UK politics
Ed Miliband’s problem isn’t his image. It’s us
That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was the cause…
George Osborne’s cynical grab for northern votes (and why I’m for it)
When John Prescott used to wax garrulous about a ‘superhighway’ from Hull to Liverpool, everyone assumed it was a wheeze…
Does Ukip believe in anything any more?
I’m worried about Ukip. It’s possible that my concerns are entirely misplaced but let me give you some examples of…
What is David Cameron’s big idea?
In almost a decade as Conservative leader, David Cameron has tended to avoid talking about his political philosophy. He has…
Ukip isn’t a national party. It’s a Tory sickness
It can happen that something ought to feel wrong yet somehow doesn’t; and you wonder whether this means that in…
Was I abused by Jimmy Savile?
‘Twenty-six million people in Europe are looking for work. And whose jobs are they after?’ asks the Ukip poster for…
Yes, Britain is a Christian country
I can’t say it was a great surprise to read a letter from a group of well-known authors, academics, comedians…
We have to tell the truth about Tony Benn now. Who will hear it later?
I could start by remarking that we should not speak ill of the dead, quoting the pertinent Latin phrase: de…
Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and the return of Tory wars
From the moment he took his job, Michael Gove knew that he would make energetic and determined enemies. The teachers’…
Any other business: Britain’s chaotic energy policy puts us in Putin’s hands
To have written last month that the headline ‘Kiev in flames’ looked like a black swan on the economic horizon…
Welcome to the age of four-party politics
Two things will make the next general election campaign quite unlike any previous election in this country. The first is…
Britain needs small government, not weak government. That means strong flood defences
There is nothing inevitable about the by now familiar sight of residents being towed away from flooded homes, of shops…
If David Cameron can't get the floods right, all his hopes will wash away
It is all hands to the pump in Downing Street. The entire No. 10 operation from the Prime Minister down…
Revealed: how green ideology turned a deluge into a flood
The ideology that created an unnatural disaster
Alex Salmond is within striking distance of victory. Why hasn’t England noticed?
Alex Salmond is on course to win. Why hasn’t England noticed?
What the NHS owes the Tories
Pinned to the wall of Jeremy Hunt’s office in the Department of Health is an A1 piece of paper detailing…
Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East's 30 year war
Sunni vs Shia, Saudi Arabia vs Iran. A new great war has begun
Cameron’s mission for 2014: stay out of third place
European elections are normally an afterthought in British politics. As even David Cameron admits, most of us struggle to remember…
When trolling pressure groups cause real harm
My grandmother, Nanny Nancy, is 99 and going strong. But it can’t be denied that while she’s all there mentally,…
Any other business: Oh dear... perhaps Standard Chartered isn't as dull as it looks
The cautionary tale of the Co-operative Bank, its black hole and its naughty chairman has recently taught us that if…
Benefits Street exposes Britain's dirty secret - how welfare imprisons the poor
A documentary has finally exposed what life is like at the bottom. So why is the left so angry?
The fight for compassionate Conservatism
‘Has the Secretary of State, like me, managed to watch programmes such as Benefits Street and On Benefits & Proud?…
Ed Miliband's immigration nightmare
Victor Spirescu came to Britain last week looking for work washing cars, but seems to have landed himself with a…
Why should Nigel Farage have to fight the ghost of Enoch Powell?
One of the genuine seasonal pleasures to be enjoyed as 2013 slipped around the U-bend was Enoch Powell making his…
Rod Liddle: Under New Labour, it really was the loony left
There is a little vignette in the first volume of Alastair Campbell’s diaries that makes it abundantly clear that, at…
