Ask any middle-aged woman what her superpower is and chances are you’ll get the same answer: invisibility. Our ability to go undetected during the normal course of our daily lives is quite amazing. That dishwasher that mysteriously unloads itself; those towels that miraculously return to the airing cupboard, all clean and fluffy. The food that … Read more
The news comes as a body blow to a country that is reeling and surely can not take much more. Despite the success of the vaccine programme, which will see all vulnerable people protected against Covid-19 in a month, it seems lockdown will largely continue until July. Restaurants and churches possibly still closed. Travel impossible. … Read more
1) Great British Railway Journeys: From Uxbridge To Hillingdon (2021) Having exhausted every other train journey in the world, Michael Portillo travels from the first stop on the Metropolitan Line of London‘s famous underground system for several hundred yards to the second. Along the way, Michael meets rail maintenance worker Ted Boreham, who informs him … Read more
They could hardly have scripted it more carefully. No sooner do the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce they are expecting a second child than it emerges that the two of them will give a long interview to their friend, U.S. TV host Oprah Winfrey, to be broadcast on March 7. One can only imagine … Read more
Thanks for all your kind words about my Saturday Essay and the Mail’s brilliant investigation into the Scotland Yard Paedos In High Places scandal. We mustn’t forget the monstrous collateral damage inflicted by the thuggery of Operation Midland. Not least the young couple whose only ‘crime’ was to live in a flat above the falsely … Read more
Midnight. Not a sound from the pavement. Has the moon lost her memory? Not if I have anything to do with it. For I am here to remind you all of a very special anniversary, my ten years in office, serving this country to the best of my ability. My name is Larry the Cat, … Read more
The news is good, and it’s going to get better. As the Big Freeze recedes, the first glimmers of spring are bringing a series of reasons for us to feel truly optimistic about the future. So it’s about time we gave ourselves a collective pat on the back. The simple fact that 15million people – … Read more
The mutterings that keep emerging from the Treasury about increasing taxes to balance the books are economically incomprehensible. Such action would not only be wrong, it would be completely counter-productive. We Tories must be honest with ourselves and with the public: There is no way we can balance the costs of the crisis in the … Read more
Lockdown is the weapon of choice of Governments around the world to reduce the spread of Covid-19, but let’s be clear – the effects on the nation’s health and economy are severe. Jobs and livelihoods lost. A huge bill for future generations to pay. It means postponing the treatment of other conditions like heart disease … Read more
Sammy Cotter has been running his grocery wholesalers for a quarter of a century. But now he’s living day to day. ‘I’ve got £7,000 worth of goods sitting in Manchester,’ he tells me. ‘It was supposed to be delivered on December 21. But I’m still waiting.’ At first glance, his warehouse in Quarry Heights, Newtownards, … Read more