It has been something of a shock to be reminded that ITV is still a public service broadcaster. For some reason, the idea that the channel responsible for The Jeremy Kyle Show, Golden Balls and Bingo Night Live is providing...
Read moreAt this time of the year it can be useful to have some great, global problem to worry about. Staring moodily out to sea, or dozing over a Jeffrey Archer novel, many holiday-makers can find thoughts of a distant crisis...
Read moreThe man in the camping shop is in a bit of a state. He is dressed for the holidays – shorts, flip-flops, a T-shirt with the message "A bad day on the water is better than a good day at...
Read moreThere will be more grumpiness than usual this week in doctors' surgeries across the country. GPs, already wearied by the demands of anxious, needy members of the public, have another reason for discontent. They are not, as a profession, trusted...
Read moreThe great alcohol debate has become appropriately confused, muzzy and pie-eyed. It is as if those discussing the problems of what is described as "binge Britain" have themselves been bingeing for so long on statistics and press releases that they...
Read moreIt can be the strangest things which make one miss lost friends. Over the past few days, I have found myself thinking of the writer Willie Donaldson, who died just over three years ago, every time I read reports from...
Read moreIn a near-perfect piece of political casting, Hazel Blears has introduced a White Paper on local government, hilariously entitled Communities in Control. Like the smilingly officious primary schoolteacher she occasionally resembles, Ms Blears has patted the electorate on the head...
Read moreEverybody loves a good divorce. Once it was only the tawdry gossip columns which, with gleeful regret, reported a famous marriage was in trouble and then watched as a couple who had once been in love set about destroying one...
Read moreIt has been an excellent few days for that new and thoroughly contemporary form of self-promotion, green exhibitionism. Neil Young, the grizzled rock veteran currently on the festival circuit, has been telling anyone who will listen about his environmentally friendly...
Read moreFor some time, there has been a population leak from middle Britain. Thousands, maybe millions, of restless, disgruntled Britons have sold up and moved abroad to somewhere with a swimming-pool, agreeable wine and surprisingly nice locals. Middle-aged, middle-class and mostly...
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