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When should you start caring about the US presidential election?
An idiot's guide to the greatest show on earth. Most of the time – a good three quarters of my life, if I'm honest – I have no idea what's going on in American politics. I'm rarely on that side of...
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The algorithm that can predict Isis’s next move – before they even know what...
Artificial intelligence systems are analysing vast quantities to data to predict what the terrorists will do next. War has always been an inhuman affair; now, it’s becoming a non-human one. RAF...
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Cricket needs America to stride to the wicket, rather than step up to the plate
If cricket is to survive as a major sport, let alone expand, it needs new regions and fresh voices.“Let’s play cricket!” my son insisted in the midst of a New York heatwave. We settled in the...
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Take my hand and step back in time to the day that changed Carlisle for ever
I had just turned 15 at the time, and all the local Carlisle schools were given the half-day off. I should think there’s only a handful of Prem fans aware that on 23 September there’s the third round...
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The defeat of the Assisted Dying Bill is a lost chance to turn bad deaths...
I’ve had relatives plead with me to hasten their loved one’s end, pointing out (accurately) that we wouldn’t allow an animal to go on that way. With these deaths, control and dignity have been lost....
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My bike ride to Kolkata, Corbyn’s position on HS2, and the plight of the...
Did ZSL fully realise, I asked, the threat to the hedgehogs posed by HS2’s plans? Last Saturday morning, I was waiting in the lounge of Terminal Four at Heathrow for a Malaysia Airlines flight to...
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The Returning Officer: Blackburn Spy
In 1885, Frank John Holloway started the Blackburn Spy. A Mr Stirrup knocked him down at Sudell Cross the following year but was fined just a shilling, after pleading “great provocation”. The Burnley...
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No dementia without adventure: why Australia’s “grey nomads” hold the keys to...
Australia can indeed be an intimidating place, which is why the grey nomads are entirely worthy of respect. A bumper sticker I saw on a caravan somewhere out in the wilds of Australia filled me with...
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Stealing lunches, offending Bananarama fans, and my own personal Armando...
“Does it feel like The Thick of It?” my old schoolfriend wants to know. He’s not the first to ask. There are some things you just don’t see coming when you start a new job. Being accused of stealing...
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In May, the country embraced austerity. But what happens when it starts...
The landscape over the next five years is different. More of us will feel the pain, even though many believe the financial crash is long past and the worst is over. Throughout the last parliament, the...
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David Cameron and the art of the toe-touch
46 minutes at a camp in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley - it's the Downing Street toe-touch, just enough to be seen.Oink once for “yes”, twice for “no”. You’d need a heart of stone not to enjoy David Cameron’s...
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The Blairites were even on-message about their lunch choices, so thank god...
The reason I think John Prescott is great is that he is married to Pauline. The woman is a goddess. I’ve had as many politicians for lunch as you’ve had hot dinners. Actually, when I say lunch, I mean...
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A very sweet boy: the last days of James Dean
James Dean: the Last Ten Weeks on BBC Radio 2.“By instinct he was an internationalist,” muses the actor Robert Wagner of his contemporary James Dean, dead 60 years this month. “He had the austere good...
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The Great British Bake Off: The saga of the tumbling choux nun
Cream-based catastrophe in the quarter final.Contains spoilers! Last night’s quarter final episode of The Great British Bake Off saw a French invasion with its patisserie themed cakes and pastries....
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Midwinter of the Spirit is a great blend of serious acting and a truly potty...
It turns out that rural Herefordshire is a veritable hotbed of satanic activity. Exorcists don’t half make me snigger. I stopped taking such things seriously when I was still at school, after a...
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Killing jokes: the two plays which are making bad taste delicious
Dinner With Saddam and Hangmen dare to put real people, and ideology, into their brands of dark farce. One advantage that theatre dramatists have over screenwriters is the lesser censoriousness of the...
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Twitter is still the warm hearth of the internet – shame we have to censor...
I don’t know why it took Dermot O'Leary reading out my tweet to make me realise that everything I wrote was completely public. I keep seeing people say that Twitter is dead, or dying. They’re saying...
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Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth manages to be both heightened and lived-in
The Australian director might appear arrogant by applying so early in his career for membership of the exclusive Macbeth Movie Club – but it would be fair to say he has proved his suitability. Quality...
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If the Greens attack Jeremy Corbyn, they'll only hurt themselves
The Greens don't seem to know how to handle Jeremy Corbyn - but abuse isn't the right way forward. Last Thursday night, as I glanced at my phone from what I like to call my bed office, I was greeted...
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Juliet Jacques’ memoir Trans is not a comfortable read – nothing this honest...
Trans challenges us all, no matter what our gender. Since 1999, people with gender dysphoria – a condition defined as distress or discomfort experienced because of a mismatch between biological sex and...
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