Features
Why are lefties so sycophantic to Margaret Thatcher?
I’ve been scratching my head for the past half hour trying to work out how I would react if I were a Conservative MP and a BBC reporter stuffed a… Read more
Richard Dawkins has lost: meet the new new atheists
The atheist spring that began just over a decade ago is over, thank God. Richard Dawkins is now seen by many, even many non-believers, as a joke figure, shaking his… Read more
Will the Guardian and the Independent kill the Grand National?
Over the past few years a new trend has emerged in British journalism. Our trade has become over-run with reporters or columnists who are not quite what they seem. They… Read more
Her brilliant career
In 1975, when Keith Joseph dropped out of the race for the Tory leadership and his campaign manager stepped into his place, almost no one took it seriously. She was… Read more
Clear choice for the Tories
If I start with a reference to the sorry condition of the Tory party, I hope readers will not immediately turn to another page. If only the Tories can take… Read more
Mrs Thatcher’s triumph
There was never a more disenchanted victory. The moment the size of the Tory swing was known, the doubts began, not least among those hundreds of thousands who had voted… Read more
The Falklands victory
A little rejoicing is now in order, but only a little. We may rejoice that the Falklands war did not end in a bloodbath at Port Stanley, that the Argentinians… Read more
Mrs Thatcher goes to Brussels
‘Délégation Royaume Uni. Salle 4’ announces a scruffy piece of paper projected onto the black and white television screens of the Centre Charlemagne. The journalists hurry upstairs for the latest… Read more
After the Brighton bomb
It is worth pointing out yet again that Mrs Thatcher really was very brave last Friday. It would have been no disgrace to her if, once she had realised how… Read more
Three faces of Thatcher
Politicians can be divided into two categories; those whose public face is different from their private face and those for whom they are the same; put another way, those who… Read more
Trying to get the mad, broody chicken off her addled eggs
A friend who is not normally receptive to left-wing or republican ideas suddenly exclaimed at dinner in my house the other day that he was bored, sickened and disgusted by… Read more
Working for Mrs Thatcher
A doctor providing geriatric care once told me of the damage Mrs Thatcher had done to the NHS. He used to employ a simple test to find out whether his… Read more
All the Iron Ladies
The day Mrs Thatcher became Leader of the Opposition was a nightmare. Her victory over Mr Heath meant that I had to do a cartoon featuring her for the next day’s… Read more
East vs East - Asia's new arms race
It is, by now, clear that Kim Jong-un is madder than his father. He’s blasted off North Korea’s third nuclear test and plans to restart its nuclear reactor, as his… Read more
Pippa Middleton's Alpine diary
I thought the Haute Route was going to be easier than the Engadin, the cross-country ski marathon I recently completed in St Moritz. I was very wrong. It was sold… Read more
Diarmaid MacCulloch: Am I anti-Catholic?
Does being gay make you a better historian? ‘Immensely, immensely,’ says Diarmaid MacCulloch. ‘From a young age, four or five onwards, I began to realise that the world was not… Read more
How NHS health tourism is costing us billions: a surgeon's story
When David Cameron proposed toughening the rules that govern foreign nationals being treated for free by the National Health Service, he faced — as one might expect — a barrage of criticism.… Read more
The Property of Michael Gray, If Found
A sample of things people should know about, or have heard of, whether they’re 12 or not: George Washington, George Gershwin, George Eliot, Henry Ford, Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley, Jane… Read more
Why is Nelson Mandela's health a state secret?
When President Jacob Zuma reassures a journalist, as he did last week, that Nelson Mandela’s condition is improving slightly, the entire world sighs with relief. Yet it has become hard… Read more
The kibbutz goes capitalist
Galilee: The last time I was here, the kibbutz was filled with sunburnt, muscular, sweaty Israelis covered in dark curly hair, driving Jeeps, so handsome I’d spill my Jaffa orange… Read more
Latest blogs
- George Osborne’s Mansion House minefield Isabel Hardman
- What the Banking Commission report says about… Isabel Hardman
- It looks like we must hope for the best in Syria Douglas Murray
- Exclusive: Tories go public with EU referendum bill Isabel Hardman
- Syria crisis: debate turns to shoulda, woulda, coulda on tactics Isabel Hardman
- Cable and Willetts: the house-trained ministers? James Forsyth
- Ben Fountain interview: Lies are an affront to writers because lying is the corruption of language Stephen McEwen
