Columns
The case for Chinese reparations
It is time we started to talk about reparations. I am not of course referring to the demands made by…
Can Boris win round his rebel MPs?
The beginning of the end for Theresa May was when she tried to see if she could pass her Brexit…
The public sector delusion
I wonder how much more money we will have to bung the teachers in order to inculcate within them an…
We need a dose of vaccine realism
One of my geniuses as both a commentator and a character is to confront what for most normal people amounts…
Soft-left squatters have taken over the Lib Dems
I was never afraid of Jeremy Corbyn, never afraid of Momentum. I’ve never really feared Britain’s hard left at all.…
Here comes President Joebama
‘So you’re seeing a team develop that I have great confidence in,’ said former president Barack Obama this week when…
Donald Trump won’t leave me alone
Ever since I saw him in Pensacola, Florida the other week, Donald J. Trump will not leave me alone. Each…
More devolution in England could save the Union
Tory MPs are already starting to talk about May’s various elections. Boris Johnson’s first post-Covid electoral test will take place…
How moral is it to refuse a vaccine?
Well thank goodness for that, eh? Just as we reached our darkest hour and resigned ourselves to an endless series…
The march of the fascist mushrooms
It has been too long coming. While conscientious and decent liberals have tried to explain why, to their horror, millions…
What the three types of Trump supporter really want
As Democrats’ colossal collective sigh of relief drives wind turbines even over in Britain, let’s not lose sight of the…
Voters have lost their nerve
Elections teach us nothing. Instead, each tribe dredges succour from the minutiae, proving that they had been right all along.…
Will the vaccine revive Boris?
The first full week of the new national lockdown had the potential to be very difficult for Boris Johnson. Although…
It’s shameful how we have locked down our elderly
There’s a lot I don’t know about care home visits during this pandemic. I don’t know how straightforward it would…
In defence of Emily in Paris
A frothy new drama called Emily in Paris arrived on Netflix last month. Starring Lily Collins — daughter of Phil…
This lockdown comes at a high political cost
Keir Starmer has his first attack line of the next general election campaign. He will say that England’s second lockdown…
There is no Santa Claus, Sir Patrick
It seems, then, that this latest lockdown has been instigated simply to protect two very questionable institutions — the National…
America sails into the unknown
Washington, DC On election day in the capital there is no thrill in the air, but there is a sound:…
Why I’m ducking the Rashford debate
Moments arrive when it becomes clear you’re losing the zeitgeist. Whatever might be the spirit of the era, you don’t…
I’m voting to make America boring again
I just spent £2.50 in postage to bring about one of the last things I want. Specifically, the next-to-last thing…
The morality of free school meals
The main problem with the government giving in over free school meals during the holidays — other than that it…
What will post-pandemic politics look like?
A few days ago, I came across a group of Tory MPs in a House of Commons corridor looking rather…
The Hay festival’s uneasy dance with the UAE
The Hay Festival, memorably described by Bill Clinton as ‘the Woodstock of the mind’, has, over the past couple of…
Boris Johnson’s high-risk Brexit strategy
There’s a reason why No. 10 is always so inclined to ratchet up the tension in any given scenario. Downing…
Spare us David Hare
Having not watched television for nine months and already growing bored of the 1,000-piece jigsaw of General Alfredo Stroessner (part…
