Columns
In defence of Elon Musk
I know a man who plans to burn an effigy of Elon Musk on his bonfire on 5 November. Musk…
The negligence of ‘not in my lifetime’
It is sometimes said, correctly, that conservatism is more an attitude than an ideology. And for me there have always…
Will the Tory truce hold?
During the summer leadership race between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, Sunak’s team were braced for a bloodbath if he…
Money is rotting
Punters and pundits alike reacted to rising mortgage rates in the wake of Truss’s mini-Budget with indignant horror. Leaving aside…
What everyone knows but no one says about Brexit
Theresa May’s premiership is now a memory. Boris Johnson’s time in office assumes the status of a rather brief, if…
The West’s uncivilised euthanasia policy
So much is happening on the surface at the moment that it can be difficult to notice certain undercurrents. Since…
Why I won’t be watching Qatar’s World Cup
The pop-up ad I get most frequently these days is David Beckham’s promotional video for the Islamic sandpit of Qatar,…
The Liz Truss survival plan
At the first stage of the Conservative leadership race, when Liz Truss was trying to win MPs’ support, her message…
Why can’t I give blood?
I read about the national shortage of blood last week with a feeling of gloomy inevitability. The brains of the…
Nobody wanted Liz Truss
One of the most important ingredients in the oil used to anoint King Charles during his coronation is becoming a…
How to protest the protestors
These are bleak times in our land, and we must take our pleasures where we can. Personally I have been…
Kwasi vs the markets
Warren Buffett famously said that ‘when the tide goes out, you see who is swimming naked’. Now that the tide…
The joy of tuning in to the night
‘That element of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency,’ wrote George Eliot in Middlemarch, ‘has not yet…
Should failing students really graduate as doctors?
If I seem to be bashing universities lately, they’ve asked for it. The prestigious New York University in lower Manhattan…
The SDP is the anti-futility party
Two lessons learned from the breakfast buffet at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester. First, the plates are no longer minuscule,…
Is what Conor Burns did really so appalling?
There are times when I feel like certain rakes must have done when they realised that the Regency period was suddenly…
Truss is hurting the free-market cause
In theory, I should be delighted about the Liz Truss project. She is saying the things I’ve been arguing for…
Things can always get worse
As I was saying, way back in July, it is hard to love the Conservative party. Every time it tries…
Smoking is more hassle than it’s worth
I gave up smoking one year ago this week, as part of a series of pitiful capitulations to the forces…
Could it be Rishi by Christmas?
What was supposed to be a recovery moment for the Conservatives instead looks like a collective nervous breakdown. The Prime…
I’m in trouble with the police
There is almost nothing I like more than a running battle. As my friend Julie Burchill also says, when a…
Maybe Nanny does know best
Not least among the shivers down my spine as I listen to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng pump up the…
Shame should not be heritable
Vice-chancellor Stephen Toope claims it was ‘inevitable’ that a university ‘as long-established as Cambridge’ would have links to slavery. Now…
How high a price will Truss pay?
This year’s Conservative party conference was supposed to be a moment of celebration for the new Tory leader. Instead there…
Are you feeling lucky?
There was an article recently in the increasingly woke but still useful New Scientist which attempted to gauge the degree…
