Anyone looking for a handy all-purposemetaphor for the mood of Britain in the early 21st century has only to look around them. It will be there in the plastic sandwich-container on a train seat, in the swirl of fast-food wrapping and discarded newspapers on the pavement, in the empty beer cans and plastic bags that… Continue reading Detritus fit for a society of hypocrites
Read moreA man who took modesty to pathological extremes, the late Willie Donaldson used to explain why, for several years, he was employed to write a column in this newspaper. Every paper needs a column which no one actually reads, he said. It serves a useful double purpose, making other writers look good and providing readers… Continue reading A job for the elite, not the incompetent
Read moreThe island of Cuba is like a Rorschach test for liberal opinion. For some, it represents hope followed by disappointment, a brave revolution which has hardened into insular authoritarianism, the music of heroic youth giving over time to the drone of three-hour speeches made my old men determined to hold on to power by whatever… Continue reading Let’s break Havana’s hold over us
Read moreA record company executive has just achieved an unlikely feat. He has made a man whose career has largely been based upon a bulging crotch and tight trousers seem dignified and wise. Sir Tom Jones is in trouble with his new record label. At the age of 70, he is not as sexy as the… Continue reading It’s not unusual to act your age
Read moreAs a special punishment, Father’s Day has this year been extended to Father’s Week, and possibly even Father’s Month. The wonder of dads is being explored in a special BBC4 season. The nature of fatherhood, and how it has changed down the decades, is being solemnly discussed in the media. It is probably all… Continue reading Fatherhood: we’re doing better than previous generations
Read moreHalf-close your eyes, apply a bit of imagination, and you will see a startling resemblance between Harriet Harman, acting leader of the Labour Party, and Mary Portas, the TV bossyboots who likes to be known as “Mary Queen of Shops”. Both have brutalist hairstyles. Both have mouths which seem to have been shaped by years… Continue reading Bye-bye nannie…
Read moreDid Anne Frank have sex? The unlikely and, some might say, impertinent question has been raised in the publicity surrounding the publication in the autumn of a novel for teenagers called Annexed. The book’s author, Sharon Dogar, is said to have included “intimate scenes” in what is a fictional diary of Frank’s close friend Peter… Continue reading The dead are public property
Read moreThe sickly scent of marital smugness is in the air. Helen Mirren has said the secret of her marriage is loyalty rather than romance. BBC Women’s Hour has been solemnly discussing Michelle Obama’s idea of “date nights” as a matrimonial freshener. A touching but inconsequential interview with an old couple who had been together for… Continue reading Unmarried couples are people, too
Read moreThere has almost certainly been an authoritative survey, conducted by some obscure, PR-minded university, proving beyond doubt that women’s brain’s are better than men’s at accommodating two apparently conflicting ideas and achieving a balance between the two. Women, for example, will see no particular contradiction between the fact that one middle-aged female BBC presenter can… Continue reading Women’s struggle to be taken seriously
Read moreA Jeremiah in cavalry twills, the Prince of Wales has been warning us all about the state of our souls. Western society has become materialist and secular, he told the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Science has objectified nature. The culture has been “de-souled” by consumerism to the extent that we no longer yearn for… Continue reading The ways to save the planet
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