Status anxiety
The real reason I’m a target for the twitchfork mob
Shortly after midnight on 1 January my phone began to vibrate repeatedly. Happy New Year messages from absent friends? No,…
It’s all shootin’, fishin’ and trufflin’ when lads and dads go out to play
Earlier this year I wrote a defence of driven shooting and ended by saying I hoped my children would have…
The subtle art of showing off at work
This has been an interesting year for me. Back in January, I took up a full-time job as director of…
My holiday hell with die-hard Remainers
I’m writing this on the easyJet flight back from Marrakech, where I have just spent a long weekend as a…
Why did Paperchase bow to a few bug-eyed Corbynistas?
Last Saturday, the high-street chain Paperchase ran a promotion in the Daily Mail offering two free rolls of wrapping paper.…
It’s a jungle in there, Stanley
Crikey Moses! Stanley Johnson has been cast as the token pensioner in the new series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me…
Another year, another tax leak – and the usual annual festival of hypocrisy
Stories about members of the establishment using offshore tax shelters — ooh er missus! — come along about once a…
Teach First has turned me into a free speech martyr
I had the unusual experience last Sunday of appearing on a panel to defend free speech having been the victim…
The tyranny of the bedtime story
All surveys carried out by retail businesses with a view to generating press coverage should be treated with extreme caution,…
Sadly, true grit can’t be taught
I am currently wrestling with a dilemma. I have agreed to contribute to a panel discussion on character education at…
I met Weinstein and, yes, I’d heard the rumours
According to an ex-employee of Harvey Weinstein’s, the movie producer once whispered something to himself that she found so disturbing…
Boris, the conviction politician
I’m writing this from the Conservative party conference where I can report that Boris Johnson, who has just wowed the…
Don’t let these figures depress you, girls
Are British teenagers suffering from an epidemic of mental illness? Yes, according to a ‘government-funded study’ which found that 24…
The mystery of socialism’s enduring appeal
One of the mysteries of our age is why socialism continues to appeal to so many people. Whether in the…
Do what they do, not what they say
Last month, two law professors named Amy Wax and Larry Alexander published a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer praising ‘bourgeois’…
All four of my kids will learn to shoot
I spent Monday morning being taught how to use a shotgun at E.J. Churchill, a shooting ground in High Wycombe.…
Spare me the encomiums for John le Carré
In Absolute Friends, one of John le Carré’s lesser works, the central character explains his rebirth as a left-wing firebrand,…
As easy as 1, 2, 3…
The amount of nonsense being talked about the new GCSEs in English and maths, whereby exams have been graded 9-1…
Hunt-the-iPhone was the highlight of my hols
For years, Caroline and I have been squabbling over where to spend our summer holidays. Her ideal is a family-friendly…
Don’t like our diversity agenda? You’re fired
Earlier this week, a technology website published an internal memo written by a Google employee called James Damore criticising the…
Parents, not schools, are key to the knowledge gap
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has just published a report looking at the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged 16-year-olds…
Now I get it – Corbyn is the new Murdoch
For our 16th wedding anniversary, Caroline and I went to the Almeida Theatre to see Ink, a new play about…
Winter is nearly here – bring on the body count
As a Game of Thrones fan, I feel ambivalent about the fact that the saga is finally wending its way…
My wife’s revenge has me at break point
Fifteen years ago, when I was The Spectator’s drama critic, Caroline used to complain that she had become a ‘theatre…
The trouble with diversity training
Is diversity training snake oil? According to its proponents, women and minorities are not competing with white men on a…
