Writing
Reflecting on the life of John Wilkes
- 25 Jul 2024
I always wanted to be a journalist, current and particularly political affairs have always fascinated me. I grew up admiring the television interviewing techniques of Alan Whicker and David Frost. I always admired the way they were able to be apparently so polite and yet so in...
The Forever War: will the US ever be a country at ease with itself?
- 25 Jul 2024
First published in Reaction The United States, a country born out of conflict, with a people whose founders displaced and destroyed the indigenous population. A country which for more than half its existence embraced slavery, the legacy of which still runs deep in its natio...
Review of Richard Davenport-Hines' 'History in the House'
- 9 Jul 2024
A book focussing on a largely unknown group of historians, based in the exclusive academic enclave of Christ Church College, University of Oxford, whose hallowed portals of learning are open to so few, might seem a rather narrow basis for a book that purports to explore the te...
How Starmer and Sunak conduct themselves over the next few hours matters for us all
- 4 Jul 2024
Election campaigns tend to be scrappy affairs. How could it be anything other as people try to push and shove their policies and values into our consciousness, seek to persuade us to vote for them and fight for political power? At their best, election campaigns can see the bat...
Review of Damian Collins' biography of David Lloyd George
- 3 Jun 2024
David Lloyd George was unquestionably one of the twentieth century’s greatest Prime Ministers. He led Britain to a far from certain victory in World War I, he established the Cabinet Office and the administrative centre of government which essentially remains intact to this da...
Rishi Sunak is right to have called the General Election
- 23 May 2024
In a bold move on the afternoon of Wednesday 22 May 2024 the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, walked through the front door of Number 10 into Downing Street in the middle of a summer downpour to announce that he had asked the King to dissolve Parliament and that an election for a ...
Chapter on the Duke of Marlborough by Mark Fox
- 3 Mar 2024
Am excited to have been asked by Iain Dale to write a chapter on the first Duke of Marlborough - probably the greatest soldier-statesman Britain has ever produced - for his latest book, The Generals
The inside story on King Charles from the most authoritative of Royal chroniclers
- 31 Jan 2024
I have just spent fourteen hours in what felt like the close company of the Royal scribe Robert Hardman. Choosing to tackle his new book in audio rather than hard copy form was no great hardship, his is an easy voice to listen to. He narrates in a conversational tone and the l...
