Simon Heffer



Profile:
Full name: Simon James Heffer

Area of interest: Politics, Arts, Culture

Journals/Organisation: Daily Mail | The Daily Telegraph

Email: [mailto:simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnist-1069309/Simon-Heffer.html | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer

Blog:

Representation: http://www.capelland.com/pages/authors/index.asp?CID=35

Networks:



Biography:
About:

Education: King Edward VI Grammar School (Chelmsford); Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Career: Medical journalist then freelance leader writer for The Times; Joined The Daily Telegraph: leader writer and parliamentary sketch writer until 1991; The Spectator: deputy editor and political correspondent, 1991/1994, also a columnist at the Evening Standard over the same period, and a columnist at the Daily Mail, 1993/94; returned to The Daily Telegraph: deputy editor and weekly political columnist,1994; moved to the Daily Mail as chief political columnist 1995; returned to The Daily Telegraph as columnist and associate editor, 2005; left the paper in May 2011: rejoined the Daily Mail in 2011 as columnist and editor of the MailOnline comment website RightMinds

Current position/role: Columnist, editor of RightMinds


 * also writes/written for:

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Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * 3 talks from BBC Radio 4s The Westminster Hour: Simon Heffer on society's ills, 2003 (audio)

Broadcast media: Frequent appearances on TV and radio debate programmes, i.e. Question Time, What the Papers Say, Any Questions, Breakfast with Frost

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:
 * Iain Dale's diary: Shame on you Simon Heffer, May 2005
 * Sunder Katwala: The genius of Simon Heffer, March 2006

Awards/Honours: Study of the exercise of the Royal Prerogative in the British constitution won the Charles Douglas Home prize, 1993

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:
Books: The End of the Peer Show: Why the Hereditary System Is Wright and Wromantic (Centre for Policy Studies, 1996) ISBN 1897969600; Moral Desperado (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995) ISBN 1857994469; Like The Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) ISBN 075380820X; Power and Place: The Political Consequences of King Edward VII (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) ISBN 0753807505; Nor Shall My Sword: Reinvention of England (Phoenix; New Ed edition, 2000) ISBN 0753809419; Vaughan Williams (Phoenix; New Ed edition, 2001) ISBN 0753811243

Latest work: The Great British Speeches OCLC 75714057, 2007

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

Daily Mail:
Column name:

Remit/Info:

Section:

Role:

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnist-1069309/Simon-Heffer.html

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Articles:

 * flawed, but that won’t stop Teflon Boris’s bid for Dave’s job'' - The secret of Boris Johnson’s success is his extraordinary genius for emerging stronger, and more electorally irresistible, from any moment of adversity (and he’s certainly had many of those) - 27th July 2012



The Sunday Telegraph:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Arts, Culture

Section: Features / Comment

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk]

Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer

Commissioning editor:

Day published:

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

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Articles:

 * The Tories must convince the young of the moral case for conservatism  - Given the present political uncertainties, it is not too early for the Tories to motivate themselves and try to connect with a public they left largely undisturbed during the recent, catastrophic campaign. This is particularly true of the young - 25th June 2017
 * The Grenfell Tower horror has shown that the Maybot is broken - It cannot be long before the Men in Suits call to discuss arrangements for the orderly transition to a Tory leader who actually understands the need to lead - 18th June 2017
 * Theresa May is finished. Her successor must heed the price she paid  - The May regime is moving from the present to the past tense. Tory MPs are discussing her in terms unreportable in a family newspaper - 12th June 2017
 * Jeremy Corbyn has long hated Britain - Just as Labour started to climb in the opinion polls it was typical of Jeremy Corbyn to make a speech yesterday in which he effectively blamed British foreign policy for the Manchester attack - 28th May 2017
 * As a friend of the BBC, I offer this warning: do not drift too far from the British public - The BBC is at heart a liberal and metropolitan institution - 14th May 2017
 * Who would vote for the Liberal Democrats, a party whose name itself is a lie? - My high regard for the intelligence and the patience of my readers means I try not to write about the Liberal Democrats - 30th April
 * The Tories have a chance to remake Britain - here's how they can seize it - The catastrophe required to prevent a substantial Tory victory on June 8 is almost inconceivable - 23rd April 2017
 * We'll never tackle rising crime until we get serious about hurting people who do bad things - Cyclists who throw litter into hedges should have their bikes confiscated - 16th April 2017
 * If Britain is to step up from global spectator to global player then we must fund our Armed Forces - One almost pitied  Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, answering questions after America’s strike on Syria on Friday about whether we had been asked to assist – and, if we were asked on another such occasion, whether we would. Such questions go directly, and embarrassingly, to the heart of two great policy problems. - 9th April 2017
 * Now that we are to be a sovereign nation again, we must bring back imperial units - 2nd April 2017
 * The glorification of Martin McGuinness will inspire countless home-grown jihadists - I wouldn’t dream of crediting the murderer Adrian Ajao, also known as Khalid Masood, with a sense of irony, but his choice of last week for his horrific attack on the public, police and Parliament suggested he might have had one - 26th March 2017
 * Confront Nicola Sturgeon, don't bribe or appease her - It perplexes me that the Government seems to exercise caution only where it is not merited, yet proceeds with utter recklessness where disaster is inevitable - 19th March 2017
 * Free speech is under threat: After gagging Jenni Murray, will the BBC start burning books next? - Dame Jenni Murray, who is scarcely a hyena of the fascist Right, has received an “impartiality warning” from the BBC for expressing her legitimate opinion that a man whose sex is changed to a woman isn’t really a woman at all. - 12th March 2017
 * Let us have a second Scottish referendum immediately, and kill off independence for good - The deep dishonesty of Nicola Sturgeon’s approach to politics, which Theresa May savaged in Glasgow on Friday, comes from a simple strategy. Although Scotland voted handsomely in 2014 to stay in the Union, she continues to act as though it did not - 5th March 2017
 * When will the Tories remember they are the party of enterprise and wealth generation? - Last weekend the landlord of my village pub – its walls decorated with endless awards, quite rightly, for being one of the best in England – told me he faced a business rate rise of 450 per cent. - 26th February 2017
 * Jeremy Corbyn is looking at a lose-lose scenario in Stoke and Copeland - In a country obsessed by Brexit, and a world watching the epic battle between Donald Trump and his critics, it is easy to forget the Labour Party. - 19th February 2017
 * HS2 is monumentally wasteful, outdated, and will do nothing for the North – it must be scrapped - The North does need rail investment, but it does not need HS2 - 12th February 2017
 * Does Theresa May have anything else to offer Britain beyond Brexit? - Having had the Brexit vote, and the Brexit White Paper, it is time the rest of politics resumed - 5th February 2017
 * Labour's Brexit disarray could lose them Stoke, and open the Ukip floodgates - Given the Bill triggering Article 50 will sail through the Commons, any reflection on the mess Labour is in over it - with even a couple of the party’s whips prepared to defy themselves and vote against - is of little consequence. - 29th January 2017
 * Theresa May's Brexit plan must begin with an immediate end to all EU immigration - On Tuesday, we shall at last get Mrs May’s version of Brexit - 16th January 2017
 * Sajid Javid’s folly would be to build in Tory back yards - Thanks primarily to two things – unchecked immigration and high divorce rates – we have insufficient housing. - 8th January 2017
 * Brexit is no excuse for ignoring crises in defence, policing and prisons - Last Wednesday my colleague James Kirkup wrote about ministers’ need to stop obsessing about Brexit and to get on with tackling other issues, notably the NHS, that seem on the verge of disaster. Sadly, the state’s current failures go even more widely than James had room to describe. - 1st January 2017
 * Crocodile tears from George Osborne over a Syrian mess he helped to create - labby Western politicians have already allowed Putin to elevate Russia to being a serious power again by its actions in Syria - 17th December
 * The Eurozone is teetering on the brink – Britain might soon be the EU's only friend - Will Italy be the first domino to fall? - 11th December 2016
 * The BBC needs a real General to fight its corner - The post requires someone who understands and is conversant with the media in all their forms, but also someone with proven organisational skills and leadership qualities - 5th December 2016
 * Nicola Sturgeon's arrogance could be the Government's secret weapon in its Article 50 appeal - The Government should never have appealed the case - 4th December 2016
 * 'Liberals' who shun Brexit must learn the lesson of freedom  - The great paradox of political discourse since our referendum on June 23 – and one of which we are more sharply aware since Americans had the effrontery to elect Donald Trump – is that, we are told, both events offend against “liberalism” – for which, of course, we should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves. - 27th November 2016
 * Tony Blair brilliantly shoots the Remain cause in the foot with his ill-timed intervention - 30th October 2016
 * Donald Trump's camp now scents blood. Even victory won't end Hillary Clinton's nightmare - Donald Trump doesn’t do understatement, so it was predictable on Friday evening that he should liken to Watergate the reopening of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s supposedly insecure use of her private email server - 30th October 2016
 * May's golden opportunity; Trump can still win; and the sordid pillory of Sir Philip Green - 23rd October 2016
 * Theresa May must be bold to benefit all of Britain - 2nd October 2016
 * We must stop the hounding of our armed forces, and fund defence properly - 25th September 2016
 * Britain is a conservative country - Labour will never win until it understands this - 18th September 2016
 * Shrinking the House of Lords is the only way to rescue it from cronyism - 11th September 2016
 * Calling Trump names won't stop him becoming US President - The liberal media are too quick to rubbish Donald Trump - 4th September 2016
 * Nicholas Sarkozy is a vulgar failure and French voters know it - 28th August 2016
 * Nigel Farage deserves a knighthood for giving the British their freedom - 20th August 2016
 * Who on earth decided to give Philip Green a knighthood in the first place? - 31st July 2016
 * Nicola Sturgeon takes political fantasy to new heights - 24th July 2016
 * Ten steps May can take to shape a better future - 17th July 2016
 * We’ve made the right choice, now let’s stop talking the country down - We British once cherished the idea of the good loser. Michael Gove exemplified it in his gracious speech of defeat last Thursday. Sadly, the concept has bypassed a small, but vocal, minority whose outrage at the exercise of democracy by those they hold in utter contempt is boundless - 10th July 2016
 * The greatest sitcom ever made: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - 6th July
 * From the cricket field to the battlefield, we honour the fallen - 4th July
 * Be in no doubt: Michael Gove would make the best prime minister - 3rd July 2016
 * A supreme and magnificent exercise in people power - 26th June 2016
 * The party leaders are Remain, but their core voters aren’t - 12th June 2016
 * The migration question that can’t be answered - 5th June 2016
 * Why are the Tories interfering in private education? - 5th June 2016
 * When – if ever – will the real David Cameron stand up? - 29th May 2016
 * No one is safe in Bill Clinton's hands - 22nd May 2016
 * David Cameron's disgraceful dishonesty over the EU is turning Britain into a banana republic - 22nd May 2016
 * The Fourth Reich is here - without a shot being fired - The key to German success is this: it participates in a weak currency (whose value would collapse without it) enabling its exports to sell far more cheaply than had it retained the Deutschmark - 16th May
 * The SNP has gone as far as it can - 8th May 2016
 * Corbyn doesn't fear a coup - he's planning his own - 1st May 2016
 * Cameron's dirty tactics in the EU referendum are digging his political grave - 24th April 2016
 * If politicians want to be trusted, they should stop lying to us - Had I not been in France last week – a country where several hundred thousand people legally avoid tax by living in the United Kingdom – I should have sought to ease the Prime Minister’s embarrassment by writing a column militantly in favour of tax avoidance - 17th April 2016
 * It’s a lie to suggest that Brexit would ruin us - 3rd April
 * We must stand by Falklanders  - 3rd April 2016
 * It is time to apologise to the Irish - One hundred years ago, the Irish people fought for independence from the British. But now bygones are bygones: we have too much in common to quarrel - 27th March 2016
 * IDS has made Osborne’s downfall a certainty - The Budget started to unravel almost the moment he sat down - 20th March 2016
 * Kick out these student ignoramuses - Cambridge should kick these creeps out - 13th March 2016
 * The EU cheerleaders are starting to panic - If the case to stay in is so compelling, why do Cameron and friends find it impossible to make it? - 13th March 2016
 * Investigating claims against Ted Heath is an idiotic waste of resources - Instead of trying to pin ludicrous claims on dead alleged paedophiles, why don’t they try and catch some real, live ones? - 21st February 2016
 * How seven years of Obama created Trump - America has been run for nearly a decade by a clever incompetent. It's hardly surprising that the voters are revolting - 14th February 2016
 * Let Julian Assange rot, or face the law - If he is innocent of the allegations against him, let him do what others do and contest them in court - 7th February 2016
 * Cecil Parkinson would've made a great prime minister - The late Tory politician was a rare man of substance - 31st January 2016
 * Why is Vladimir Putin not being dragged before and international tribunal and put on trial? - We tolerate the actions of Putin because we are in no position to stand up to him - 26th January 2016
 * Corbyn’s Labour is now an irrelevant cult - Labour is now mostly a front for some of the vilest and most repulsive political movements on the planet - 10th January 2016
 * People might like Cameron more if he wasn't such a phoney - The Prime Minister should stop worrying so much about appearing "posh". He is, and voters easily see through his PR attempts to suggest otherwise - 3rd January 2016
 * Will Europe split the Tories in 2016? - Mr Cameron has a character flaw of stoking up expectations to a preposterous and self-defeating level - 28th December 2015
 * Whatever Sir John Major says, do the opposite - The former Conservative prime minister is wrong: Britain should not stay in the EU on their ungenerous terms - 20th December 2015
 * Trump and Fury are victims of the internet mob that hates free speech - Britain traditionally respects the right of people to make fools of themselves - 13th December 2015
 * Syria vote proved that the PM can behave like a bully. He will live to regret it - There were many reasons for not backing air strikes, and sympathy with Isil was only one of them - 6th December 2015
 * Let’s leave our emotions out of the war in Syria - We are in Isil’s sights in any case. Their mentality is unaffected by notions of appeasement - 29th November 2015
 * Paris is tragic proof that Enoch Powell was right about threats to our country - Where the toxin of hatred exists ... it needs to be treated as incitement and punished accordingly - 22nd November 2015
 * Paris terror attacks an alarm bell for liberal, borderless Europe - France could be one step closer to a far-Right president, Marine Le Pen, after the deadly Islamic State attacks in the French capital - 15th November 2015
 * We're borrowing like there’s no tomorrow - Private debt is getting out of hand. It is time to raise interest rates - 1st November 2015
 * George Osborne could yet slip as he climbs the greasy pole to No 10 - The Chancellor's rise to the top is stirring resentment in the Tory ranks - 25th October 2015
 * Reform the NHS – or watch it fade and die - The NHS is on its last legs, and only by fundamentally reforming it and the way in which its most regular clients – the elderly – are looked after will it have any chance of survival at all - 18th October 2015
 * Refugees and migrants are not the same thing - Do not judge Hungary too harshly. Britain may find that it needs to impose draconian border controls, too - 20th September 2015
 * Britain needs a proper protocol for the use of drones - Rather than zapping them from the sky we should get in the habit of trying for treason Britons who seek the overthrow of our state - 13th September 2015
 * 'Silence’ gives Queen titanic moral standing - The lifelong disinterest in politics the Queen brings to her role is priceless; as is her understanding of its practitioners - 6th September 2015
 * Jeremy Corbyn's groupies are heading for oblivion - Labour has never been so far Left as Mr Corbyn would take it. That he could lead it to victory at an election beggars belief - 30th August 2015
 * Tories must demand the truth about the EU - The renegotiation of membership terms with the EU is an illusion. Conservatives must hold David Cameron to account - 24th August 2015
 * Donald Trump could surprise us all and become President of the United States - Comedians tore into Ronald Reagan in 1980. He still won the White House. History could be repeated - 23rd August 2015
 * The Tories have a golden opportunity to reshape the state - George Osborne could set in motion a restructuring of Britain to encourage private enterprise and self-reliance - 26th July 2015
 * Jeremy Corbyn is no laughing matter - He has condemned "atrocities" committed by Isil, but not Isil itself - 20th July 2015
 * It’s crueller to shoot a fox than to hunt one - MPs should know that a fox dies far more rapidly if set on by a pack of hounds than if someone tries to shoot it - 12th July 2015
 * The Tories must sort out this Marxist education mess - Few parents would send their children to a state school if they’d seen the NUT’s lunacy - 27th June 2015
 * Britain staying in Europe looks more and more absurd - Greece will inevitably leave the Eurozone, and the EU commissars will continue with their project. But that project is doomed - as the fall of the USSR predicted - 21st June 2015
 * The whole of Britain should be a tax haven - George Osborne should use his budget to cut taxes. You can't redistribute wealth unless you first create some. Simples - 7th June 2015
 * arts can survive, and thrive, without public money'' - State subsidy is not the only way to cultural excellence, and often it only perpetuates mediocrity - 8th May 2011
 * 3's new concert programme will change the musical landscape'' - Radio 3's new series of live concerts proves it to be one of the country's great civilising forces - 1st May 2011
 * what lies beyond Holst's Planets'' - Tony Palmer's film about Gustav Holst reveals the range of that strange, brilliant man - 17th April 2011
 * brilliance extends far beyond 'Bolero''' - Roger Nichols's brilliant new biography of Ravel reminds us how stunning his music can be - 10th April 2011
 * pay tribute to the Gothic genius who enriched our lives'' - George Gilbert Scott was one of the great architects of Victorian Britain - but his masterpiece, the soon-to-reopen Midland Hotel at St Pancras, should not be there - 2nd April 2011
 * hard to find food in a British restaurant'' - The great British food fad has made it difficult to get anything to eat - 27th March 2011
 * Rattigan sounded the deep blue sea of English feeling'' - Terence Rattigan fell out of fashion in the 1950s, but his best dramas are timeless - 20th March 2011
 * inside story of how Essex beat the Blitz'' - 'The Oaken Heart' by Margery Allingham, the story of one village in the first year of the Second World War, shows what 'community' really means - 13th March 2011
 * Hearts and Coronets': a personal tragedy and a universal comedy'' - In a career cut cruelly short, Robert Hamer made the most perfect and most subversive of all British films - 6th March 2011
 * Kennedy: a music critic worth his weight in gold'' - He wanted to be known as the only Englishman who understood Richard Strauss - but Michael Kennedy has far better claims to renown - 20th February 2011
 * picked our pockets of truly beautiful coins'' - Before decimalisation, Britons were still carrying great works of art around in their small change - 13th February 2011
 * Tony Palmer season should be music to the ears of classical fans'' - The BBC seems to have woken up the appeal and talent of Tony Palmer. It's about time, too - 6th February 2011
 * Williams: to learn from unheard music'' - The 'new’ piece by Vaughan Williams that’s been lying in a Cambridge University archive since 1899 is said to be 'really amazingly good’ - 30th January 2011
 * Rock: A masterpiece refashioned as a turkey'' - I don’t want to see the new version of 'Brighton Rock’, any more than I would like to hear Vaughan Williams played by an orchestra of drunk penny-whistlers - 23rd January 2011
 * Thunderbirds is still FAB'' - Did any person in the 20th century make so many children so happy as Gerry Anderson - 16th January 2011
 * Hart and Alan Clark were the kind of eccentrics Britain needs'' - True eccentrics aren't defined by silly clothes - the best are men who refuse to compromise or conform - 9th January 2011
 * the snobs were right about Trollope'' - Trollope had much in common with Dickens - except that Dickens did everything so much better - 1st January 2011
 * time is ripe to rediscover Benjamin Britten'' - Benjamin Britten's centenary, barely two years away, should prompt a new appreciation of his genius - 26th December 2010
 * make Christmas merrier'' - It has slowly sunk in that if we all want to get along, then trying to take part in the cultural mainstream does no harm at all - 19th December 2010
 * of a bridge addict'' - Once I learned the game at the age of 12, it became an immediate obsession - 5th December 2010
 * needs a lesson in dressing for the occasion'' - The current tendency to sport informal clothing at all times is not just impractical, but downright rude - 21st November 2010
 * British documentaries made poetry in motion'' - Simon Heffer salutes the film-makers who captured the hidden parts of our culture - 14th November 2010
 * long, slow journey to remembrance'' - We have fought wars for centuries, but it is only recently that we have chosen to remember our dead, rather than our battles and our victories - 7th November 2010
 * glory has yet to reach its true height'' - Edward Elgar's reputation has risen steadily, but his genius should still be more widely appreciated - 31st October 2010
 * me, books are literally indispensable'' - A true bibliophile doesn't stop accumulating volumes just because his house is already full - 24th October 2010
 * Abbey is what television should be'' - Those of us whose souls are so deeply penetrated by cynicism that we can hardly get up in the mornings can feast on Downtown Abbey's authenticity and visual detail - 17th October 2010
 * Stamp exposes Britain's vendetta against its Victorian masterpieces'' - The new book by architectural historian Gavin Stamp exposes our callous brutality towards our architectural heritage - 10th October 2010
 * sweet sound of a self-sustaining orchestra'' - The New Queen's Hall Orchestra shows how a dependence on state subsidy rather than popular support is stifling classical music - 3rd October 2010
 * architecture can rescue even Basingstoke'' - George Ranalli's marvellous work in Brooklyn should be a lesson to Britain's architect and planners - 19th September 2010
 * shows the real story of Britain'' - Simon Heffer on his new Radio 3 series, which explores the transformation in our politics and culture depicted in the films of the 1940s - 11th September 2010
 * Howells drew glory from a well of grief'' - The Hymnus Paradis by Herbert Howells is the greatest piece of English choral music - and unutterably moving - 5th September 2010
 * Vaughan Williams captured a country with strings'' - The Fantasia is far more than simply the reworking of a hymn tune - 8th August 2010
 * Hawkins: The man who won the war in black and white'' - He only made five war films, but Jack Hawkins, whose centenary falls this year, became the ultimate cinematic incarnation of the British officer - 1st August 2010
 * I went to Australia with 14 Trollopes'' - Summer holiday reading means catching up on the works one always meant to get round to - 18th July 2010
 * so much more to Hubert Parry than Jerusalem'' - At this year's Proms, Sir Hubert Parry will finally get a look in before the Last Night - 11th July 2010
 * you think you know what you like, think again'' - We Britons have broadened our horizons in recent years, but there are still areas of our culture where a narrowness of mind prevails - 3rd July 2010
 * last casualty of the Troubles is truth'' - No former member of the Parachute Regiment can be in the dock unless Martin McGuinness is there too - 19th June 2010
 * Cup 2010: The problem with football is that it's just not cricket'' - All of my efforts to appreciate the 'beautiful game' have ended in failure - 13th June 2010
 * funding: fiddles show the way to go'' - The innovative Stradivari Trust has come up with a clever scheme that combines philanthropy and hard-headed commerce, recognising that culture is a business as well as a recreation - 6th June 2010
 * of darkness that lit up my life'' - In a new recording of Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony, one hears things that one had missed in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of previous listenings - 30th May 2010
 * at last – the missing bits of Berkshire'' - What is so appealing about Berkshire is the triumph of the Victorians and Edwardians in creating things of almost self-indulgent beauty out of what was just an expanse of heath - 23rd May 2010
 * Sillitoe wrote the first real roles for proles'' - The writer presented the industrial working class to the rest of the British public with a degree of honesty that was shocking and brutal - 16th May 2010
 * undiluted joys of a literary genius'' - A compelling new book tells the life of GeorgeOrwell through the letters of the man himself - 9th May 2010
 * Bond can beat any villain - including MGM'' - The sheer incredibility of James Bond will always lure suckers like me back to the cinema - 25th April 2010
 * spinners created a vacuum for Clegg to fill'' - The Tories are suffering because they don’t have enough solid policies - 21st April 2010
 * peculiarly British form of entertainment'' - The Brides in the Bath case has every necessary ingredient to make it resonate - 18th April 2010
 * flights because of volcanic disruption? You won't see me for dust'' - Have you reflected, writes Simon Heffer, on how wonderful life would be if we couldn't fly anywhere for two years? - 17th April 2010
 * Election 2010: Nice Nick Clegg can't believe his luck'' - I thought the public would see through Clegg's pious, sanctimonious, oleaginous, not-me-guv display of cynical self-righteousness: but they didn't - 17th April 2010
 * be afraid of Wagner. He's not a Nazi'' - The idea that Nazism can be traced back to a moment in 1905 when Hitler, aged 16, had some sort of epiphany after seeing Rienzi in Linz is simply potty - 11th April 2010
 * dysfunctional world of the Waltons'' - Although he treated her badly, William Walton owed a huge debt to his wife - 28th March 2010
 * King who liked to collect his own head'' - the stamp collecting habits of King George V - 21st March 2010
 * the maestro's gusto with your bravos'' - When we go to a concert and experience the musical brilliance of others, we should give full and demonstrative voice to our appreciation afterwards - 14th March 2010
 * learnt about power when I joined the Union'' - These debating societies have been scarred by the image of drawling, chinless political dilettantes, but that is unfair - 7th March 2010
 * supermarkets leave me cheesed off'' - The cheese and meat available in supermarkets look like food, but there the likeness ends - 28th February 2010
 * sacred building, and not just for its Beatles'' - It fills one with sadness that so great a studio as Abbey Road may soon be frozen in time as a museum - 21st February 2010
 * should please the public, not spite them'' - New projects by Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid show the pleasures and pitfalls of modern architecture - 14th February 2010
 * Terry is the model of the modern footballer'' - it's hard to see why anyone was shocked or surprised by the England captain's behaviour - 7th February 2010
 * cheer for every football team that goes bust'' - Footballers - and their managers - don't provide the role models that our children need - 7th February 2010
 * Survey: tracing the contours of a national scandal'' - It is high time map-making came of age - 31st January 2010
 * Victorians at knockdown prices'' - No one could be less fashionable than high Victorians like Matthew Arnold - which is good news when you stumble on that indispensable first edition - 24th January 2010
 * attack: we don't have to breed such savages'' - Parents such as those who bred the Edlington savages should be in prison - 23rd January 2010
 * a golden age going on next door'' - The wit, charm and humanity of modern French cinema should be an inspiration to us all - 17th January 2010
 * true great 20th-century novelists who irked the Bloomsbury snobs'' - As writers, HG Wells, Arnold Bennett and John Galsworthy far outshone those self-obsessed frauds DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf - 10th January 2010
 * be frank, these stamps aren't worth a damn'' - The Royal Mail's tawdry issues and designs are making philately, once a hobby fit for a king, into a slightly seedy investment business - 3rd January 2010
 * British cinema has become an elusive delight'' - The England I love is in the old films of Ealing, Elstree and Shepperton - and they're becoming harder to see - 27th December 2009
 * mind the hiss, feel the quality'' - Newer technology is not necessarily better technology when it come to music - 6th December 2009
 * tale of hardihood to stir any man's heart'' - Twitter is an adolescent craze - but it could bring to the attention of a new generation the heroism of Captain Scott - 29th November 2009
 * Eliot does not correspond with his letters'' - Simon Heffer had always believed there were raging currents in TS Eliot, yet the poet of 'Prufrock' kept them well out of sight in his letters - 22nd November
 * Andrew Roberts really an inadequate historian?'' - A savage review of Andrew Roberts's 'The Storm of War' - 15th November 2009
 * Johnson should take a bite of the Big Apple'' - The way New York has turned itself around gives hope for a lot of London's ills - 8th November
 * find Hallowe'en frightfully frightening'' - We should resist the gruesome commercial feast of Hallowe'en and get back to good old effigy-burning Guy Fawkes Night - 1st November 2009
 * secret of biography is in Proust's overcoats'' - The detailed dismembering of a person that is now expected by the reading public can make the very task of writing a life unpalatable - 18th October 2009
 * plans for TV comedy are no laughing matter'' - The BBC's guidelines for comedy will make all the jokes we actually find funny unacceptable - 11th October 2009
 * Polanski's crime doesn't cancel out his art - and vice versa'' - Roman Polanski proves once again how good art and a bad character can go together - 4th October 2009
 * the arch and let beauty into our towns'' - Simon Heffer recalls his elders talking of the loss of the Euston Arch as the opening of the floodgates to a period of bleak modernism - 27th September 2009
 * gulf between a Princess and a Queen'' - The lives of Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, and Diana, Princess of Wales, reflected a differing understanding of the Royal role - 20th September 2009
 * South Bank Show: the last bastion of civilisation on ITV'' - Tony Palmer's magnificent new film on Wagner shows how much ITV will lose when the South Bank Show finishes its run - 13th September 2009
 * adventures of Jonathan Meades, cultural commando'' - There are moments in Meades's documentaries that are not merely challenging - they are almost threatening - 6th September 2009
 * no smell on the shelves of cyberspace'' - Browsing a dealer's list online is not the same as seeing a book by chance, flicking through it, smelling it, turning it over in one's hands - 9th August 2009
 * are still lost in the mystery of that war'' - Nothing changed us more, or demanded so incomprehensible a sacrifice as the conflict that ended in November 1918 - 2nd August 2009
 * July 7 memorial says what words cannot'' - We have become exceptionally good at revering our heroes and this latest effort is as utterly right as the Cenotaph - 12th July 2009
 * game I grew up watching has ended'' - I could attempt to get my children interested in the new form of cricket – if I wished to be cruel to them - 28th June 2009
 * Everything you never wanted to know...'' - A younger friend told me that the purpose of Facebook is to 'keep in touch with people you don't want to keep in touch with'. So why bother? - 14th June 2009
 * still prove a magnet for punters'' - I suppose you could describe literary festivals as a sort of live porn show for the educated classes - 31st May 2009
 * Fawcett takes American television to the final frontier'' - Whatever species of disgusting vulgarity we develop for ourselves will always find a ready market in the US - 24th May 2009
 * new architecture is shockingly. . . good'' - The development of London's Docklands has been one of the social and architectural triumphs of the last quarter-century - 17th May 2009
 * we need Victorian values in television - With The South Bank Show going, there is little other than Radio 3 and BBC Four between the stockade and the barbarians - 10th May 2009 (see also: Melvyn Bragg and the shameful axing of The South Bank Show'' - Max Davidson)



The Daily Telegraph:
Column name: On Saturday

Remit/Info: Politics

Section: Features / Comment

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk]

Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format: Usually seven topics, with one leading topic around 625 words

Average length: 1600 words



Articles:

 * Labour will be ungovernable after June 8. Its moderates must split, and soon - The uprising will have to be swift and brutal - 20th May 2017
 * If François Fillon goes down, who will save France from its self-inflicted decline? - France may face a choice on May 7 between Marine Le Pen, whose reputation precedes her, and the risen-from-nowhere Emmanuel Macron, who, unless he is hit by scandal, would almost certainly win. France would then have five more years of drift, failure and decline - 6th February 2017
 * We must hope that President Trump lives up to his revolutionary goals - Some hints he dropped will cause alarm - 21st January 2017
 * Brexit is going to happen - and the judges aren't stopping it - It is too easy to brand judges as members of that elite – unelected at that – who blithely ignore the democratic will of the people - 5th November 2016
 * Theresa May is following Enoch Powell – by actually listening to what British people want - It has taken two centuries for the idea of democracy to really get going - 8th October 2016
 * The City traders betting against the pound are ignorant teenagers without the foggiest idea what Brexit means - The ignorance these teenagers have of economic and political fundamentals (they almost all called Brexit wrongly) is compounded by their reliance on computer algorithms - 8th October 2016
 * Hillary Clinton will find it harder to crush Trump than she thinks - The more the elite in politics and the media attack him – however merited – the higher Trump’s ratings go - 5th March 2016
 * Shame on the academic EU scaremongers - Brainwashing has already started at our universities. The pro-EU forces will stop at nothing - 27th February
 * How stupid does David Cameron think we are? - Michael Gove's decision to show duty to his principles and his country contrast with the shallowness of the 'deal' on offer - 20th February 2016
 * Tories must start new civil war and take on David Cameron over Europe - With Labour weak and an election four years away, there is no better time for the Conservatives to lance the boil that is Europe - th February
 * Vladimir Putin can sense our weakness - We can't just moan about Putin. He's taking advantage of the West's lack of action in Syria - 4th October 2015
 * Suddenly, leaving the EU looks within reach - There is a huge section of the British public who want to reclaim our nation’s sovereignty. Finally, activists are coming together to make the dream come true - 27th September 2015
 * loose, Dave, and let the nation decide'' - The Liberal Democrats have have lost the confidence of the country. David Cameron should call a general election - 7th May 2011
 * can’t have a laugh with a Lefty'' - Had David Cameron been a gent he would have apologised to Angela Eagle - 30th April 2011
 * Cameron’s moment to question the EU'' - The Prime Minister leads a country at the mercy of border laws set by a foreign power - 15th April 2011
 * not our job to save the euro'' - The failure of the euro will signify the failure of the European ideal - 9th April 2011
 * not Etonians, are closing libraries'' - Zadie Smith is wrong about libraries – and the BBC were wrong to let her broadcast her attack on the 'cuts' - 2nd April 2011
 * Budget for growth of state spending'' - George Osborne has shown himself completely unequal to the task of fixing the nation's economy - 26th March 2011
 * Dave can't police the world'' - Just five months ago, the Prime Minister chose to shut down much of our defence capacity - 19th March 2011
 * must fight the unions over pensions'' - State employees need a lesson in life - 12th March 2011
 * parliaments and rig the constitution'' - What happened on Thursday in Barnsley presents just one reason why a 2015 election is outrageous - 5th March 2011
 * foolish cuts that leave us defenceless'' - The ludicrous, hasty and ill-informed decision to cut defence so severely is one for which Dave and his Chancellor must take full responsibility - 26th February 2011
 * local government – start sacking'' - Public services now exist far more for the benefit of those who work in them than those they are supposed to service - 19th February 2011
 * to destroy our universities'' - The drive by Vince Cable and his hapless puppet Nick Clegg to impose quotas of state school pupils on universities verges upon the wicked - 12th February 2011
 * that's growing is Nick Clegg's stupidity'' - There can be no growth without an increase in consumption - 5th February 2011
 * weeks to save the economy'' - Boris Johnson is right to draw attention to the crippling burden of taxation now faced by our people - 29th January 2011
 * always wanted Balls'' - Ed Miliband and Ed Balls are joined at the hip by their devotion to Gordon Brown and his insane policies - 22nd January 2011
 * Britain be heading for a crash?'' - We cannot postpone indefinitely the final acceptance that we must live within our means - 14th January 2011
 * Coalition provides plenty of noise for plenty of nothing'' - For all the bragging about cuts, they are pitiful - 8th January 2011
 * Margaret Thatcher, not sad old Supermac'' - The Left will not admit that by the time Mrs Thatcher left office she had transformed the British economy and set an example that was followed around the world - 1st January 2011
 * tough on drugs, don't legalise them'' - There is a strong case for setting excise duty at a higher rate than on booze and fags - 18th December 2010
 * England not corrupt enough to survive?'' - Straight dealing in almost any international forum these days is utterly non-existant - 4th December 2010
 * Miliband's 'relaunch' will only get Labour so far'' - For all his rhetoric about breaking with the past, until last May Ed Miliband was a turgidly loyal Brownite - 27th November 2010
 * William and Kate Middleton: After the royal wedding news, the inevitable drivel'' - For Prince William to get married in a registry office and to have the reception in a pub in Clapham is hardly in keeping with our constitution - 20th November 2010
 * Duncan Smith: Britain must listen to the Quiet Man'' - We are a country that has been hobbled by welfarism, but IDS could change that - 13th November 2010
 * Obama is doomed – enter Mrs Clinton'' - Despite the efforts of the US media to support St Barack, the Americans are having none of it - 6th November 2010
 * Cameron and the euro millions roll-over'' - What has happened in the past couple of days is an affirmation of business as usual - 30th October 2010
 * review: why so soft on Scots and foreigners?'' - The spending review may have cut deep, but we continue to bankroll Third World despots and Scotland - 23rd October 2010
 * Essex Man work his magic again'' - The Essex Man spearheaded Margaret Thatcher's economic miracle. David Cameron needs him to do it again - 9th October 2010
 * Harriet Harman needs to cut the clap'' - Occasionally one witnesses hypocrisy of such stomach-turning proportions that it is impossible even for those most brutal cynics to remain unaffected by the wickedness before them - 2nd October 2010
 * Cable is the anti-business secretary'' - Vince Cable's attack on capitalism showed that he doesn't understand it - 25th September 2010
 * must let the Pope come and go in peace'' - I am dismayed by the aggression and militancy of some of my fellow atheists, who show a shocking intolerance of the Pope - 18th September 2010
 * jobs, no one will get off benefits'' - It was refreshingly candid of George Osborne to say that there are those who need to be confronted about their lack of a job - 11th September 2010
 * judgment is the real issue'' - The Foreign Secretary has called into question his credibility to stay in office - 4th September 2010
 * uncloned meat that worries me the most'' - A cloned cow is probably considerably safer to eat than an uncloned one, and its milk much safer to drink - 7th August 2010
 * overseas aid bill could pay for Trident'' - George Osborne's statement that the renewal of Trident will have to paid for out of the Ministry of Defence's equipment budget is silly, unrealistic - 31st July 2010
 * is the acceptable face of cultural imperialism'' - Simon Heffer reports from New York on the differences between British and American culture - 24th July 2010
 * Cameron in Washington: Time to stop being junior to Uncle Sam'' - America's power should not be confused with its being right - 24th July 2010
 * brainless way to pay for universities'' - We have to start getting our priorities right about education, and treating the subject seriously - 17th July 2010
 * dunces must do better'' - Failures in the civil service are being caused by a cultural problem at the top - 10th July 2010
 * criminals just need an education'' - If Ken Clarke's motivation in seeking to reduce the number of people in prison is to save money, then he will be defeated before he begins - 3rd July 2010
 * Ronald Harwood: A great knight at the theatre'' - Most honours lists are depressing, but one honour today has given Simon Heffer hope - 12th June 2010
 * of Mexico BP oil spill: Sub-prime slick is far worse than BP's'' - Barack Obama seems happy to sacrifice his relationship with Britain for electoral reasons - 12th June 2010
 * public sector will be better when the quangos go'' - But we won’t attract people of the right calibre to do vital jobs if we pay them derisory salaries - 5th June 2010
 * gains tax and the politics of envy'' - Vince Cable poses as a man who understands economics, but at heart he is a redistributionist - 29th May 2010
 * Cameron will rue the day he betrayed the - 22nd May 2010 Conservatives'' - As I have argued for the last four-and-half years, Dave is not actually a Conservative
 * Cameron turns ugly with our constitution'' - To allow a government effectively to ignore defeats in the Commons and carry on regardless is a constitutional outrage - 15th May 2010
 * Election 2010: David Cameron has had this coming to him'' - Dave Cameron abandoned conservatism five years ago because he believed it would get his party elected. It didn't - 8th May 2010 (General Election 2010)
 * quite the change that Dave wanted'' - The leader of the Conservatives has only himself and his teenage advisers to blame if he loses this election - 24th April 2010
 * time to turf this toad out of office'' - We, the electorate, have done nothing to deserve this saponaceous little creep - 10th April 2010
 * times call for Ken Clarke'' - David Cameron needs to use Kenneth Clarke to lead the economic battle - 27th March 2010
 * parents for holiday truancy'' - Why not criminalise parents who take children from school for holidays - 27th March 2010
 * Obama builds on George W Bush's bad mistakes'' - Barack Obama has failed to improve America's standing in the world - 20th March 2010
 * universities are worth paying for'' - Any attempt to link a degree in history, classics or philosophy to the "utility" of our commercial future misses the point of university education - 20th March 2010
 * is one cut that could save Labour'' - The Tory party that seems to understand less about economics than Jack the Ripper did about the sanctity of human life - 13th March 2010
 * is a little worth saving at the BBC'' - A drastically reduced BBC would eliminate much of the Leftist influence that dominates it - 6th March 2010
 * madness of Little George Osborne'' - Simon Heffer finds the Shadow Chancellor's recent bout of lunatic posturing irksome - 27th February 2010
 * Obama: crumbs of comfort from a dog's dinner of a presidency'' - Barack Obama has one advantage that should not be discounted - 20th February 2010
 * Brown's fantasy is Britain's nightmare'' - Not a day passes without more evidence of Gordon Brown's bovine incompetence - 20th February 2010
 * can't afford to have less history taught at universities'' - Whoever governs this country next musty proclaim a commitment to higher education in the broadest sense - 12th February 2010
 * perverted idea of equality that protected Ali Dizaei'' -Never was a stronger case made against the positively dangerous obsession with artificial "equality" promoted by lunatics like Harriet Harman - 12th February 2010
 * expenses: Parliament is no place for the talented'' - There will be no fresh start for the House of Commons until MPs are allowed outside earnings - 6th February 2010
 * Forces into one doesn't go'' - One of the more crackpot notions of recent times is that we should rationalise our Armed Forces into one Service - 6th February 2010
 * Inquiry: Unlike our boys, Blair emerged unscathed'' - Tony Blair does conviction exceptionally well. Those who know him knew he would not repent the war - 30th January 2010
 * such as Jack Straw abandoned principles long ago'' - This makes him a suitable member of a Government because he lacks principle - 23rd January 2010
 * Obama's running on borrowed time'' - Barack Obama's only answer to debt is the same as Gordon Brown - 23rd January 2010
 * to help the white working class'' - Labour is ducking the radical steps needed to help Britain's poor - 16th January 2010
 * Election 2010: We can't actually hate Labour more'' - How idiotic does one have to be to want to take over the leadership of the Labour Party - 9th January 2010
 * Brown's insult to the Lord Mayor was shocking'' - Now the Lord Mayor just gets a CBE, two ranks above what is given to lollipop ladies and teenage athletes - 2nd January 2010
 * PD James, for bringing the BBC to book'' - How I admire Baroness James for kicking the director-general of the BBC in the way she did on the Today programme - 2nd January 2010
 * Straw's role in destroying the police'' - It was in Mr Straw's four years as home secretary from 1997 to 2001 that the cancerous attitudes that have benighted our police really set in - 2nd January 2010
 * lies that saw in a decade of debt'' - Sadly, there has been more to worry about than the battle against Islamic fundamentalism over the last decade - 26th December 2009
 * rather not hark to any more herald angels'' - Simon Heffer longs to hear the old, traditional and unusual Christmas carols that rarely get an outing now - 20th December 2009
 * should lock up the guilty - not the innocent'' - Our system of justice should be ashamed of the way in which it has treated Munir Hussain - 19th December 2009
 * alone won't get us better teachers'' - Poor pay is not the only reason why first-rate graduates prefer not to go into the classroom - 5th December 2009
 * climate change - save the planet from the thermomaniacs'' - At last people are telling David Cameron that his bunny-hugging has the potential to cause extreme economic and political damage - 5th December 2009
 * to fix the NHS? Go private'' - When a hospital fails in the way that the Basildon and Thurrock Trust has, it should be turned over immediately to a private-sector hit squad to sort it out - 28th November 2009
 * is simply making schools worse'' - Ofsted has become a Left-wing front dedicated to maintaining the pretence that schools under Labour are getting better all the time - 28th November 2009
 * is clearly guilty of pursuing excellence'' - Oxbridge demands very high A-level passes and produces many students with good degrees, very few of whom drop out. Where is the problem - 21st November 2009
 * brilliant way to turn off Tory voters'' - The Conservative Party positively encourages the persecution of such types as Sir Jeremy Bagge, old Etonian and leader of Norfolk's "Turnip Taliban" - 21st November 2009
 * real enemy of the working classes'' - Labour's lax immigration policies have not served Britain well, but the welfare state has been more damaging - 14th November 2009
 * cricket is not the birthright of every Englishman'' - Important though Test matches are, they are not a state occasion like a Coronation or the opening of Parliament - 14th November 2009
 * attack on Gordon Brown I don't applaud'' - I am in no doubt that he was sincere in his grief when he wrote to Jacqui Janes - 14th November 2009
 * Obama is beatable - but by whom?'' - The Republicans have a fundamental problem: they don't have a leader to capitalise on the President's weakness - 7th November 2009
 * Prime Minister with our soldiers' blood on his hands'' - The TA, unlike Mr Brown and his toadies, is comprised of volunteers who put their lives on the line for our country to implement the sometimes idiotic decisions taken by dodgy politicians - 31st October 2009
 * must give in to the EU - or give it up'' - A Tory referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be futile, but politicians can't hide from the real question forever - 31st October 2009
 * Cameron chooses tokenism over principle'' - Most voters want the best candidate as their MP, not the best after half the population has been ruled out - 24th October 2009
 * up and fight Gordon Brown's latest cut to the forces'' - It is typical of this government's contempt for the Armed Forces that it is seeking to shut down their postal service - 17th October 2009
 * expenses: Sir Thomas Legg must target MPs more carefully'' - There seems to me to be one glaring injustice in how Sir Thomas Legg has run the MPs' expenses investigation - 17th October 2009
 * Cameron looks the part, but missed the point'' - The Tories have no plan for growth. If they are to come safely through an election campaign in which Labour will make endless promises of bribes to its clientele, they must find one - 10th October 2009
 * the arch and let beauty into our towns'' - Simon Heffer recalls his elders talking of the loss of the Euston Arch as the opening of the floodgates to a period of bleak modernism - 27th September 2009
 * Court has far less appeal than the Lords'' - 26th September 2009
 * expenses: why Members deserve to be in the doghouse'' - Might there have been a pang of conscience alongside the perverse sense of priorities - 26th September 2009 (see: MPs' expenses: summary)
 * gulf between a Princess and a Queen'' - The lives of Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, and Diana, Princess of Wales, reflected a differing understanding of the Royal role - 20th September 2009
 * Osborne's and Vince Cable's 'spending cuts' won't cut the mustard'' - Both George Osborne and Vince Cable supported increasing spending for far too long - 19th September 2009
 * South Bank Show: the last bastion of civilisation on ITV'' - Tony Palmer's magnificent new film on Wagner shows how much ITV will lose when the South Bank Show finishes its run - 13th September 2009
 * poor apology for a Prime Minister'' - Gordon Brown's posthumous apology to Alan Turing shows that Labour has no sense of history - 12th September 2009
 * adventures of Jonathan Meades, cultural commando'' - There are moments in Meades's documentaries that are not merely challenging - they are almost threatening - 6th September 2009
 * NHS gets a bad bill of health'' - The Government could make the NHS more efficient by contracting out the management of its care - 5th September 2009
 * British bellies, the salad days are over'' - In the 1970s, in a spasm of national consciousness, we realised our food was ghastly. Things have got better since, but they could be about to decline again - 16th August 2009
 * no smell on the shelves of cyberspace'' - Browsing a dealer's list online is not the same as seeing a book by chance, flicking through it, smelling it, turning it over in one's hands - 9th August 2009
 * Biggs is laughing all the way to his grave'' - The release of Ronnie Biggs exemplifies the moral destitution of our society - 8th August 2009
 * are still lost in the mystery of that war'' - Nothing changed us more, or demanded so incomprehensible a sacrifice as the conflict that ended in November 1918 - 2nd August 2009
 * Cameron has the most to lose from a televised debate'' - Things are so pitifully awful for Gordon Brown that he has nothing left to lose - 1st August 2009
 * once knew what patriotism was'' - Labour's control of the Armed Forces is utterly, and literally, lethal - 1st August 2009
 * soul of England lives in the public house'' - All around our countryside are our great gift to the world: the country pub. They are at the core of my sense of myself as an Englishman - 26th July 2009
 * your great adventure at the Albert Hall'' - Music cannot be elitist when fine performances of an enormous section of the repertoire are available, free of charge, to anyone with a wireless receiver - 19th July 2009
 * July 7 memorial says what words cannot'' - We have become exceptionally good at revering our heroes and this latest effort is as utterly right as the Cenotaph - 12th July 2009
 * countryside is not a theme park for townies'' - The Royal Show failed because this Government couldn't give a stuff about the countryside - 11th July 2009
 * hacking: If you're Dave's mate, you can do no wrong'' - Andy Coulson has nothing to fear from the News of the World phone hacking furore - 11th July 2009
 * Queen is getting out her begging bowl'' - Her Majesty is too-frugal - 4th July 2009
 * even the summer has a health warning'' - Many of us will have spent the last few days of extreme heat wondering how we have lived this long - 4th July 2009
 * more sleaze? Have full-time MPs'' - The proposal to end parliamentary privilege shows how sinister the Labour Government has become - 4th July 2009
 * game I grew up watching has ended'' - I could attempt to get my children interested in the new form of cricket – if I wished to be cruel to them - 28th June 2009
 * refuse to learn their grammar'' - Can we have a U-turn on grammar schools, please? - 27th June 2009
 * deserves to stay in jail'' - The implication is that we should have let him out earlier - 27th June 2009
 * BBC executives test the market'' - Still fizzing after all these years, but treat him to the Pol Roger White Foil next time - 27th June 2009
 * politics? It's Carry On in Rome'' - Berlusconi's fellow countrymen admire his prowess with the ladies - 27th June 2009
 * the red, red, red, we sink with Brown'' - Mervyn King: the Guv'nor can do the sums - 27th June 2009
 * Everything you never wanted to know...'' - A younger friend told me that the purpose of Facebook is to 'keep in touch with people you don't want to keep in touch with'. So why bother? - 14th June 2009
 * strikes: Change the law so that Bob Crow can be crushed'' - We need some test cases from employers or individuals who were affected by the strike, suing the RMT for any damage to their businesses and livelihoods - 13th June 2009
 * Alan Sugar has no business on TV now'' - The appointment of Sir Alan Sugar as enterprise 'tsar' is a stunt, but it is a Government-sanctioned one: and, as such, he should no longer be allowed to appear on his rather coarse television programme - 13th June 2009
 * Brown's PR won't stop duck houses or 'flipping''' - I may be obtuse, but I fail to see how altering the way we are governed - short of abolishing MPs altogether - would have made any difference to the MPs' expenses debacle - 13th June 2009
 * wheels out the evil weapon of history'' - Distorting the facts about the Second World War may well be a prelude to a battle over a land corridor through Poland - 7th June 2009
 * still prove a magnet for punters'' - I suppose you could describe literary festivals as a sort of live porn show for the educated classes - 31st May 2009
 * expenses: We await an apology in Saffron Walden'' - I'm still game on to challenge Sir Alan Haselhurst - 30th May 2009
 * elections: My vote is going to Ukip'' - 30th May 2009
 * expenses: How David Cameron can now shame Labour'' - A series of by-elections, which the Tories would probably win, would be very good for the party - 30th May 2009
 * Fawcett takes American television to the final frontier'' - Whatever species of disgusting vulgarity we develop for ourselves will always find a ready market in the US - 24th May 2009
 * crisis: One more quango and we might burst'' - The MPs' expenses scandal has, I hope, been a wake-up call to those who rule us that we have rumbled the fact that so much of our money is squandered - 23rd May 2009
 * expenses: Being clean of moat is no longer a virtue'' - Although Labour is regarded as the worst offender, the image of Viscount Hailsham?s moat is the one that has lodged in public consciousness - 23rd May 2009
 * new architecture is shockingly. . . good'' - The development of London's Docklands has been one of the social and architectural triumphs of the last quarter-century - 17th May 2009
 * expenses: Now we know where all our money goes'' - Public money has been squandered, and the many cases in which there is a prima facie case of fraud must be investigated by the Crown Prosecution Service - 16th May 2009
 * we need Victorian values in television - With The South Bank Show going, there is little other than Radio 3 and BBC Four between the stockade and the barbarians - 10th May 2009 (see also: Melvyn Bragg and the shameful axing of The South Bank Show'' - Max Davidson)
 * expenses: The Maltesers are on the taxpayer'' - MPs are supposed to be honourable - 9th May 2009
 * one more thing Gordon Brown can do'' - Britain is in a terrible state. Our people are losing their jobs, their homes, their businesses, their livelihoods. The Prime Minister should call an election - 2nd May 2009
 * Zara Phillips meant to live on scraps?'' - If some of her critics had their way, Zara Phillips would be sent to a convent - 2nd May 2009
 * be lucky to get a bowl of soup'' - The Brown Economic Miracle has turned Britain into a basket case - 25th April 2009
 * savage and pointless attack on Middle England'' - Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown are squeezing the middle classes to keep their clients happy - 23rd April 2009
 * Home Secretary is a walking disaster'' - The preposterous Jacqui Smith is a disgrace to the office of Home Secretary - 18th April 2009
 * flogging for RBS seems a fair return'' - Although I don't blame the bankers for our woes, I do believe the disaster into which they were led by bad governments has exposed horrors that, for the sake of their shareholders and for the future of banking, need to be expunged - 4th April 2009
 * Jonathan Ross, not the BBC'' - Will the BBC recover the sum of its Ofcom fine from the bloated earnings of Jonathan Ross? - 4th April 2009
 * Taylor could show the boys a thing or two'' - The first woman to be chosen as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year is a credit to her country - 4th April 2009
 * A 'new world order' is simply fantasy'' - The international act of posturing was pointless; because despite having caused the problem, the political class had none of the requisite skills to sort it out - 4th April 2009
 * for the Tories to get horrible'' - The Conservatives should start behaving like an Opposition, and attack Labour head-on - 28th March 2009
 * Richardson: Death is a tragedy, not a showbiz spectacle'' - I know our media can be tasteless, but in America celebrity death is larded with a peculiarly disgusting hypocrisy - 21st March 2009
 * race is on for the White House'' - the Republicans are already gearing up to oust Barack Obama in 2012 - 21st March 2009
 * Obama on Jay Leno risks becoming a bore'' - Any Briton watching would have been reminded of the easy, demotic charm of Tony Blair. And we know how that ended - 21st March 2009
 * leaders are good for nothing'' - If the world's richest countries are looking for ways to save money they could start by cancelling this futile summit - 14th March 2009
 * Ted Kennedy is an insult to IRA's victims'' - 7th March 2009
 * reckless ruse to make money'' - Gordon Brown won't stop borrowing because he can't stop spending - 7th March 2009
 * has as little shame as Sir Fred Goodwin'' - Parliament should debate Gordon Brown's salary and perks, and slash them - 28th February 2009
 * servants don't need Labour's sleaze'' - Sir Brian Bender's behaviour is typical of Labour's cosy relationship with big business - 14th February 2009
 * BBC just carries on giving offence'' - The corporation is now estranged from those who fund it - 7th February 2009
 * is why Britain is a failing nation'' - how in God's name does someone get seven GCSEs if he can't read? - 31st January 2009
 * have brought Britain to its knees'' - The sooner the bunch of Scots who govern us are booted into history the better - 24th January 2009
 * Harman: If you're middle class, you can't work here'' - is Miss Harman is modelling herself on Stalin with her latest attempts to remove Britain's class divide - 17th January 2009
 * rates and the economy: Does anyone in charge have a clue what to do?'' - I have yet to read a satisfactory explanation of the cut in interest rates this week - 10th January 2009
 * Brown has ruined sterling but now is not the time to be lured into the euro'' - No doubt your new year celebrations had extra zest two days ago: for it was not merely 2009, it was also the 10th anniversary of the currency union that brought us the euro - 3rd January 2009
 * Tories must give us cause for hope in 2009'' - David Cameron and George Osborne have to start making the case for sacrifice, cuts and an end to living beyond our means - 31st December 2008
 * will hit the middle classes but will Cameron?'' - It is no secret that Brown is planning to make the middle classes pay but what would the Tories do - 27th December 2008
 * Brown's behaviour is simply immoral'' - too many people are taken in by his son-of-the-manse act, and the "fact" that he has a "moral compass" - 20th December 2008
 * Cameron should pay attention to the Germans'' - The Conservatives had better have some serious policies by the time an election arrives - 13th December 2008
 * Martin is a disgrace to his office'' - There is a deeper problem at the heart of the Damian Green affair. It is Labour's lack of regard for history and hard-won liberties - 6th December 2008
 * Darling - you'll make things even worse'' - The world's financial markets are melting down. Whole industries - such as the American automobile manufacturers - are on the verge of collapse. Woolworths could be about to disappear from our high streets. Unemployment is at an 11-year peak. Confidence has not merely evaporated: it has been replaced by fear. And I have yet to speak to anyone in the financial world who imagines things can do anything except get worse - 22nd November 2008
 * successor to 'Edward the Caresser''' - The lesson of Edward VII suggests that even if Charles must wait another 20 years, he can still be a force for good once he gets there - 16th November 2008
 * is as depraved as in Dickens's day'' - In the 19th century, when a great majority of people were uneducated, dirt poor and left to their own, often gruesome, devices, it was no wonder that one of the national sports was child abuse - 15th November 2008
 * “David Cameron must join the real world and fight Labour's big lies’’ - Cameron and Osborne need to prove how, under a Tory administration, things would get better, argues Simon Heffer – 9th November 2008
 * only a human being, you know'' - Expectations of him changing the world are as unrealistic as those of his chances of transforming America by his mere presence in the White House - 8th November 2008
 * can't get rid of George W Bush fast enough'' - The American president is nowhere - possibly not even in the caves of Pakistan or the badlands of Iraq - so despised as in his own country - 1st November 2008
 * you trust George Osborne with your money? '' - However comical the events concerning George Osborne and his international white trash friends might seem, there is a serious undertow to them - 25th October 2008
 * Brown's legacy: debt and more debt'' - 18th October 2008
 * need to grow up to beat Gordon Brown'' - The Tories are not attacking Brown's handling of the financial crisis, because they haven't a clue what they would do differently - 11th October 2008
 * time lucky for Peter Mandelson?'' - The Mandelson appointment is so contemptible that it deserves to be one of the most conspicuous reasons for the electorate to punish Labour - 4th October 2008
 * Osborne must talk about tough choices'' - 27th September 2008
 * doesn't come without risks'' - Despite this weeks events, the free market and the associated risks are crucial to a free society - 20th September 2008
 * hypocrites who punish excellence'' - there are few greater hypocrisies than Labour criticising our old and great universities for taking too few people from "disadvantaged" backgrounds - 13th September 2008
 * offers vision rooted in reality'' - Whereas Barack Obama offered empty promises, John McCain presented a message of unity rooted in gravitas and experience - 6th September 2008
 * has left the US election wide open'' - Despite his masterful rhetoric, Barack Obama has not yet done enough to win the election - 30th August 2008
 * rise in interest rates is unavoidable'' - It is vital to keep inflation under control however politically difficult the side-effects for our Prime Minister - 16th August 2008


 * archive



The Daily Telegraph:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Politics

Section: Features / Comment

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk simon.heffer@telegraph.co.uk]

Website: Telegraph.co / Simon Heffer

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Wednesday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * sort of democracy treats losers like they're winners?'' - The Lib Dems should have less influence, not more, after their kicking at the polls - 11th May 2011
 * Clegg is out of his depth – and David Cameron should let him sink'' - The Tories' bargaining power in the Coalition will increase after tomorrow's elections - 4th May 2011
 * not republicans, are a threat to the monarchy'' - Ministers who want to change the nature of our constitution don’t grasp the consequences - 27th April 2011
 * Cameron’s moving further to the Left on his tiresome guilt-trip'' - The Prime Minister’s latest fatuous comment shows how out of step he is with Conservatism - 13th April 2011
 * Cameron should listen to Vernon Bogdanor on the constitution'' - The Coalition’s reforms would take power from the people and deliver it to the political class - 6th April 2011
 * protests: Ed Miliband wrecks his reputation by siding with the criminal class'' - Ed Miliband lives in a fantasy land if he thinks Saturday's riots were ideologically driven - 30th March 2011
 * 2011: the Chancellor's reputation is built on actions, not the half-truths of spin doctors'' - To talk about George Osborne's leadership ambitions at this stage is a diversion to prevent our seeing the lack of ambition of what may be announced in the Budget - 23rd March 2011
 * don't have the luxury of an interventionist foreign policy'' - We must work out what our national interest is, and then we must act upon it - 16th March 2011
 * David Cameron doesn't get a grip, his troubles will only get worse'' - Ukip’s success in Barnsley will be replicated elsewhere unless the Tories shape up - 9th March 2011
 * no light at the end of the tunnel for this high-speed folly'' - Enterprise zones would do far more to revive the economy than a pointless railway line - 1st March 2011
 * time we stopped insulting the Duchess of Cornwall'' - There is no logic, but much spite, in the way we treat the Prince of Wales's wife - 23rd February 2011
 * is a recipe for coalitions – reason enough to vote 'No''' - David Cameron has more pressing issues at the moment than his sop to the Lib Dems - 16th February 2011
 * MPs are biting their tongues – but for how much longer?'' - The lack of a growth strategy, and no progress in curbing EU powers top the list of complaints - 9th February 2011
 * has put its feet up'' - Despite the enterprise and valour of our citizens, our leaders seem set only on managing the country's decline - 2nd February 2011
 * Cameron now has no chance of understanding ordinary people'' - With Andy Coulson's departure the PM has lost his last contact with the real world - 26th January 2011
 * to his brass neck in sartorial disgrace'' - Nadhim Zahawi's musical intervention in the House was an unforgivable faux pas - 21st January 2011
 * last thing the House of Lords needs is a mass of elected members'' - Nick Clegg's proposed reforms will keep talented people out of the Upper House - 19th January 2011
 * is for the brightest, whichever school they went to'' - Simon Hughes's quota plan for private school pupils will destroy further education - 12th January 2011
 * the real Conservative Party is about to make itself heard'' - A spat over Europe and the wrong economic policies mean trouble ahead for the PM - 5th January 2011
 * country's problems are far more urgent than the Coalition's'' - Doing the right thing for Britain must be Mr Cameron's first concern - 29th December 2010
 * punishes Tories, but lets Vince Cable go free. Why is that?'' - Vince Cable, the Business Secretary has exposed how unnatural this Coalition really is - 22nd December 2010
 * fees aren't the only thing Nick Clegg has to be ashamed about'' - The Lib Dem leader's breathtaking retreat from principle is reaping its just reward - 15th December 2010
 * Cameron's obsession with image and spin is failing the country'' - The public is paying dearly for the Prime Minister's cult of personality - 10th November 2010
 * future looks bleak for Barack Obama'' - America has taken stock of Mr Obama’s presidency – and it doesn’t like what it sees - 3rd November 2010
 * goodwill of the middle classes can no longer be taken for granted'' - The strident voice of protest in France is one we shall hear in Britain all too soon - 27th October 2010
 * sounds a lot – but these cuts are nowhere near enough'' - Spending Review 2010:The Government is making a weak start in its attempt to deal with the deficit - 20th October 2010
 * employers want good graduates, then they must pay for them'' - We cannot allow universities to become the province of 'rich kids' - 13th October 2010
 * Party Conference 2010: Class envy won't win the Tories the next election'' - Unfair welfare reforms are the latest sign of the Conservatives moving to the Left - 6th October 2010
 * Miliband will say anything if it means getting into Downing St'' - Labour had better beware its new leader – his only creed is expediency - 29th September 2010
 * five-year plan for Parliament is a fix in more ways than one'' - The Coalition is trying to fool us with its undemocratic bid for fixed-term rule - 22nd September 2010
 * RAF can be trimmed but to cut the Navy and Army is insane'' - The world is looking very dangerous – we need defence more than an overseas aid budget - 15th September 2010
 * must eat humble pie'' - The Opposition needs to face up to its failings - 8th September 2010
 * Blair's memoirs: a strange book by a gifted man'' - Tony Blair's memoirs are unlike those of any previous prime minister, not least because of the space devoted to settling scores with his arch rival. But they fail to tell the whole story - 2nd September 2010
 * be complacent – English cricket is on a sticky wicket, too'' - The spirit of a once civilised game has been ruined by greed - 1st September 2010
 * Cameron's Coalition insults voters by paying lip service to democracy'' - The Tory Right is trying to save the party – and the country – from leaders without accountability - 3rd August 2010
 * President Obama carries on like this, he will turn into a lame duck'' - The president hasn't grown into the job - all that's needed to beat him is a serious Republican - 28th July 2010
 * next Labour leader could be prime minister within a year'' - Whoever wins the leadership battle will present a real challenge to the Coalition - 20th July 2010
 * on earth can a monster like Raoul Moat be hailed a hero?'' - Growing hostility towards the police lies at the heart of a mindless reaction to his death - 14th July 2010
 * electoral reform is fantasy, and Conservatives should fight it'' - The proposed changes do a lot for the Lib Dems, but nothing for democracy - 7th July 2010
 * have changed, and the NHS must take the medicine too'' - It is insane to ring-fence health spending – and overseas aid - 30th June 2010
 * is a programme to horrify politicians, but save Britain'' - The huge deficit requires radical solutions such as VAT on food and severe NHS cuts - 16th June 2010
 * dishonest election campaign has given us a cynical Government'' - The Coalition should know what to do with the deficit without asking the public - 9th June 2010
 * new politics is as obsessed with propaganda as the old was'' - The Coalition depends on rhetoric to conceal its weaknesses - 2nd June 2010
 * collapse of the euro would open the door to democracy'' - The European project has been shown to be economically and politically bankrupt - 26th May 2010
 * a Tory without principles would demonise the Right'' - Cameron's coalition will stop at nothing to smear those who believe in traditional values - 19th May 2010
 * political infighting won't be over until we have another election'' - the coalition government will be unsatisfactory and short-lived - 12th May 2010
 * Election 2010: Mark your ballot paper with care, then prepare for the worst'' - There are worthy candidates, but this campaign has left Britain unprepared for the struggle ahead - 5th May 2010 (General Election 2010)
 * worst that can happen is a second general election'' - A hung parliament would allow all the parties to think again - 28th April 2010
 * 2010: David Cameron's image-makers created the vacuum that Nick Clegg has filled'' - The Tories are suffering because they don't have enough solid policies - 21st April 2010
 * continues for good reasons to vote Tory'' - The party's manifesto is largely irrelevant to the crisis facing Britain - 14th April 2010
 * Election: the only thing you won't hear in the next 30 days is the truth'' - The parties' cosy consensus will leave millions of voters effectively disfranchised - 7th April 2010
 * can David Cameron and the rest of the Conservative Party be so 'bonkers' about banks?'' - The Lord Mayor of London is right to attack a unilateral levy on banks, which will destroy Britain's only world-beating industry - 24th March 2010
 * has taken 13 years of diabolical liberties with Britain'' - Individualism and autonomy used to be prized – now they are held in contempt - 17th March 2010
 * seem to want them but can the Republicans deliver?'' - The race for nomination is on but any challenge to Obama has to be carefully calibrated - 10th March 2010
 * end of the road for Obama?'' - The President seems unable to face up to America's problems - 8th March 2010
 * Notting Hill Tories simply don't have the popular touch'' - Labour's record in office is appalling, but Cameron's slogan of change is vacuous - 3rd March 2010
 * is never fair. So why does Labour pretend it can be?'' - The party's vision of the future involves punishing the haves for the sake of the have-nots - 24th February 2010
 * anyone explain what the Conservative Party stands for?'' - Lacking clarity and direction, the Tories risk a haemorrhage of support to fringe parties - 17th February 2010
 * in their right mind will bail out the poor relations of Europe?'' - The euro cannot survive if the national interests of EU countries are to prevail - 10th February 2010
 * only economic advice the Tories need - cut spending'' - If Cameron refuses to tackle government debt, the consequences for Britain will be disastrous - 3rd February 2010
 * recession was no accident, and we know who's to blame'' - Brown provided cheap money for the banks to behave idiotically with – and Cameron went along with it - 27th January 2010
 * Cameron's Tories are a one-man band that's playing out of tune'' - Labour's show of resilience since the coup plot raises questions about David Cameron's team - 20th January
 * Brown's deep, dark obsession has brought the country to its knees'' - The psychological flaws of the Gordon Brown and his cronies are to blame for Britain's ills - 13th January 2010
 * looks like being a traditional general election: bluster, bombast and lies'' - Will Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg ape his party rivals in duping the voters - 6th January 2010
 * £18 million win the Tories an election?'' - Given the state of the economy, the Conservatives should have shown greater restraint when funding their campaign - 30th December 2009
 * the great Mr Gladstone saved our fallen country'' - Two hundred years ago, a leader was born who puts today's politicians to shame - 23rd December 2009
 * Mr Cameron - it isn't only Labour that has a core vote'' - The party of enterprise is offering nothing to aspirational average earners - 16th December 2009
 * must learn the dangers of tinkering with the constitution'' - Labour has not just hobbled the Union, but wrecked our whole system of government - 2nd December 2009
 * the Tories can lead the revival of a battered Britain'' - The reform of schools, welfare and the economy will be the key to a better future - 25th November 2009
 * have had enough of the most pointless Parliament for 350 years'' - Today's State Opening is a waste of our poor Queen's time - 18th November 2009
 * it comes to Europe, David Cameron is howling in the night'' - The other 26 EU countries are not about to exhume the corpse of national sovereignty - 11th November 2009
 * Barack Obama's first anniversary - but there's precious little to celebrate'' - The US President's performance has dismayed even his biggest admirers - 4th November 2009
 * must give in to the EU - or give it up'' - A Tory referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be futile, but politicians can't hide from the real question forever - 31st October 2009
 * of Britain's politicians appears to realise what a mess we're in'' - The Tories' plans to deal with Britain's recession are still economically illiterate - 28th October 2009
 * must be wary of replacing Labour's cronies with their own'' - The Balls fiasco perfectly illustrates the folly of public sector patronage - 21st October 2009
 * expenses: Sir Thomas Legg's audit is not about fairness – it's about preserving our democracy'' - The MPs who complain about Sir Thomas Legg's investigation of Parliamentary expenses are missing the point - 14th October 2009
 * the Tories dislike the 50p tax rate, they should just get rid of it'' - His uninspiring speech at the Conservative Party conference shows that George Osborne has failed to grasp the mood about what's gone wrong - 7th October 2009
 * worker Vanessa George: punish the guilty – not the innocent'' - However much vigilance we impose on those who work with children, it is not enough - 2nd October 2009
 * Brown's Labour Party will pay for its cowardice'' - When I arrived in Brighton for the Labour Party conference last Sunday, the atmosphere was like that of a pub with no beer, and it got worse - 29th September 2009
 * last gasp of a charlatan?'' - For all his rhetoric, Mr Brown knows that in reality any hope of his staying in power rests with the Lib Dems - 29th September 2009
 * up the Swannee, and all the parties are in the same boat'' - The Tories need to embrace the culture of wealth creation if they are to rebuild Britain - 23rd September 2009
 * undeserving poor will be David Cameron’s biggest headache'' - We must end the flawed benefit system that encourages people not to work - 16th September 2009
 * leadership is a damaging disease – and it's catching'' - As the day of reckoning looms, Labour has lost any concept of the national interest - 9th September 2009
 * pays through the nose for the luxury of Scottish values'' - Salmond's call for a referendum on independence is part of a long-term strategy - 2nd September 2009
 * violence is more worrying than a quiet smoke'' - It was only a matter of time before the idiocy of higher ratings for films with smoking reached us - 15th August 2009
 * Cameron and George Osborne offer progress – but in the wrong direction'' - As Lord Tebbit has worked out, whatever else David Cameron and his friends are, Tory they definitely aren't - 15th August 2009
 * trouble with Labour'' - The Government's failure to think ahead will leave a disastrous legacy - 12th August 2009
 * are the only people standing in the way of recovery'' - The banking crisis may be over, but capitalism is not saved yet - 5th August 2009
 * Cameron is likely to win, but don't expect a Conservative government'' - Tory silence on the 50p tax rate, Europe and private schools shows a party too timid to achieve anything in office - 29th July 2009
 * Labour keeps the lower classes in their place'' - State schools have been wrecked and now it is the turn of our best universities - 22nd July 2009
 * a class war to be fought over the future of private schools'' - The independent sector can lie down in front of the tanks - or get its guns out - 15th July 2009
 * Cameron's first priority must be job cuts in the public sector'' - With Labour stumbling towards defeat, a golden opportunity is looming - 8th July 2009
 * David Cameron wants to govern, he should stop being afraid of ideas'' - The Tory leader's disdain for think tanks does the party a disservice - 1st July 2009
 * seems bent on insulting the voters until the very end'' - The election of John Bercow as Speaker shows that most MPs have still not understood the public mood - 24th June 2009
 * elections 2009: David Cameron must not rest on his laurels if he really wants power'' - The Tories did well in last week's elections, but it is still a long way to No 10 - 10th June 2009
 * Brown: You can judge a leader by his toadies'' - Since the whole country knows that what it really wants is an election, and the early defenestration of Mr Brown, I wonder what people think of the likes of Shaun Woodward - 6th June 2009
 * elections 2009: The nation knows the game is up'' - What is happening to Gordon Brown now makes John Major's government look like a triumph - 6th June 2009
 * call it Gordon Brown's 'tragedy', but it's been a catastrophe for us'' - The Cabinet's failure to put the PM out of his misery is in nobody's interest - 3rd June 2009
 * expenses: do the right thing, Sir Alan Haselhurst, or I will stand against you'' - Because we have exposed so much moral leprosy, some deserving cases – deserving of greater scrutiny with a view to forcing them to own up – have slid back into the undergrowth. Today, I must pull one back - 27th May 2009 (see: MP's expenses: summary)
 * will Barack Obama stop fudging it?'' - Barack Obama's reluctance to begin confronting difficult decisions is creating the impression that his administration is simply hoping for the best - 25th May 2009
 * man can restore dignity to the House'' - These are unprecedented times and only a Speaker of real stature will do - 20th May 2009
 * expenses: the Queen has a role to play in stabilising government'' - The Queen cannot help but be aware of the public's anger over MPs' expenses and should help to rebuild politics - 18th May 2009
 * expenses: What Parliament needs now is the spirit of Cromwell'' - As the Commons' standing falls to a historic low, with news of MPs claiming expenses for everything from piles of manure to tennis court maintenance, drastic action is needed from the party leaders - 13th May 2009
 * must stop worrying about their silly little party and put Britain first'' - Labour started all this by picking a flawed leader who was clearly not up to the job - 6th May 2009
 * had to be there to grasp the scale of Margaret Thatcher's revolution'' - We are victims of our upbringing. Anyone coming to political consciousness as I did in the 1970s will understand why Mrs Thatcher happened, whether we support what she did or not - 29th April 2009
 * Henry VIII for laying those foundations of freedom'' - Without the Reformation there would have been no constitutional monarchy - 22nd April 2009
 * one is more damaged by Damian McBride than Gordon Brown himself'' - It has taken a disgraced Labour adviser to boost the Tories - 15th April 2009
 * MPs like these, porn films should be the least of our worries'' - Our system attracts career politicians and it badly needs reform - 1st April 2009
 * the Tories tackled the real problem – the state, not the rich'' - David Cameron is spurning a chance to revive country and party through the Tories' tax decisions - 25th March 2009
 * Barack Obama: Perhaps he can't fix it. . .'' - President Obama has been in power for just over 50 days, but already critics believe his plans to save America from disaster are doomed - 18th March 2009
 * Ireland has not been at peace - despite what Labour claims'' - 'Republican' gangsters have reverted to type to secure the unification of Ireland - 11th March 2009
 * the Europhiles versus reality, and reality is going to win'' - Milton Friedman was right to predict that the euro might not survive a recession - 4th March 2009
 * people say they'll keep calm and carry on. . . but for how long?'' - Labour has failed us – and if the Tories can't find a solution to our problems, the public mood could turn ugly - 25th February 2009
 * Smith is a symptom of our consensus of cowardice'' - the lack of outrage over the Home Secretary's expenses is a sad reflection on our politicians - 11th February 2009
 * Cameron's 'moral' capitalism is no better than socialism'' - The Tory leader has revealed his true colours – he misunderstands the market - 4th February 2009
 * of Lords: Peers already have the power to put their tarnished house in order'' - The Lords must recover the credibility lost in ruinous reforms and mediocre appointments - 28th January 2008
 * much rope does Gordon Brown need?'' - only one honourable option remains for Gordon Brown - but he won't take it - 21st January 2009
 * Darwin reminds us not to squander the great legacy of the Victorians'' - There are obvious reasons to commemorate Charles Darwin on his bicentenary - 14th January 2009
 * is the moment for radical Tory policies. So where are they?'' - The move on savings was a step in the right direction, but Cameron needs to be much bolder if Labour is to be punished for its terrible failure - 7th January 2009
 * is the time to revisit our obsession with the past'' - There is nothing more helpful that one can do at this season than to provide an unequivocal recommendation on how to spend the book tokens, or sums of ready cash, that might come your way tomorrow - 24th December 2008
 * is a class war - but Ed Stourton's sacking is not part of it'' - The speculation about Ed Stourton highlights the fact that social divisions have worsened under Labour - 17th December 2008
 * Milton was a poet and a freedom fighter'' - On the 400th anniversary of John Milton's birth, we should remember him as a pamphleteer who set up the struggle for English liberty - 10th December 2008
 * need to look after the middle class - and Britain'' - There has never been such an opportunity to win the hearts and minds of British voters since Mrs Thatcher's great campaign in 1979 - 26th November 2008
 * Darling's pre-Budget report of political expediency'' - 25th November 2008
 * must fight Labour's big lies'' - Cameron and Osborne have no coherent alternative to offer - they need to prove how, under a Tory administration, things would get better - 19th November 2008
 * will our politicians have the guts to use the 'C' word?'' - all three major parties promise lower taxes yet decline to pay for them with lower public spending - 12th November 2008
 * Obama’s historic victory: Now we need to find out what 'change' means'' - 6th November 2008
 * elections: Danger lurks in Barack Obama's comfort zone'' - 4th November 2008
 * the Busby Berkeley of modern America'' - Barack Obama has all but won the race for the White House, but he'll need more than rhetoric to help him once he's in power - 29th October 2008
 * must stop serving their own interests'' - It is disgraceful that Parliament was not recalled during the summer and that MPs didn't demand it - 22nd October 2008
 * Tories must spell out our predicament, or they can lose '' - If the Conservatives don’t make the case for capitalism, Britain will start to look like North Korea – with Gordon Brown as leader for life, argues - 15th October 2008
 * is still no great statesman'' - He may be winning plaudits in the European media, but we must not forget Brown's part in creating the crisis - 14th October 2008
 * crisis: We're all socialists now, comrade'' - Perhaps if Brown did not socialise our financial system the situation would worsen but state-backed banks will eventually impoverish us all - 9th October 2008
 * are the lessons of the credit crunch'' - we are paying the price of failing to control the money supply - but will we learn from our mistakes? - 8th October 2008
 * have a long way to go to be judged a government-in-waiting'' - the Conservative party still gives the impression it is struggling to understand the tectonic shifts in the world financial order - 1st October 2008
 * Brown's conference speech won Labour over, yet they're doomed if he stays'' - 24th September 2008
 * has the guts to govern Britain in this time of turmoil?'' - It's obvious what needs to be done to lead us out of the present economic crisis, but is there anyone with the resolve to do it? - 17th September 2008
 * Brown is bad news for Britain, and disastrous for Labour'' - As the Prime Minister clings to office but is no longer able to wield power, he risks consigning his party to the wilderness for years to come - 10th September 2008
 * Palin's winning conviction'' - John McCain's running mate has proved herself to be an astounding politician - 5th September 2008
 * McCain needs to explain how he would make America better'' - 3rd September 2008
 * can't make Obama good president'' - There is tension in the air at the convention as Democrats start to worry about their choice of candidate - 27th August 2008
 * private sector could save our schools'' - The "inequality" between private and state schools is not about money, it is about the quality of teachers - 23rd August 2008
 * Williams should be revered'' - His work was hijacked by the nostalgia industry in the 50 years since his death, but the composer's contribution to our national life was invaluable - 20th August 2008
 * West must hit Russia where it hurts'' - Only America has the muscle, the will and the sense of leadership to force the Kremlin to draw in its horns - 13th August 2008


 * archive



News & updates:

 * Simon Heffer to leave Daily Telegraph - Long-serving associate editor and style guide scourge to pursue role in journalism and broadcasting, The Guardian, 11th May 2011
 * Heffer Sacked From the Telegraph - Guido Fawkes blog', 11th May 2011



References:


Links:

 * Hack watch: The security services and Whitehall have long kept dossiers on certain journalists but, characteristically, New Labour has widened the focus - as an internal cabinet memo obtained by the Guardian shows - Seumas Milne, Kevin Maguire, The Guardian, 22nd January 2001
 * Simon Heffer's greatest hits - A selection of the Daily Telegraph associate editor's missives on house style, The Guardian, 11th May 2011
 * Simon Heffer launches MailOnline comment website RightMinds - RightMinds unveiled with intention of creating web community for Daily Mail site, with writers including Richard Littlejohn - The Guardian, 13th September 2011