Diary
As V&A director, I won’t save Clive of India
‘Pray for us St Sebastian that we may deserve to pass through this pestilence,’ reads the inscription on a 15th-century…
We are living through a frenzy of conformity
Reality seems thinner these days. As I walk along the high street, passers-by drift apart as though afraid of crossing…
Social distancing destroys our lives as social beings
A lockdown diary is an oddly negative thing. At the dinner parties that we aren’t going to, we aren’t discussing…
Let’s not forget all the decent cops out there
One victim of police brutality is police decency. Our son has a tutor, J., who works with autistic kids in…
The Cummings road trip debacle is my last straw
I can’t remember the day I realised Santa Claus wasn’t real but I will never forget the moment I lost…
My lockdown achievement? Getting shingles
The choir of Notre Dame made a recording of Howard Goodall’s beautiful version of Psalm 23. Unlike cathedral choirs here…
The revenge of the oldies
Entering my 54th day of quarantine, I recall how much I was looking forward to this spring in England. There…
Can London’s theatres survive this crisis?
Never have I stared at my own face so much. Not because I want to, it’s just always there now,…
Rachel Johnson: What I wish I’d said about my brother’s treatment
When the post office and stores closed in our village on Exmoor, my youngest stared out of the car window…
Ian McEwan: The strange vocabulary of coronavirus
The vocabulary of Brexit has passed into oblivion. Now there’s fresh work to be done. We all know about ‘flattening…
How did the virus get past my Obsessive Compulsive Corona Disorder?
When two members of my family went down with what appears to be Covid-19, I felt concerned. What I hadn’t…
This is the life I’ve always wanted — social distancing without social disapproval
Week five… which is to say I’ve been self-isolating in the country since 6 March. Meanwhile, engagements which threatened a…
Life, of a sort, still goes on in New York City
‘How are you bearing up?’ ‘Is everyone terrified?’ ‘What’s the mood?’ These are the questions concerned family and friends are…
Michael Morpurgo: Kale smoothies, writing, Pilates – my strict isolation schedule
Writers like me are used to long hours alone. I’ve never enjoyed that side of it. I don’t like the…
Sajid Javid: Why can’t my mum buy groceries?
As every Chancellor knows, behind every figure in the Treasury lie thousands of human stories. At times like these, saving…
Suzanne Moore: I was hurt that so many of my ‘colleagues’ denounced me
I have been trying to write about a great unpleasantness for some time: the trans debate that we don’t really…
Nick Robinson: Am I a superspreader?
‘Aren’t you meant to be in quarantine?’ the man in the cloakroom queue asks. I sense that his enquiry is…
Prue Leith: My carbon footprint should put me in jail
I made the mistake of saying I thought insects might help feed the world. They are high-protein, cheap to farm…
Julian Smith: Despite being sacked, it has been a weirdly good week
A doctor will tell you heart attacks may appear to come out of the blue, but if you look carefully,…
Susan Hill: The brilliance of the NHS cancer service
Exactly 50 years ago I drove, for the first visit of many, across country to Aldeburgh in Suffolk, following the…
Sarah Sands: I never wanted to climb the BBC career ladder
After I took the editor’s job at Today on Radio 4 nearly three years ago I had to answer to…
Rory Stewart: How will Brexit be remembered when my son gets to my age?
I still live in the same house, in London, in which I lived as a baby. I walk my five-year-old…
Andrew Doyle: I may have to kill off Titania McGrath
I start the week by going through my iPhone to delete the numbers of former friends. It sounds depressing, but…
I was joking about Meghan and Harry becoming king and queen of Canada
Washington, D.C. On 8 January, I tweeted about the Sussex-Markles: ‘Obviously the plan is to return to Canada, lead a…
Fraser Nelson: What categories should we include in our Parliamentarian of the Year awards?
The night before our last issue went to press, I received a message from the Prime Minister saying that he…
