Columns
The two books that made me a Conservative
From time to time newspapers invite writers to describe the ‘books that changed my life’. The resulting columns too often…
Rishi Sunak is about to feel winter’s sting
During the Tory leadership contest this summer, it was frequently said that whoever won would face the most politically difficult…
The march of the local council dictators
I was impressed with the passion Sir Keir Starmer managed to whip up within himself when presenting Gordon Brown’s interminable…
Lady Hussey and the truth we dare not speak
Though it was sensible for Lady Susan Hussey to resign, I do find the chorus of disapproval that has greeted…
Britain doesn’t need reinventing
What is the most hubristic line ever written? Against some very stiff competition I would say it is that famous…
What Trump really wants
Over the years, I’ve received my share of green-ink author’s mail. You know, from folks who’ve discovered an exciting variety…
Why Tories are taking early retirement
Conservative party strategists face nervous days ahead as they wait to see how many Tory MPs will announce they are…
In defence of fairy tales
One by one, life’s harmless little pleasures are outlawed by an overweening, repressive government. The Online Safety Bill has been…
I was wrong about the CCP
I’ve always loved the Chinese national anthem. I used to think I was the loudest Communist Youth League pioneer as…
Fifa has scored a spectacular own goal
Unlike some fair-weather fans I maintain a fairly constant interest in the workings of Fifa. Not because I especially care…
Why Starmer’s going after the Lords
It’s not just the government that’s now beholden to forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. Keir Starmer told the…
The truth about the World Cup
You have to admire their bravery, don’t you? The stoicism with which they put up a fight in the name…
‘We’ can’t know how the very poorest live
I’ve been conducting a straw poll. Using incidental encounters with people who don’t follow politics closely, I’m learning what ordinary…
Should the better-off pay more for everything?
Once the energy price cap expires in April, the Chancellor is apparently considering the levy of ‘social tariffs’ on the…
The contours of the next election have been set
Since the 2008 financial crash, British politics has been moving faster and faster, and becoming less stable. This frenzy reached…
A course in Rod Liddle studies
As someone who has always had a grotesquely inflated sense of his own importance, my experience speaking at Durham University…
There’s nothing magic about magic mushrooms
For about six straight hours after taking magic mushrooms – psilocybin – I had visions of a vast, skeletal shark…
The delicious fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
Dame Edna Everage says one of life’s most precious gifts is the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others.…
Advertising’s false picture
An advert for jobs in the prison service has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority because it portrays an…
Kamala’s blagging it
We throw around pejoratives such as ‘Idiot!’ a bit too carelessly, because then when we need to flag up genuinely…
What Liz Truss got right
Soon after Kwasi Kwarteng’s not-so-mini-Budget, I found myself in conversation with former aides to David Cameron and Boris Johnson respectively.…
We’ve lost interest in our dependencies
Let nobody say Liz Truss achieved nothing in her mayfly days at Downing Street. She gave away the vast British…
The weaponisation of ‘bullying’
Bullying appears to be suffering from inflation, like everything else. Certainly as an art form it seems to be in…
How to balance immigration and jobs
Immigration is now at the top of the political agenda in a way that it hasn’t been since the vote…
Cutting the links with reality
It was a difficult one for the BBC, but they got through it. The problem was this: how to do…
