Desmond Tutu leaves an extraordinary legacy
The tributes paid to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose death was announced yesterday, highlight the extraordinary contribution he made to the fight against the evils of apartheid in…
In 2021, the Tories surrendered the country to the medical-socialist state
It’s funny: I’ve done a lot this year (bought a flat, bought a dog, published a book), yet it’s felt like one of the worst I can…
Around the World in 80 Days, episodes 1 and 2 review: a fun story that needed far fewer changes
“I was hoping for a little more colour.” The words of Abigail Fix in Around the World in 80 Days (BBC One) after she asked Phileas Fogg…
Death in Paradise Christmas special, review: a half-hearted attempt at festive cheer
The blurb for the Death in Paradise special (BBC One) promised “a ray of Caribbean sunshine this Christmas time”. I’ve seen more sunshine on a wet weekend…
A Very British Scandal, review: a poor attempt at redeeming a truly unlikeable person
But there isn’t a single sympathetic note. Margaret is a spoiled, scheming, pathological liar. At some level, she is the product of her upbringing: an indulgent father…
Exclusive: Lockdown may have sent would-be terrorists on ‘dark journey’ to radicalisation, warns Damian Hinds
“The three countries that I mentioned to you have physical human capability, they have a big cyber presence, they’re able to deploy at scale,” Mr Hinds says….
Schools plan to send home whole year groups as Covid fears mount
By Sunday evening, no recall of Parliament had been announced. Similarly, no urgent meeting of the Cabinet to discuss tightening the Covid rules had been called. Government…
Politicians should be ashamed of their opposition to fracking
Here is something odd, however. While gas prices are soaring in Europe, in the US they have barely moved. Measured by oil barrel equivalent, US gas is…
Parliament repairs could force MPs out of the building for 20 years
A refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament could force MPs out of the Palace of Westminster for two decades. Under the restoration plan the cost of repairs…
Boxing Day hunts outfox opponents as councils waste money on ‘politically motivated’ bans
Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: “Thankfully, in more cases than not, councillors have rejected these pointless motions, but others have seen it as…
Questor: tell me, Santa – will the long awaited stock market crash finally come in 2022?
Moreover, a range of stocks continue to trade on very modest valuations. Industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, or which have not been obvious…
Rules relaxed on who can take out a 40-year mortgage
Home buyers who fix their mortgage for four decades can now borrow seven times their salary, including those earning below average salaries. Habito, a lender, has relaxed…
‘I still get royalties from Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’
Brenda Lee, 77, is the American singer who found fame in 1960 with I’m Sorry. She has sold more than 100 million records and Rockin’ Around the…
The great escape: where Londoners fled to during the pandemic
Those selling up in the capital favoured Dartford in Kent as their top destination, followed by Wokingham in Berkshire and Epping Forest in Essex. Meanwhile, Londoners made…
How MotoGP’s new young marvel ‘grew up’ to make championship history
Quartararo openly wears his emotions, and 2020 saw plenty of histrionics, whether it was missing a qualification lap attempt or frustration with results or Yamaha’s mechanical woes….
Twixmas was invented by women. Why? So finally, we can switch off
If you’re reading this in loungewear, prone on the sofa surrounded by wilfully esoteric Christmas treats and only a hazy idea of what day it is, then…
Dear Richard: ‘I’m still grieving for my husband, but my children want me to celebrate’
Dear Richard, My husband died shortly after Christmas last year. It wasn’t Covid-19 but the pressures on the NHS arising from the pandemic did impact on the…
Can a vanilla inhaler trick my brain into quitting sugar?
Dr Nicole Avena, an associate professor of neuroscience who studies sugar’s effects on the brain at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, says such gadgets could work…
I’ve had Christmas migraines for years – but the pandemic has made them worse
My migraines started with a vengeance in my 40s. It is not usual for them to start in midlife, but the headaches I had been suffering since…
Why we can’t resist an aristocracy sex scandal
John Julius Norwich once said to me about his father Duff Cooper, who married Lady Diana Manners (and who was friends with the Duke and Duchess of…
Liz Truss, like Mrs Thatcher before her, has shown the reforming power of a Tory convert
What do Margaret Thatcher and Liz Truss have in common? Many of the comparisons being made between the two are rather lazy. All politicians are shaped by…
Britain’s USSR sympathisers are ignoring the regime’s horrors
On Christmas Day, thirty years ago, a fabulous present was given to the people of Russia. Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics declared:…
Israel is the best thing to happen to Christians in the Holy Land for centuries
Every year at Christmas, some Christian prelate warns of the fate of Christians in the Holy Land. This year it was Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and…
Britain is still a Christian country
For the rectors, vicars and parish priests who will finally slump, exhausted, over their Christmas lunch today after a round of Midnight Masses and morning services, it…
Our New Year’s resolution should be to stop cancelling dead white men
Growing up Jewish and a girl, I was immersed in a cultural inheritance created almost entirely by people either unlike me, or opposed to me: Christian men,…