Columns
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…
The strange obsession with Phillip Schofield
As I have noted before, there is always another circle. I thought that last week’s scandal (originally entitled ‘Suellagate’ or…
The case against Ulez – by a cyclist
Whether you’re more afraid of the forces of order or the forces of chaos is generally a matter of disposition.…
Is Sunak heading for a showdown over Rwanda?
When the Prime Minister first assembled his cabinet, the most controversial appointment was Suella Braverman as Home Secretary. She had…
Welcome to the theatre of the absurd
Iam on the horns of a dilemma, I am in a moral quandary. I had intended to spend this morning…
I know how AI will bring us down
On the smooth marble concourse by the exit doors at Heathrow Airport I met my first cleaning robot. It was…
There is such thing as a stupid question
Some people seem to make a career of being ashamed (or at least claiming to be ashamed) of their country.…
My verdict on Eurovision
I had the sudden suspicion, at about ten o’clock on Saturday night, that I was the only straight male in…
Tories’ thoughts are turning to defeat
Ever since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, his aides have worried that May would be the month of mutiny. His…
How to fake it till you make it
Not to sound too much like Kamala Harris during one of her peregrinations on the nature of time, but the…
