A significant footnote in the history of Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries concerns the mass inhalation of tobacco, writes our historian from the future. Today, in the healthy, well-ordered 22nd century, we can look back with wonderment to the momentous date of 1 July 2007, when “smoking”, as it was called, definitively went… Continue reading A bizarre custom redolent of a dark, vanished era
Read moreThere are changes in the English countryside. The air is different. Sometimes it smells of café latté – then the wind will change and it is as if one has walked into a hairdressing salon. The sounds are changing too, with the drowsy hum of bees and the chatter of housemartins being replaced the dull… Continue reading If May be fine, stick up an estate agent’s sign
Read moreA surprising early morning call comes in from Labour Party headquarters. It is my new friend Tony Topspin-Smythe, who works in the party’s information control module. Ever since we met at a Tina Brown launch party, Tony has been promising me an off-the-record exclusive from within government. “The word on the street is that you’re… Continue reading Harriet Harman: even more charismatic than Stephen Byers
Read moreIn what has been described as the most momentous jail release since Nelson Mandela walked to freedom in 1990, America’s heiress celebrity Paris Hilton is due to be released today from the Lynwood Correctional Facility after a harrowing 23 days behind bars. Naturally this world-shattering event will detonate an international media blitz. People magazine has… Continue reading Sometimes a stint in jail can be a smart career move
Read moreThe summer of love has had a gentle makeover in the years since it took place 40 years ago. The colours are mellower now. The girls, usually with flowers painted on their proudly naked breasts, seem to have grown lovelier down the years. Even the drugs seem essentially benign. It is as if an ad… Continue reading It was the summer of love, but I wasn’t getting any
Read moreIt is probably a great scandal, what will be going on next month at the 125th gathering of the Bohemian Grove club. Some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful men will be meeting in the redwoods of northern California. There will be millionaires, defence chiefs, bankers, media magnates, heads of university and, a recent… Continue reading Save us from this unisex uniformity
Read moreThat popular British sport, the mass back-pedal, is back in fashion this week. Bob Geldof is not a saint. The question of world poverty is not as straightforward as it seemed. It was not necessarily a good thing to allow a revered comedy writer to insert Make Poverty History propaganda into one of his sitcoms.… Continue reading A nation in thrall to the tyranny of tears
Read moreSigned any good petitions recently? There is a whole range of causes that concerned citizens are able to support or oppose by going online and adding their names to a list. The Save Our Post Offices petition urgently needs support. The Global Campaign for Education, set up to remind world leaders of the importance of… Continue reading Give us our daily supply of outrage
Read moreUnder the deceptively calm leadership of Dr Rowan Williams, the Church of England is going through one of its proactive phases. Whenever some new survey causes a fuss about the way society is going, there will be a bishop, one of God’s marketing team, on hand to add that all-important spiritual element. Messages from the… Continue reading The bishop and his daring suggestion
Read moreThere was a time not so long ago when most of those in public and private life could be divided into players and referees. The players saw individualism and flair as the keys to forward progress, while for the refs, order and organisation were what mattered. Both had their virtues and both believed they had… Continue reading Can a public figure any longer be a serious person?
Read more
