Published in The Independent (April 16th, 2013) Commodity trading seems to attract those characters who feel property dealing too ensnared by ethics, and the bonuses in banking just […]
Africa
Africa: the myth and the reality
Published in High Life magazine (16th April, 2013) If you think of Africa, what do you see? Perhaps a pitiful picture of a starving girl with flies on […]
Arts / Books / Immigration / Policy
Frightened by foreign bodies
Published in The Observer (14th April, 2013) The British Dream by David Goodhart (Atlantic); The Diversity Illusion by Ed West (Gibson Square) A couple of years ago I […]
Politics
Margaret Thatcher taught the next generation to set the agenda
Published in The Guardian (April 10th, 2013) The US academic Cass Sunstein was in Britain at the end of last month. In his usual slightly dishevelled style, he went […]
Policy / Politics / Welfare
The mutinous anger of Labour voters over welfare
Published in The Mail on Sunday (April 7th, 2013) Let me introduce you to two women I met on Friday. The first is Kathy Barratt, 33, a jobless […]
Disability / Policy / Politics / Welfare
All we can agree on is that welfare’s in a state
Published in The Independent (April 2nd, 2013) What a strange world we live in. A clutch of Church leaders spent their holiest weekend of the year queuing up to […]
Health / Policy / Politics
The man they couldn’t hang
Published in The Independent on Sunday (31st March, 2013) When the National Health Service rose like a merciful phoenix from the wreckage of a war-torn nation, its founder […]
Immigration / Policy / Politics
The immigration debate: evidence-free and more rancid than ever
Published in The Guardian (26th March, 2013) Nigel Farage must have been smiling to himself as he supped his pint of real ale last night. His party has no […]
Africa / China / Environment / Gabon / Policy / World
The British professor fighting to save Africa’s elephants
Published in The Mail on Sunday (March 24th, 2013) As we set off from our overnight camp in the jungle, the patrol leader turns, gesticulating with a machete […]
Aid / Technology
Media short-changes the poor with soft-soap aid coverage
Published in The Guardian (17th March, 2013) For several weeks, BBC television seems to have been dominated by build-up to Friday’s Red Nose Day, with worthy dramas and special […]
Politics
Is this the dawn of a new coalition?
Published in The Mail on Sunday (March 17th, 2013) Picture the scene as Nick Clegg strides purposefully to the podium in the Downing Street rose garden. With the […]
Aid / Health / Policy / Politics / Social care
Overseas aid: an indefensible ringfence
Published in The Guardian (March 14th, 2013) One of the first rules of opposition is to avoid rash promises that can come back to throttle you in government. […]