Columnists

The reparations racket

2 November 2024 9:00 am

I have been trying to interest MPs of all parties in joining my call to persuade Barbados to say ‘thank…

The strange silence around the Southport attacks

2 November 2024 9:00 am

There are certain rules in British public life that are worth noting. Such as this one: if someone is killed…

Has the assisted dying lobby considered the guillotine?

2 November 2024 9:00 am

My young friend Dr Cajetan Skowkronski has helped me resolve a question that has been worrying me. Why do supporters…

Labour’s new cabinet divide

2 November 2024 9:00 am

There were no civil servants present when ministers gathered for their weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The reason? It was…

My AI boyfriend turned psycho

2 November 2024 9:00 am

Last week it was reported that a 14-year-old boy, Sewell Setzer, killed himself for the love of a chatbot, a…

Still hunting for a Trump trade? Gold may have further to rise

2 November 2024 9:00 am

Anyone hunting for a ‘Trump trade’ at this late stage has probably missed the US election bus. If you bought…

The 38 candidates to be Oxford’s chancellor

26 October 2024 9:00 am

Being Cambridge, I thank God that we have no nonsense about electing our chancellor. We have had a blameless, unchallenged…

The resurgence of Angela Rayner

26 October 2024 9:00 am

On Monday evening, the Strangers’ Bar at Westminster was treated to a rare sight: Angela Rayner looking happy, smiling and…

America’s last undecided voter

26 October 2024 9:00 am

This is the last column I’ll file before the American presidential election, and I’ve dreaded writing it for months. (The…

The ICC’s rogue prosecutor

26 October 2024 9:00 am

Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of 7 October, went to meet his maker last week. Having spent a year being pursued…

The lessons of the Chris Kaba case

26 October 2024 9:00 am

I wonder if we should join with the radical campaigning organisation Buy Larger Mansions (BLM) in order to protest about…

Wahed’s alarming Tube adverts

26 October 2024 9:00 am

As the interminable Budget wait goes on, so does the trawl through the Chancellor’s bin bags. I refer to the…

Do you like the century you’re in?

26 October 2024 9:00 am

Years ago Lord Patten of Barnes – Chris – was our guest for my Great Lives programme on BBC Radio…

Should we prioritise the LGBTQI community when disaster strikes?

19 October 2024 9:00 am

Are homosexuals and transgendered people more at risk from natural disasters than the rest of the population? I dare say…

The real problem with the Tory leadership contest

19 October 2024 9:00 am

James Cleverly found some unlikely support in parliament on Monday night. Having just been ousted from the Tory leadership contest,…

Why won’t David Lammy help Jimmy Lai?

19 October 2024 9:00 am

As I write, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, is flying to China. So I am only guessing when I say…

The rise of anti-Elonism

19 October 2024 9:00 am

You can tell a lot about a country by who it admires. I was pleasantly surprised some years ago to…

The rehabilitation of evil

19 October 2024 9:00 am

One of the many good reasons to want every new generation to study the second world war is that it…

In defence of eating out

19 October 2024 9:00 am

Scheduling the Budget almost four months after their election victory would have counted as a monumental misjudgment for the Labour…

Can Morgan McSweeney reboot the government machine?

12 October 2024 9:00 am

The Queen is dead: long live the King. This week brought an end to Downing Street’s unhappy experiment in dyarchy.…

Does Keir Starmer have a soul?

12 October 2024 9:00 am

One of the main arguments against hereditary peerages is that talent and ability are not always passed down across generations.…

Liberals are not just stupid – they’re dangerous

12 October 2024 9:00 am

We held a small party to celebrate the news that the UK had seen its largest rise in population in…

Who will dress Keir Starmer now?

12 October 2024 9:00 am

It is worth upholding the stuffy point which should have prevailed at the start. It was always improper and unethical…

My friend the pariah

12 October 2024 9:00 am

Spectator TV viewers may recall that in last week’s Americano podcast, Freddy Gray interviewed the University of Pennsylvania law professor…

The sugared-almond theory of economic consequence

12 October 2024 9:00 am

Let me ease you gently into a big and boring-sounding word for a small dishonesty that today corrupts the language…