Columns
Heritable guilt is in vogue
I made a poor excuse for a Presbyterian even as a kid. I resented religious indoctrination every precious school-free Sunday.…
What’s there to celebrate about the NHS?
It’s a rare occasion that sees politicians put aside their feuds and rivalries to gather together at Westminster Abbey. These…
French racism is not the problem
Last week we learned that a woman in a park in Skegness was dragged into the bushes and raped by…
The narcissism of Gavin Newsom
Back in the late 1990s, when I lived in Dallas, Texas, I became fascinated by television evangelists. They were hucksters…
What does reshuffle season have in store?
Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have something in common: both men are under pressure to reshuffle their front benches and…
The myth of intersectional politics
A few years ago I mentioned the profusion of moaning women on BBC Radio 4, after a longish car journey…
The unspeakable truth about housing
Earlier this year I was a panellist for Any Questions, and a young man in the audience asked what could…
Our God complex
Pantomime is meant to be silly and perhaps superficial, but fun. One does not (for example) join an audience for…
Joe Biden is not OK
One of the most reliable standards in international comedy has long been the outstanding ineloquence of American politicians. In this…
Can Labour win back Scotland?
When the political cabinet met on Tuesday, by-elections were on the agenda. The Prime Minister is facing four of them.…
The trouble with teachers
A teacher once told me that he couldn’t stand Pakistanis ‘because of the smell’. I was 13 at the time…
The diversity trap
If anyone reading this ever bought shares in the diversity racket, then I would suggest you start dumping them now.…
Why I hate drones
I have a plan for my old age. Now that we all might live for a century or so, feeling…
Will Ulez be the undoing of Sadiq Khan?
London faces its seventh mayoral election next year and, yet again, the Tories are having trouble finding a suitable candidate.…
The judgment of Carla Foster
‘No one has the right to judge you’ was one of the last posts made on Facebook by Staffordshire ‘mum’…
The weather isn’t ‘climate change’
I was in New York while the smoke from Canadian wildfires filtered over the city for three days last week,…
Why Conservatives must get behind Rishi
The hubbub about Boris Johnson is blocking the view. He is, of course, an easy and undemanding topic of conversation.…
It’s been a bad week for former political leaders
The week of the three downfalls has been an interesting one. Boris Johnson resigning from parliament, Donald Trump going to…
Why Rishi Sunak fears the Covid inquiry
A former Labour spin doctor recently offered some advice for governments considering a public inquiry. Rule No. 1: Don’t. But…
What terfs get wrong
The recreational use of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD or peyote, declined with some rapidity from the 1980s onwards as…
The inversion of history
It is 18 years since the last Colditz drama on British television, which apparently means we need a new one.…
The kids aren’t ‘trans’ – they just don’t want to grow up
If we rule out the notion that people have ‘gendered souls’ at odds with their biological sex – and we…
The battle with the Blob
Most prime ministers fall out with the civil service at some point. David Cameron attacked the ‘enemies of enterprise’; Tony…
My northern honours list
Exciting news arrives. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has let it be known that he wants more northerners nominated for…
Price caps are a slippery slope
Sometimes it’s the little things that depress most. I groaned last week to hear the news item. The government is…
