In defence of Kirstie Allsopp
The jibe, commonly attributed to Napoleon, that England is a nation of shopkeepers, was at least a sort of compliment.…
Can you spot an ‘extreme misogynist’?
Can you tell the difference between an extreme misogynist and a moderate misogynist? Hating women has always seemed, to me…
The funny side of being cancelled
Douglas Is Cancelled, the new drama series on ITV, should come with a trigger warning – for me, anyway. Watching…
Calm down, it’s a joke
I have never been a contributor to Twitter, partly because my comments would not be subjected to the intensive hygiene…
How to decode adspeak
The National Galleries of Scotland is singular. In its public pronouncements its pronouns are it and its. Fair enough. Though…
Are you ready for the ‘Genny Lex’?
‘It sounds like Polari to me,’ said my husband, who can remember Julian and Sandy (Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams)…
How on earth does Rishi Sunak keep going?
It’s my birthday this week and the end of my seventh decade (mathematicians will note that this does not make…
In defence of forgiveness
It is often the small constants in the culture that give the game away. Much of the news today is…
The ruling passion
Simon Kuper finds little to connect the strongmen of the past and present apart from their contempt for their own supporters
Early birds
As the owner of a radio alarm clock, I could theoretically start listening to the Today programme before I’m even…
Elon Musk is right about BBC funding
The BBC has today been using its various news platforms to protest against being described as ‘government funded’ by Twitter.…
Why are progressives scared of Elon Musk?
Billionaire edgelord Elon Musk has just given progressives another reason to dread his ongoing attempt to buy Twitter. The founder…
The fight is on to censor Elon Musk’s Twitter
If Elon Musk truly intends to make Twitter a free-speech platform, he’s clearly got a fight on his hands. That…
My revised economic forecast: this sucker could go down
Anecdotes and statistics should never be confused, but let’s do just that to build a composite picture of today’s UK…
Twitter wars
Is Elon Musk a match for the tech censors?
Memo to Elon Musk: Tesla matters more for civilisation than Twitter
I spent Easter agonising over whether to throw the considerable weight of this column behind Elon Musk’s maverick $43 billion…
Free speech shouldn’t depend on billionaires
If you take any interest in social media, Silicon Valley, or the culture wars — which all seem to be…
All over
Why was Politics For All shut down?
Under the influence
The trouble with dating a social media star
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter ban is nothing to celebrate
Marjorie Taylor Greene is nuttier than M&M World. Not your garden-variety conservative, or even a conservative at all, but a…
Real life
Someone else with my name is wreaking havoc with my attempts to control the Twitter account I don’t want. Obviously,…
The good and bad news about the Online Safety Bill
If you care about free speech, the just-published report of the Joint Committee on the Online Safety Bill – a…
Is Twitter about to step up its censorship?
Farewell then @jack. Jack Dorsey’s departure from Twitter on Monday came as no surprise given that the firm Elliott Management,…
