Columns
Open letters have become ransom notes
In the States, the ‘open letter’ is enjoying quite the formal renaissance. Curiously, recent examples of this newly popular epistolary…
In an age of science, why are face masks a matter of opinion?
In 1846 Vienna, as across much of the world, a relatively new disease called puerperal (or ‘childbed’) fever had reached…
Why I will wear a face mask
We are enjoined by certain experts to wear face masks while having sexual intercourse. No change there, then, for me.…
The Union is in graver danger than ever
The greatest single danger to this government is the state of the Union. Prime ministers can survive many things, but…
My fears for the future of my church have been realised
The only memorable argument I have ever heard in that tedious debate about whether Shakespeare was a Catholic came from…
She was just a damn cat – and I loved her
I’ve never dug a grave before. But that was how I spent my Sunday afternoon. Three feet is awfully deep…
When is a democracy not a democracy?
Displaying the pristine neutrality that has made her such a popular figure, Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis apparently tweeted the following last…
The Spanish approach to face masks
We self-critical British should never forget that other nations are pretty crazy too. I write this from Andalusia, Spain; and…
The young are the most vulnerable to the Covid crash
Coronavirus is deadlier for the old than the young. But for the young, it is economically devastating. A third of…
We’re making a spectacle of shame
When I was about ten, on return home from church I ate a peach, the juice of which dribbled down…
The pandemic’s invisible victims
I sometimes pick up some food at Tesco for an 86-year-old pensioner who lives a few streets over. At the…
How Keir Starmer has reshaped Labour
For the first time in 13 years, the public, when polled, think a Labour leader would make the best prime…
To understand the past, you need to inhabit it for a while
‘It’s no go my honey love, it’s no go my poppet; Work your hands from day to day, the winds…
Don’t play a game you can’t win
Of all the people who have made cash in the past month, few can have raked it in like Robin…
Will the shock of Covid change anything?
Earlier this month, a curious report caught my attention. Apparently there exists no rigorously established evidence that electric shock therapy,…
Why Biden might be better for Brexit Britain
At the best of times, US presidential elections require the British government to walk a tightrope. In 1992, a Tory…
Political pandering won’t prevent Covid deaths
When the media have gone large on the conclusions of an overpoweringly tedious report, one of the biggest favours a…
Does anyone think Boris has handled this well?
I don’t know what’s happened to our football hooligans. The modern malaise, I suppose. A gradual descent into ineffectuality. Back…
Why ‘football thugs’ want to defend statues
‘Saturday the 13th … everyone’s out to go up town to do Antifa. Loads of West Ham, Millwall, Chelsea, Arsenal,…
Is a Brexit deal within reach?
Trade talks between the UK and the EU are in a better place than they have been at any point…
This could have been a great opportunity for the Church
During these months of inertia, I confess to having on occasion made illicit trips to churches in the English countryside.…
Marching against racism is too easy
When I first saw the footage of George Floyd being asphyxiated by a policeman’s knee on his throat, my reaction…
Normality won’t return until schools do
From Monday, you will be required by law to wear a face covering on public transport. Paradoxically, this is a…
The closing down of debate worries me most
The Eastern Orthodox Church has decided that yoga is incompatible with Christianity. This is an enormous problem for me, as…
The dying need real conversation, not false cheeriness
A nurse friend recently finished six weeks in a Covid intensive care unit where she witnessed many deaths and always…
