Plus: Local elections – Jacqui Smith and I step in where the BBC won’t go. And: my advice to Rudd? KBO – as Churchill used to put it.
It’s all too easy to ascribe the capabilities of Russia’s best chess players to its secret services. But consider a radical possibility: the latter have messed up.
Plus: The decline of books. Morgan sees off the cult of Mogg. Why I won’t fly RyanAir. And: As I reach a significant birthday, I mull writing my autobiography…
Plus: The coming local elections. My predictions – Liberal Democrats up, Conservatives up, UKIP down, Labour down – and maybe Corbyn out later this year.
Plus: Hammond’s blunder. Peers’ folly. Stephen Hawking is not, repeat not, controlled by MI5. And: my inner Mary Whitehouse meets Katie Hopkins’ slack vagina.
His new book, ‘The Marches’, is a fascinating exploration of a land and people caught between Scotland and England.
We think of our countryside as permanent but, in truth, it is a whirl of commotion.
Plus: I upset Plaid. I recommend Matt Forde’s TV series. And: will a ticket to Norwich cost me £27.10 or £103.10?
If you hate Michael Gove, you’ll love this book. If you think Theresa May is a bit of a calculating minx, you’ll have your suspicions confirmed.
A new book charts how, over the course of a complicated career, he tried to bring peace to the island whilst defending British interests.
Plus: The ludicrous Evan Harris. My broken mobile. The menace of TTIP. The smears of Yvette Cooper. And: why Polly Toynbee swiftly changed the subject.
Plus: Contrite Soubry. Ashcroft’s Party. The Chancellor’s forecasts and the OBR’s admission. P.S: Re those Clarke memoirs, I admit that I can’t wait to read them.
This book, by a three-time Tory candidate, records a troupe who represent ”a type of true Conservatism, for they represent at once permanence and improvement”.
Understanding what makes these voters tick could be key to the outcome of the next election. No party can afford to ignore them.