Published in The Guardian (June 29th) Two of the most powerful brands in popular culture merge on Saturday. The Rolling Stones, creators of perhaps the most efficient money machine […]
Health / Policy
Worshipping the NHS costs lives
Published in The Independent on Sunday (23rd June, 2013) Imagine if an airline crashed 10 planes each year, killing 3,000 passengers in avoidable accidents. After its most disturbing […]
Europe / European Union / Greece
Orphans of the Greek meltdown
Published in The Mail on Sunday (June 23rd, 2013) Laughing children play in a pine-scented courtyard on a warm summer’s evening. Excitement rises to fever pitch as a creamy […]
Aid / Ethiopia / Politics
This is not about ending world hunger. It is a political stunt
Published in The Independent (June 19th, 2013) The broadcasters fell for it, of course. Those colourful images of a “flotilla” of two longboats sailing near the venue of […]
Arts / Books / Economics
It makes the world go round
Published in The Observer (June 9th, 2013) Money: The Unauthorised Biography by Felix Martin (Bodley Head) When an American explorer named William Henry Furness III arrived on the […]
Economics / Politics
Is a clandestine world government meeting in Watford?
Published in The Daily Mail (June 6th, 2013) Even though it’s the birthplace of a Spice Girl, a former Gladiators champion and the Tory chairman Grant Shapps, nothing […]
Africa / Aid / Ethiopia
Foreign aid: the final insult
Published in The Mail on Sunday (May 26th, 2013) It is hard to think of many more blessed spots on Earth than the Gambella region of Ethiopia, with […]
Disability / Health / Policy
The NHS is killing disabled people
Published in The Guardian (May 22nd, 2013) My daughter was ill at the weekend. Just a heavy cold; but when your child has profound and multiple learning disabilities, […]
Arts / Books / Politics
A politician with real class
Published in the Daily Mail (May 10th, 2013) This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood by Alan Johnson (Bantam) When Alan Johnson was seven, his mother was in […]
Immigration / Policy / Politics
A Queen’s speech ruined by absurd anti-immigration measures
Published in The Guardian (May 8th, 2013) There is something reassuringly Ruritanian about the rituals associated with the Queen’s speech, from those flunkies in gold-trimmed finery to the […]
Health / Policy
A helpline in crisis and doctors who refuse to put patients’ interests above their own
Published in The Daily Mail (May 6th, 2013) For weeks there have been many stories emerging of patients left hanging on the phone, fearful or in pain; urgent […]