A few concerns have been raised about plans for closer co-operation between the British and French armies. There have been quacks of alarm from traditionalists and little Englanders, fearful that the essential character of our soldiery will be compromised by...
Read moreThere was a time when politicians were social outsiders, too derided and distrusted to be able to influence everyday behaviour in the wider world. In one area, though, they are turning out to be trend-setters. With dimple-cheeked Old Etonians in...
Read moreIs there anything quite as hilarious, yet embarrassing, as the British media moving into royal mode? The simpering fake familiarity, the cringing deference, the solemn recital of every dreary detail of royal domestic life, the unspoken obsession with class: nothing reveals...
Read moreIt seems only minutes ago that it was a good and progressive thing to be local and active. Suddenly the wind has changed. A report on the energy industry, to be published next week, will reveal that the number of...
Read moreI thought I'd post a little Friday song for the next few weeks. Here's my first offering - a song with a message which I wrote earlier in the year. Sad Old Bastards with Guitars by TerenceBlacker
Read moreAs well-drilled as a squadron of guards, the presenters and guests on the BBC have begun wearing the new medal of concern, the poppy. Each one of them – Huw Edwards, Alan Hansen, Clare Balding, every hack, weather forecaster and...
Read moreA new play at the Royal Court Theatre has done something rather dashing and unusual. Ignoring deprivation, globalisation, exclusion, fundamentalism, immigration, injustice and economic meltdown, it has put on a play called Tribes which explores a crisis within one liberal,...
Read moreLast week, it was time to go back to school. For the first time since I was a teenager, I returned to Wellington College. I had been invited back by Anthony Seldon, the present headmaster – or Master, as we...
Read moreMysteriously, the BBC weather forecast has come to represent something good and timeless and genuine in a superficial, changing culture. For millions, those moments after the TV news when a nerdy, middle-aged type prances around in front of a map,...
Read moreHas there ever in modern history been a sillier, yet also brutally effective, term of abuse than “nimby”? It is a word which might have been formulated by a brilliant but cynical advertising copywriter or perhaps one of the more...
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