neets
It was, I believe, Fraser Nelson, the former editor of this magazine, who more than two years ago brought to…
France is a warning – our civilisation is not immortal
Could it happen here? I suppose that’s the underlying thought many of us have had as we watch France burn.…
Nigel Farage: ‘Kemi has had the easiest ride of any Tory leader in my lifetime’
What’s so frustrating about the last three or four months is you might have got the impression of chaos but…
The perils of baby names
As a Warwickshire girl, born and bred, I am rarely one to take issue with Shakespeare. However, when the intensely…
Can we be surprised that France has descended into nihilism?
Given its corpulent government and inexplicably entitled populace, I’ve long been in awe of the fact that France functions at…
There is no such thing as a clean execution
There are times when the absence of Jonathan Swift is acutely felt. One such moment came at the end of…
‘My contacts are my superpower’: An interview with Andrew Griffith
If the facts of life are conservative then Andrew Griffith is the man entrusted to remind voters of that truth.…
Fentanyl, coming soon to a park near you
How do you explain to a child what ‘sharps disposal’ means and why a ‘sharps disposal unit’ for the binning…
England, whose England?
For a long time, the mainstream political parties have adhered to an omertà – a ‘never complain, never explain’ –…
What will survive of us
The recent 25th anniversary of 9/11 reminded me of a detail from that time. A short while after that terrible…
Kemi Badenoch has given the Tories cause for hope
The old jokes are the best. When I arrived in Birmingham on Sunday evening for the Tory party conference, I…
Reading is the ultimate life hack
The London Underground used to be a happy place for authors. We would get into a carriage and see rows…
A radical solution to the prisons crisis
This Halloween, punters at a silent disco in Shepton Mallet’s former prison will be dancing on the graves of executed…
The Islamification of Texas
As the UK’s contribution to worldwide carbon emissions is less than 1 per cent and doesn’t affect global temperatures a…
Harold Wilson is the new Labour lodestar
After Andy Burnham’s speech at the Labour party conference on Tuesday, one veteran factionalist declared: ‘We are all Burnhamites now.’…
The game you are not allowed to win
Some years ago I heard a moving story about Roy Jenkins. An unpromising start to any anecdote but stay with…
Britain is entering its Rococo period
There were many reasons why John Ruskin hated Rococo. The overly decorated style was a bête noire for the great…
I bid fond farewell to Great Lives
By my bed at home is a little shelf on which I put useful things for the morning. Coins, keys,…
Can Andy Burnham resist the techlash?
If Andy Burnham wants a reminder of the case for artificial intelligence (AI), he need only walk down the streets…
I like a good hypocrite
I’ve always admired Diane Abbott, though admittedly only for one thing. Many years ago the MP for Hackney North and…
Just stop asylum
In late July, when roughly 72,000 migrants stormed the tiny Spanish enclave in North Africa, Ceuta (thanks to which I…
The fantastical world of Ed Davey
I’m sort of in awe of Ed Davey. How does he still manage to wake up every day and, despite…
