My fellow Tories must calm down – mid-term wobbles are very normal
Some days you wake up wondering if you’ve taken a step back in time. This week Peter Duncan, the former Galloway MP, called for the Scottish Conservatives…
Absenteeism is crippling Britain
With Christmas and New Year falling at a weekend, the festive break has been extended a few days into January but today should see a mass return…
Attenborough’s Wonder of Song, review: forget Taylor Swift, listen to the lyrebirds
It’s been a while since a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. To hear one in Britain these days, unless you’re very fortunate, you will need to go…
Four Lives, review: quite simply as good as true-crime TV drama gets
In a sea of police dramas, Four Lives (BBC One) stands out. That’s because the police are the villains, rather than the heroes. It is a true-life…
Covid outbreak rules too strict, say care homes, as residents denied visitors for up to a month
Care homes have called for Covid outbreak criteria to be changed, as residents are denied visitors for up to a month because of just two cases. Government…
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes: More vulnerable children to be protected during lockdown school closures
Emma Tustin was found guilty of the “wicked and evil” murder of Arthur last month, while Thomas Hughes, his father, was convicted of his manslaughter. When Arthur…
Hire more middle-aged officers if you are serious about diversity, police told
If police forces are to be truly diverse and represent the communities they serve, they should recruit more middle-aged officers, a senior police leader has suggested. According…
Sturgeon urged to lift Scotland’s Covid curbs, as just one omicron patient in intensive care
Sandesh Gulhane, the health spokesman for the Scottish Tories, called on Ms Sturgeon to urgently bring Scotland’s self-isolation rules into line with the rest of the UK….
Stick to Plan B but brace for pressure on NHS, says Boris Johnson
However, Mr Hopson said it was “very clear that the NHS in the rest of the country outside London is now coming under the significant pressure that…
‘Super stranded’ patients take up 3,000 more NHS hospital beds in a year
Over the past week, the total number of Covid cases in hospital has risen further, to 14,210. However, the numbers requiring ventilation has remained stable, with 769…
Bitter row as sugar tax millions diverted away from fighting childhood obesity
The Government has quietly abandoned a promise to spend millions of pounds in revenue from the sugar tax on fighting childhood obesity. When the levy on soft…
The best way to invest an inheritance: stocks, pension or paying off the mortgage?
Receiving an inheritance can be a pivotal moment in life and it is common to feel pressure to do the “right” thing with the money. Gaining a…
‘TSB refused to refund me after I was scammed, despite its fraud refund guarantee’
Sally says: Readers who turned to my column on Boxing Day will have seen my review of the most common complaints I investigated in 2021. I am…
Dear Richard: ‘Is it too late for me to make a difference in the world?’
Dear Richard, I have a happy home life and a reasonably stimulating job in finance. During the depths of Covid we bunkered down, working from home, shopping…
Did you get a metal detector for Christmas? Here’s what to do next…
So, on Christmas Day, you unwrapped your metal detector – the one you’ve wanted since you were 13. Now what? Surely it’s only a matter of time…
How to feed your gut to lose weight and fight illness
A diet that lets you eat more I’m not promoting a fully vegan diet, because research doesn’t necessarily support that from a health perspective. I’m not even…
‘It took a car crash for me to turn my health around’
Rajiv Bajekal, 60, is a spine surgeon and lifestyle medicine practitioner and lives in Middlesex I was driving to a friend’s house a few days before Christmas,…
What every woman needs to know about DES, the miscarriage drug being linked with breast cancer
DES, which was given as pills, creams and vaginal suppositories, is classified as an endocrine disrupting chemical, one of a number of substances that interfere with the…
Everyone needs a new year’s resolution swap list – here’s how to cheat the system
You swap for… buying all the gear in preparation, especially the after swimming wear (Dryrobe, Wylding boiler suit, etc.), packing it all in the back of the…
Tory Britain is no place to run a business
It’s past time the Tories reclaimed their self-appointed title as the Party of Business. Their website may proudly declare they want Britain to be the best country…
Tories must stop fetishising the ‘Red Wall’
The New Year media narrative is being hotly pursued, and it does not provide comfortable reading for the prime minister. The latest ominous findings were revealed in…
2022 must be the year we restore Britain’s common sense
So, farewell 2021 — or was it 2020 all over again? Amid the perpetual purgatory of the pandemic, it feels as if time has been forcibly paused:…
Gen Z’s obsession with feelings only makes them more miserable
How are you feeling today? And don’t give me a stock British response. I want to know how you’re really feeling. What the reading on your colour-coded…
I used to love school. But now I’m dreading going back
Why are people so upset about teenagers having to wear masks in classrooms? It’s just a bit of cloth, and if it makes teachers feel safer, then…
Masks in schools are as pointless as they are cruel
Happy new year! I’m afraid I didn’t come down with omicron this Christmas, despite my best efforts (what I’d give to be banned from the office, preferably…