Published in The Independent (June 6th, 2012) Surely even the grumpiest republican struggled to begrudge the community spirit of these past few days. There is something moving when […]
Crime / Policy
Don’t mock ‘hug a hoodie’. It was, and still is, the right message
Published in The Guardian (June 1st, 2012) Like so many famous political phrases, David Cameron never actually said that anyone should ‘hug a hoodie’. No matter. For it became a […]
Africa / Aid / General
Bob Geldof’s obsession with aid hurt Africa. But now trade is healing the scars
Published in The Independent (May 28th, 2012) I first became aware of Bob Geldof in 1977 when I bought the debut single by The Boomtown Rats. In those […]
Africa / Mali
Like Afghanistan, Mali is a victim of our ‘war on terror’
Published in The Independent (May 23rd, 2012) So now we know that Nato will bring its misguided campaign in Afghanistan to a close by the end of 2014, […]
Economics / Immigration / Policy
Britain’s visa system: a V-sign to visitors
Published in The Guardian (May 15th, 2012) So this is the year Britain throws open its arms and welcomes the world to a unique double bill of sporting […]
Politics
Tea Party zombies long to lurch further right
Published in The Independent (May 7th, 2012) A few days before last week’s local elections, the Tory MP Nadine Dorries wrote an article for the ConservativeHome website begging […]
Europe / France
President Bling-Bling has met his Waterloo
Published in The Daily Mail (May 7th, 2012) So the French have got their wish: they have evicted the brash, egotistical and hyperactive President Bling-Bling from the Elysee […]
Europe / France
Plodding provincial who stands on brink of the presidency
Published in The Daily Mail (May 4th, 20120) He cut an unlikely figure as he stood in a corridor of the Bercy Omnisports Arena in Paris last Sunday, […]
Africa / Libya
A warning shot to the world’s despots
Published in The Independent (April 27th, 2012) The evidence was gruesome. One witness told how he watched his sister being raped and an old woman have her throat […]
Europe / France / Politics
When rulers are out of touch, voters fall for extremists’ snake-oil solutions
Published in The Daily Mail (April 24th, 2012) However you cut it, Sunday’s presidential election in France was a profoundly depressing result: not just for the French, but […]
Arts / Books / Politics
Why conservatives are fair and liberals are weird
Published in The Observer (April 22, 2012) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (Penguin) When Barack Obama won the […]
Europe / France
Sarko is heading for the guillotine
Published in The Daily Mail (April 20th, 2012) The rally bore all the hallmarks of a president on a triumphant home run back to the Elysee Palace: the […]