Status anxiety
The extraordinary Green manifesto
I’m disappointed that Ed Balls’s suggestion that the Office of Budget Responsibility should audit the parties’ manifestos was never taken…
Is this election a Champions League game? Or Millwall vs Brighton?
I’ve been trying to think of a good football analogy to describe the battle between the two main parties as…
Miliband vs Millwall
I’ve been trying to think of a good football analogy to describe the battle between the two main parties as…
Miliband vs Millwall
I’ve been trying to think of a good football analogy to describe the battle between the two main parties as…
Lefty myths about inequality
As a Tory, I’ve been thinking a lot about inequality recently. Has it really increased in the past five years?…
Lefty myths about inequality
As a Tory, I’ve been thinking a lot about inequality recently. Has it really increased in the past five years?…
Lefty myths about inequality
As a Tory, I’ve been thinking a lot about inequality recently. Has it really increased in the past five years?…
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…
