Aug 14Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece (British Museum)Back in the aeons of recorded time, there was a website called Cracked.com. It was made by very Bright Young Things who produced usually entertaining and sassy articles designed to ‘destroy’ the preconceptions of sophomoric early 20-somethings in given fields e.g. History. …9 min read9 min read
Aug 8Review: Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City. A raw, wild triumph over the intellectFor Leonie Marzecki, a brilliant producer, director, philhellene and a member of the excellent Design team for this production; my cousin “Just hold it there,” the usher says. The curtains are drawn in front of me and another lone attendee, just in time to catch a glimpse of the familiar…Immersive Theatre9 min readImmersive Theatre9 min read
Oct 28, 2022Whatever you think of him— and whatever he does — Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister is a boon for Global BritainIt matters. It matters. “Not impressed if you voted for Sunak,” said my fellow party member (in early September). “Well. I did actually.” I replied “I think that while your Ms Truss displays a great talent for political positioning, during the campaign this has manifested as crowd-pleasing demagoguery, vaguely redolent…United Kingdom6 min readUnited Kingdom6 min read
Oct 2, 2022The Woman King, slavery and black-and-white guilt: times they are a-changin’?How the latest progressive fantasy epic might change the debate on transatlantic slavery and its legacy. As the Second Elizabethan era ends, the monarchy looks set to be swept up in the unabating rage of ‘the history wars’, cast as the perennial baddie in every colonial crime since…well - the…Slavery7 min readSlavery7 min read
Aug 29, 2022Boris Johnson: Christ’s part in his downfallOr: this time it’s Spiritual. Part 2 in the ‘Clownfall’ series Parliament has a ‘Prayer Breakfast’? Our Parliament? The British Parliament? Yep, the National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast, to give it its full title. It’s one of those revelations that jars in our weak-tea ears. Surely another American import that we’ve…Boris Johnson6 min readBoris Johnson6 min read
Aug 20, 2022Boris Johnson: his part in my downfallor ‘How I stopped worrying and learned to love the Bombshell’. Part 1 in a series of reflections on Boris Johnson’s unlikely rise and inevitable fall. It’s been quite a journey with me and Boris. As a teenage leftie in 2008, hearing in my Sixth Form library that that well…Boris Johnson5 min readBoris Johnson5 min read
Jan 29, 2022The Fall of Edward Colston and the rise of ‘cultural lawfare’A legal front in the culture wars? Much how clapping for the NHS was more about getting to know the neighbours during lockdown than actually applauding people for doing their jobs, David Starkey’s take on the Colston statue for February’s The Critic is an informative reminder that the erection of…Edward Colston4 min readEdward Colston4 min read
Dec 19, 2021Not Another Christopher Hitchens piece: his part in my SalvationPermanent Revolution with the Hitch It’s become a bit de riguer to mock fans of Christopher Hitchens and I can completely understand why. As Tomiwa Owolade puts it in his memoriam piece to the journalist, the devotional tendencies of his online ummah often seem “profoundly un-Hitchian”. I am, however, never…Christopher Hitchens7 min readChristopher Hitchens7 min read
Aug 17, 2021A Conservative (Liberal) Mind on Critical Race TheoryUPDATE: So this one actually took off. Thank you to all those who read, and liked it enough to clap. Thanks to Tee Em and Frank Font for some particularly kind and thoughtful responses in the comment section. …Critical Race Theory11 min readCritical Race Theory11 min read
May 14, 2021Britain has passed the ultimate Brexit test: survival.Nationalist stagnation in Holyrood means Sturgeon and her followers will have to find another path to partition. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That’s what perhaps sums up the electoral stalemate between unionists and separatists in the Scottish Parliament after the elections last Thursday…Britain3 min readBritain3 min read
