Columns
Our shifting definition of shame
In this most holy month of Pride I have been making my observances by thinking about shame. After all, shame…
British politics is stuck
One of the favourite phrases of British political commentators is ‘oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them’. As with all…
In defence of Carrie Johnson
One is not usually surprised by opinions volunteered to parliamentary hopefuls by voters on whose doors the candidate has knocked;…
The January 6 hearings are partisan political theatre
Is it possible to hold two ideas in our heads at once? If so, I should like to put forward…
If only Tom Cruise would ditch his cult
I keep reading that Tom Cruise is the Last Great Movie Star, as if he’s some noble but endangered animal.…
The reason Glastonbury is so white
The former comedian Sir Lenny Henry has questioned why there seem to be so few black people at rock festivals…
Boris Johnson’s loss of authority
There is an uneasy truce in the Tory party. The 148 MPs who voted no confidence in Boris Johnson last…
The Tory cadets who want a shot at the top
When Conservative prime ministers face a problem of logistics – from ambulance-driver shortages to border-force failures – there is a…
I’m out to get Boris
‘Steady on, old chap. You’re a bit hard on the boy.’ The arm around my shoulder was that of Boris…
The British Empire’s despicable treatment of mermaids
I may have broken the law this week, without having intended to, so great was my rush to return home.…
A win for the film critics of Bradford
As a general rule, you should never talk about a film you haven’t seen. But The Lady of Heaven is…
Does advertising matter?
‘Stop! Don’t fast-forward. I love this advert!’ How often do you say that? Considering that some commercial breaks run to…
How to win my vote
The repeated injunction that we should all ‘move on’ from worrying our silly heads about partygate is as otiose as…
Not all masculinity is ‘toxic’
Anyone who has passed through an education in thepast decade will have encountered the term ‘toxic masculinity’. It is one…
The closing of the Chinese mind
I was born in Nanjing five years after the Tiananmen Square protests. By then, records of the demonstrations and the…
Boris may be toppled by accident
Every Tory leader fears a plot against them. Their paranoia isn’t helped by the layout of Westminster, which lends itself…
For Boris, the hard bit is just beginning
Boris Johnson has been plunged back into the mire of partygate. The publication of a photograph of Johnson raising a…
Why I was almost thrown out of South Africa
On my 2 p.m. arrival for a week-long work trip to South Africa a fortnight ago, an immigration agent flapped…
Monkeypox, Covid and the trouble with our species
I hate to be one of those columnists who says ‘I told you so’. But I told you so. Looking…
Are you paying attention?
I have just posted a score of 1,625,000 on Bubbleshooter, my best yet. Bubbleshooter is a game where you fire…
The close friend I never really knew
I have just read an extraordinary new book. It’s by a close and old pal whom I’d count as one…
What we learnt from Eurovision
Twice during the Eurovision Song Contest our television lost the signal and the set went blank – once, mercifully, during…
Boris’s plan to divide and conquer
Boris Johnson has never quite been able to decide whether he wants to be a great unifier or a great…
The dishonesty of how we respond to tragedies
It isn’t hard to notice that some crimes are more important than others. Or at least more politically advantageous. It…
The nonsense world of emotional support animals
Sometimes an event or a phenomenon is so perplexing and so terrible that it’s best not to deal with it…
