The influx of Romanians and Bulgarians has been ‘reasonable’, according to Dave. Leaving aside the question of whether or not an oxymoron like ‘reasonable influx’ can exist in the English language, one still wonders about the information on which this conclusion is based. Let’s see. In the first quarter ofRead More

The word ‘totalitarian’ crops up in my pieces more and more often. It may be a simple reactionary paranoia. Or, and I prefer this possibility, having grown up in a totalitarian state I know what it looks and smells like. One telltale sign is a curtailed freedom of movement: forRead More

Russell Brand, Caitlin Moran and Dizzee Rascal are to be added to the A-level syllabus. Brand’s 2012 testimony on drug use to a House of Commons committee will be in an A-level in English language and literature course in a development dreamed up by the exam board and the educational charity, TheRead More

The war in Syria is coming home and the latest proof of this is the new video of a Muslim jihadist from London shooting dead a supporter of President Assad. This happened in Raqqa in northern Syria and the video was discovered by the International Centre for the Study ofRead More

George is currently gracing London with his august presence. He’s here to promote his latest film that deals with Americans saving… well, not the world this time, but merely some art treasures looted by the Nazis. (The actual saving was done by an Englishman, but what’s an insignificant detail likeRead More

Yet another deluge accompanied by 80mph winds is coming, and Britain is bracing herself for more floods this weekend. As is obvious to any reader of daily newspapers, such things don’t just happen. There has got to be an ultimately identifiable cause, and we’re the ones to identify it. MostRead More

At first glance there isn’t much common ground.

Should schools employ only teachers who are qualified? Here “qualified” means attending university and gaining a bachelor of education degree. If Nick Clegg gets his way, no unqualified teachers will be eligible to work in any of our state schools, including so-called free schools. Mr Clegg argues that a professionalRead More

In my last post I made the following observation about professionals who agitate for the substantial lowering, if not outright abolition, of the age of consent. “To normalise the abnormal, there should be a ready supply of ‘useful idiots’. These are the journalists and quasi-intellectuals that can be relied on toRead More

After certain press criticism and a productive online backlash in the blogosphere, the American Psychiatric Association is performing a gratifying volte-face in its use of the term sexual “orientation” for paedophilia. In its fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has distinguishedRead More