Bertrand Audoin
: From Paris, With Hope
Gabriel Byng
: The Shard Is the St Paul's Cathedral of Our Times
Karen Ruimy
: Glamour and Riots in Paris: An Evening With Eva Longoria and David Beckham
David Burrowes MP
: It Is Time to Support the British Traditions of Free Speech, Tolerance - And Marriage
Chris Rooney
: The Day I Was Deceived Online
For many UK universities it is now International welcome week, a period where our centres of Higher and Further education have an opportunity to impress those students travelling in from all over the world whilst helping them feel at ease in their strange new environment. Continue reading...
A scheme to get claimants off long term disability back to work is turning into something of a PR nightmare for the government. The sight of disabled protesters and their growing number of supporters taking to the streets, after a widely acclaimed Paralympics, is one it might wish to avoid. Continue reading...
Maybe teenagers end up in front of screen because they are all failed authors whose books unsuccessfully made an impact on anyone at all. Maybe you have to write a book or a collection of poems that is mysterious and Banksy-esque because then you're really making a statement. Continue reading...
Today it was Customer Service Day at my branch of Bank of Scotland. I know this because my visit - or if you will, 'customer experience' - was out of the ordinary. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that not only was it different to the other 300 or so visits I've made, but it was also the singular occasion when it was different in any respect at all. Continue reading...
It is quite rare that I read something and for it to elicit such an emotional response, but when coming across a blog recently accusing the sheer stature of Formula 1 not being considered a sport it was not something I could simply ignore. Continue reading...
As well as enjoying the games, it's vital we consider the legacy we want them to leave. To me, the ambition should be to make Britain the best place in the world to live if you have a disability, regardless of whether that disability as a result of a mental or a physical condition. Continue reading...
It is no surprise that Brown feels so confident. Why would he be concerned that reminders of the assault would harm his career, when it has gone from strength to strength in the wake of his conviction? Continue reading...
I always chuckle when I am referred to as the 'Chief Executive Officer' of CoppaFeel!. I suppose that title still conjures up old school images of a fat man, sitting behind his desk, smoking a cigar - certainly not a job title I thought I'd ever be crowned with when I skipped away from my higher national diploma in travel and tourism management and into the 'real world'. Continue reading...
The moment of the Paralympics that I will always remember most vividly was when I got the chance to see it live. I was at the Excel Centre watching the Wheelchair Fencing. The atmosphere was amazing and the crowd really got behind the athletes and supported their countries. It showed that not just able-bodied people can take part in sports - that was really special. Continue reading...
So, should we care that he may have been found? What more does it tell us, other than he maybe had a curved spine but wasn't a hunchback? It's a story with innate glamour - the last king to die in battle, famous from Shakespeare, the final act of the Wars of the Roses, and we DO love the monarchy these days - but it actually adds very little to our understanding of the late 15th Century... However, it could be a thing of tremendous potency; a reminder that historical and archaeological research does warrant all that effort and diligence. Continue reading...
Whatever you may think of a film which insults the Prophet Mohammad, or Tom Holland's conjectures, they are to be countered by rational debate, not bigoted threats or actual violence. Continue reading...
This article isn't to recount the story of the tragedy and the 23-year history of cover-up -- which is very ably documented elsewhere on the internet. But to flag the names of some of the most loathsome people in this dreadful saga. And to call for them to be belatedly held to account. Continue reading...
The whole world's eyes, as they say, have been on Britain. And Britain's own scrutiny of itself has also been intense -- encouraged by an orgy of self-absorption by the British media. Continue reading...
Isn't there a law against tampering with evidence? What must follow is justice. What I'd like to see is the cold hard justice of the British legal system in full force - directed squarely at those responsible for this, in my view, criminal cover-up. Continue reading...
As I have said before, being married to EL James, author of international bestselling erotic romance The Fifty Shades Trilogy, is mostly like being married. Continue reading...
Although today is undoubtedly a step forward in what, for more than 23 years, has been a largely fruitless pursuit of justice, it does not - and should not - mark the end of the process... I know of relatives of the Hillsborough victims whose lives have also ended without gaining resolution and justice. One man - from a family well-known to my own -committed suicide because of a sense of guilt that he had survived the crush while his brother had not. For him, his brother and many in similar circumstances, may today be a step towards their finally being able to rest in peace. Continue reading...
I am not walking across a beach but there is sand, and the above description is indeed of a condom. A pink condom. A filled condom. And I'm about to eat it. Continue reading...
This week the National Archives of the United States released to the public a massive corpus of declassified documents related to Katyn, the massacre of nearly 22,000 unarmed Polish prisoners by Stalin's secret police in 1940. Continue reading...
RUSI is a reputable organisation with its feet firmly on the ground and contacts with the highest decision making bodies. Hence its research that the Taliban may be willing to negotiate peace has to be taken seriously. But the spin on the news is somewhat reflective... Continue reading...
Without doubt buying from a car dealership is the most painful and depressing thing on the planet. Until you get the car obviously then the most painful and depressing thing on the planet is taking it in for a service and finding out your Giddlepin has expelled itself from the Flange hole. Continue reading...
Twenty three years after the event, the fact that the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster are still fighting for justice is an indictment of the justice system in this country and reflects an utter disregard for the plight and dignity of working class people on the part of the authorities, a section of the media, and the police. Continue reading...
