Status anxiety
How (and why) we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
Why we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
Why we lie to ourselves about opinion polls
A strange ritual takes place on Twitter most evenings at around 10.30 p.m. Hundreds of political anoraks start tweeting the…
I’m working to make education fairer. But I’m still not sure what ‘fairer’ means
Civitas has just published an interesting book called The Ins and Outs of Selective Secondary Schools. Edited by Anastasia de…
Could my son Charlie become a Premier League footballer?
My son Charlie was scouted by QPR last week. I say ‘scouted’, but that’s not quite accurate since he’s only…
My plan for Question Time: mug up and fail anyway
I was invited on Question Time this week, which gave me a few sleepless nights. Natalie Bennett’s disastrous interview on…
If you think Britain’s corrupt now, watch what happens if we ban second jobs for MPs
Last year, I had an exchange with Hugo Rifkind on Twitter in which I bet him dinner at Clarke’s that…
I don’t know why I’m against tax avoidance (and I bet you don’t either)
On the face of it, the moral case against tax avoidance seems pretty straightforward. If you’re a UK taxpayer and…
Immigration, not money, will improve Scotland's most deprived schools
I suppose we should be thankful that Nicola Sturgeon has acknowledged there’s a problem with Scotland’s public education system, even…
Like Arthur Daley playing Garry Kasparov: why I won’t miss Harry Redknapp
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008…
Come on, Tristram Hunt, if you think you’re hard enough
For a brief moment earlier this week, I thought education might become an issue in the general election campaign. The…
Page 3 was harmless. Here’s why I’ll miss it
‘I for one would be sorry to see them go,’ wrote George Orwell. ‘They are a sort of saturnalia, a harmless…
David Sedaris was right: litter is a class issue
David Sedaris is my new hero. Not because he’s such a funny writer, but because he’s obsessed with litter. He…
The misguided bid to turn Alan Turing into an Asperger’s martyr
When I first heard the story of Alan Turing in my late teens I made what must be quite a…
A year ago, I had big plans to unite the right. This year, I’m keeping my ambitions more modest
This time last year, I wrote an article saying my main project in 2014 would be to unite the right.…
What will it take to live up to my father’s Great Life?
I received a phone call the other day that I wasn’t expecting. It was a BBC producer calling about a…
Don't want paternity leave? Soon, you may not have a choice
Earlier this week, the law changed to enable men to share the leave that women are currently entitled to after…
If you want an argument against state-school-only Oxbridge colleges, just look at me
I read with some interest the proposal for Oxford and Cambridge to set up state-school-only colleges in the Guardian this…
Pity I’m a Celebrity’s token old guys
I had thought that my days of being approached by reality show producers hoping to put together a cast of…
The man feminists seemed to think was worse than the Taleban
Feature writers aren’t often acclaimed for their courage, but Neil Lyndon deserves a bronze plaque in St Bride’s. Twenty-two years…
Why schools can't teach character
I participated in a lively discussion about character education at Policy Exchange earlier this week. For those of you who…
I swam up to a beautiful girl on the beach, and my life changed
I’m writing this from Portugal, where I’m staying with my old friend Sean Langan. His family has owned a farm…
Russell Brand and Nigel Farage remind me of myself five years ago
I’m often asked by other free school proposers what lessons I’ve learnt over the past five years. Any pearls of…
I nearly missed out on The Walking Dead. You shouldn’t
I’m ashamed to say it took me a while to watch an episode of The Walking Dead, the fifth season…
You’ll regret not having a Human Rights Act when Labour get back in
I’ve been thinking about the Conservative party’s proposal for a Bill of Rights and am finding it difficult to make…
