Columns
The great sociology con
My default mood at the moment is bleak despair, although it can sometimes be triggered into nihilistic loathing, which I…
Prince Charming is cancelled
The only strikes I really enjoy are actors’ strikes. Teachers’ strikes leave me cold. Train strikes get me into a…
The insane craze for dog ice-cream
During the few hot days we had in June, I came across my first tub of dog ice-cream nestled among…
Corbyn’s plan to cause trouble for Sir Keir
Earlier this summer, a hundred or so Londoners gathered around a solar-powered stage truck at Highbury Fields to celebrate 40…
Why ‘affirmative action’ doesn’t work
This week’s truism: all top-down attempts at leftie social engineering end up causing rather more misery and injustice than the…
How the West plays up to Putin’s caricature
In an outstanding article in the New York Times, Roger Cohen recounted his experience of travelling across Russia for a…
Hell is the Ulez hotline
‘Only boring people get bored’ is what we were all told as children. What we were not warned about was…
The hypocrisy of Nigel Farage’s supporters
Much heartened by the barrage of criticism I’ve been receiving from both Spectator and Times readers, I’m returning to the…
Can the Tories come up with a tax offer in time?
Last summer, all the Tory party could talk about was tax. It was at the heart of the leadership contest…
You think British trains are bad? Try German ones
I found Jean-Pierre standing at a half-open window gulping down lungfuls of stale Dutch air as our night train chuntered,…
The dangerous cult of ‘toxic parents’
Complaining about ‘toxic parents’ has been a viral hit on TikTok with videos on the topic racking up several billion…
Why should Vikings be diverse?
I don’t always watch ‘Strongest Viking’ competitions on cable. But the other day I was channel-hopping and became mesmerised by…
The doctrine of intersectionality is a dud
The almost complete absence of anything remotely resembling an intersection in the progressive doctrine of intersectionality poses a problem for…
What does the European centre-right stand for?
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), dropped the bomb last weekend. In a TV interview, Merz…
Was I right about Iraq?
Back in March there was a glut of pieces about the 2003 Iraq war. The 20th anniversary seemed to much…
The problem with the Bibby Stockholm barge
For British taxpayers perturbed by their £6 million daily bill for housing asylum seekers in hotels, New York City mayor…
In defence of Coutts
Dame Alison Rose should not have resigned as head of NatWest over the Nigel Farage affair – and ministers who…
Labour’s reality check
Rishi Sunak goes into the summer holidays in the same position he began the year: 20 points behind in the…
The BBC’s biggest problem
As I write this, the director-general of the BBC is being quizzed on the corporation’s future by people who were…
Canada’s assisted dying horror story
My favourite Martin Amis novel was his 1991 book Time’s Arrow. It is a pyrotechnically brilliant work in which all…
When is a train strike not a train strike?
The first LNER train I booked on Sunday from Durham to London was cancelled due to ‘action short of a…
Labour vs the unions
The Labour party is preparing for power and the unions are deciding what role they might play. Friend or foe?…
The BBC is self-destructing
There are still 27 people left in the British Isles – at the time of writing – who are unaware…
Don’t write off Rishi
Were I sure this was about me alone, I’d hardly bother to mention it: but I may be typical of…
Daniel Korski and the lives of others
The news has been coming so thick and fast of late that every week there are dozens of stories we…
