Published in The Guardian (May 8th, 2013) There is something reassuringly Ruritanian about the rituals associated with the Queen’s speech, from those flunkies in gold-trimmed finery to the […]
Politics
Margaret Thatcher taught the next generation to set the agenda
Published in The Guardian (April 10th, 2013) The US academic Cass Sunstein was in Britain at the end of last month. In his usual slightly dishevelled style, he went […]
Policy / Politics / Welfare
The mutinous anger of Labour voters over welfare
Published in The Mail on Sunday (April 7th, 2013) Let me introduce you to two women I met on Friday. The first is Kathy Barratt, 33, a jobless […]
Disability / Policy / Politics / Welfare
All we can agree on is that welfare’s in a state
Published in The Independent (April 2nd, 2013) What a strange world we live in. A clutch of Church leaders spent their holiest weekend of the year queuing up to […]
Health / Policy / Politics
The man they couldn’t hang
Published in The Independent on Sunday (31st March, 2013) When the National Health Service rose like a merciful phoenix from the wreckage of a war-torn nation, its founder […]
Immigration / Policy / Politics
The immigration debate: evidence-free and more rancid than ever
Published in The Guardian (26th March, 2013) Nigel Farage must have been smiling to himself as he supped his pint of real ale last night. His party has no […]
Politics
What is the point of Tories posing as Ukip Lite?
Published in The Independent (March 2nd, 2013) Eastleigh was a humiliation for the Tories. It was so disastrous that party spokespeople were not even pretending there were silver […]
Europe / European Union / Politics
Sensible rebellion on Europe, for all the wrong reasons
Published in The Financial Times (November 2, 2012) From the start of his leadership, David Cameron urged his party to stop banging on about Europe. It alienated voters, he […]
Health / Policy
Why Danny Boyle’s rose-tinted homage to the NHS was so damaging
Published in the London Evening Standard (July 30th, 2012) The reviews are in, and the near-unanimous verdict on Danny Boyle’s extraordinary opening ceremony was that it was a […]
Economics / Politics
Politicians are the last people who should investigate corrupt City spivs
Published in The Daily Mail (July 4th, 2012) So farewell then, Bob Diamond. Few will mourn the departure from British public life of this arrogant and over-paid American, […]
Immigration / Policy / Politics
Labour’s cowardice on immigration is sickening
Published in The Independent (June 21st, 2012) Cyrus Kabiru should have been in Edinburgh next week. He has been picked as one of 19 people from around the […]
Politics
The end of privacy in British politics
Published in The Independent on Sunday (April 8th, 2012) Bumping into a trade union leader last week, we got chatting about the London mayoral election upon which so […]