The 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 the office” – but his body language and the tight, panicky tone of his voice… Continue reading Do some work on holiday, Gordon
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 quite as much as they feel they should be. Under a new scheme, they are… Continue reading Why are doctors so oddly thin-skinned?
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 are unable to think straight, or to realise how silly they look. The more they… Continue reading Business greed is the real drink problem
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 the High Court concerning the activities of Max Mosley and five prostitutes. With a powerful… Continue reading Now our fantasies are being policed too
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 and has promised lots and lots of new rules to make things better for everybody.… Continue reading We can all see you’re conning us, Hazel
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 another. Now divorce-watching is an internationally popular pastime. There have been some top-level contests recently.… Continue reading How we love to wallow in other people’s misery
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 1959 Lincoln Continental. A vast machine, six metres long and weighing 2.3 tonnes, it can… Continue reading The agony and the ego of the eco-celeb
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 middle-brained, the emigrants are not much missed as they read up on the latest horrors… Continue reading Why we hark back to the old certainties
Read moreThere has been a terrible fuss across eastern England about the shocking behaviour of a supply teacher called Martin Rouse. While teaching a class of 14-year-olds in Sudbury, Suffolk, Mr Rouse, 57, behaved so inappropriately that he was asked to leave his school that very day. When alerted, the local education authority banned him for… Continue reading A teacher takes off his shirt. Cue panic
Read moreAt the end of his rackety and eventful life, George Carlin, the US comedian and hero of the counter-culture, has been best remembered for seven words. In 1972, while performing in Milwaukee, he delivered a comic routine which caused him to be arrested for disturbing the peace. The monologue “Seven Words You Can Never Say… Continue reading Our culture is just as censorious as it ever was
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