No matter what they take from me, sings Whitney Houston in one of her most famous songs, they can’t take away my dig-ni-ty. Can I be frank, girlfriend? Right now they are having a damn good try. Whitney Houston has been dead for eight years but via the mawkish wonders of technology, this singing treasure … Read more
We have heard the mantra so many times over the years that it must be true: ‘Tory austerity’ is killing off the poor. Listeners to Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday will have heard this same old narrative trotted out by Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University College London, whose review into ‘health inequalities’, … Read more
Whenever John McDonnell addresses the Commons, weird things happen in Westminster. The entire parliamentary estate is gripped by unexplained phenomena. Dark nimbus clouds suddenly form over Big Ben. Birds stop tweeting. Flowers along New Palace Yard begin to wilt. Over on Parliament Square, excitable puppies abruptly cease their wagging and curl into defensive balls. It … Read more
The sordid story of Harvey Weinstein has taught us many unsavoury truths about Hollywood, and about the kind of abuse that lurks behind those million-dollar smiles. Never before have the workings of this tawdry world been laid bare in such excoriating detail. We have been spared nothing, from detailed descriptions of the ex-mogul’s apparently deformed … Read more
Watching Priti Patel, it is impossible not to discern that she’s a bit of a prickly cactus. Her manner is cold, her visage somewhat pinched, while her resting expression tends towards, yes, I’m sorry, a smirk. When pressed on a matter, her lower jaw has a habit of jutting out confrontationally towards the person she … Read more
So that’s clear: it is absolutely unacceptable for anyone with eugenicist views to have a position of the slightest influence within British politics. Last week, a 27-year-old Downing Street adviser, Andrew Sabisky, was forced out when it emerged that six years earlier he had advocated, among other disturbing proposals, various forms of genetic selection based … Read more
Like every Sandhurst cadet, the young Prince Harry had the age-old maxim – variously attributed to Erwin Rommel, the Duke of Wellington and the 6th century BC Chinese general Sun Tzu – drummed in to him throughout his military training: time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted. So how is it that, after all those … Read more
HARRY COLE: Here comes the girls! Boris Johnson promotes first of his rising star female MPs By Harry Cole For The Mail On Sunday Published: 00:45 GMT, 23 February 2020 | Updated: 08:41 GMT, 23 February 2020 Boris Johnson has promoted the first swathe of rising-star female MPs from the 2019 intake. Fourteen Tories first elected … Read more
Britain will mark the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day with a spectacular three-day programme of events that will mix nostalgia, thanksgiving and sombre remembrance. On May 8, 1945, the nation cheered as Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that after six years of bitter conflict that had claimed millions of lives and demanded massive sacrifices … Read more
Last week, chief Brexit negotiator David Frost made an impassioned defence of Britain’s decision to leave the EU, issuing a rapier challenge to Brussels. In a major lecture he made it clear the UK won’t be bullied by Europe, and how optimistic he is about our future. This is an edited extract… One of this … Read more
Alan Partridge is taking to the streets. ‘I would man the barricades to defend the BBC,’ actor Steve Coogan pledged last week, before warning Ministers that ‘they’ll have a fight on their hands if they threaten it’. He won’t be alone. Yesterday BBC royalty, in the shape of veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby, joined the uprising. ‘The … Read more
This year’s Boat Race is already making waves with the news that singer Ellie Goulding’s husband, Old Etonian art dealer Caspar Jopling (circled in red below), may be rowing as a member of the Oxford crew. Caspar, 28, married Ellie last August. But since then he’s combined studying for an MBA at Oxford University with … Read more
The question is as old as time itself: ‘Has the world gone mad?’ You hear it every other day. The world’s gone mad, some say, when the police investigate someone for doubting whether a man can become a woman. Or vice versa. Others say it’s because we take Twitter seriously. Or because we invite an … Read more