Blogs

We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. A former colleague of mine, an ex-Fleet Street subeditor, would probably sum-up last week’s Autumn Statement thus: Ouch. What’s worse than the worst single year for household  disposable income? The worst TWO years …

We light it up, we won’t come down And the sun can’t stop us now Watching it come true, it’s taking over you Oh, this is the greatest show They say that the measure of true fellowship is how long it takes you to pick up as though no time …

People of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things. Seriously, is it so hard for politicians to act like normal human beings? Normal human beings with thoughts and feelings and empathy for others? We’re onto our third Prime Minister in …

To wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect So, I’ve been away for 10 days. Did I miss anything? Maybe a seismic change in our economy, meaning that the country coffers are filling up, our tax-burden is lower and our belts can move out a notch? Or …

It’s like rain, on your wedding day A free ride, when you’re already there 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife   I really don’t know where to begin. The Internet meme-makers are having a field-day. In a pub somewhere between Berkshire & the Cotswolds, ex PMs Cameron …

To be, or not to be—that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. Wow. Listen carefully, gentle readers. That sound you can hear, that beep, …

In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony I talk a lot, a hell of a lot, in this column about the merchant family. About the fact that there are lifelong friendships born of shared experiences …

to improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often One of the first things you learn in a UK Politics 101 course is about the Post-war Consensus, the economic order and social model which the major political parties in post-war Britain shared a consensus supporting …

Have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner?’ The law of unintended consequences is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. The Parliamentary Conservative Party turfed out its leader, former PM Boris Johnson for the very good reason that, …

The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn’t been here twelve hours and already they loved me There are some things that the British do better than anyone else. And Monday September 19th was one …