Simon Jenkins1



Profile:
Full name: Simon Jenkins

Area of interest: Politics/media, democracy, civil rights, environment, education, architecture, London issues

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian, Evening Standard, & formerly The Sunday Times

Email: [mailto:simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk] & [mailto:simon.jenkins@sunday-times.co.uk simon.jenkins@sunday-times.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: Guardian.co / Simon Jenkins | Evening Standard / Simon Jenkins

Blog: Comment is free...

Representation:

Networks:



Biography:
About:

Education: Mill Hill School, London; Beechen Cliff School, Bath; St John's College, Oxford

Career:
 * Country Life magazine
 * Times Educational Supplement
 * Evening Standard
 * editor of the 'Insight' page of The Sunday Times
 * editor of London Evening Standard, 1976/78
 * political editor, The Economist magazine, 1979/86
 * founded and edited The Sunday Times 'Books section'
 * editor of The Times 1990/92
 * contributing blogger The Huffington Post May 2005-present
 * joined The Guardian, Summer 2005
 * rejoined the Evening Standard as columnist, January 2009

Advisory/other posts:
 * Board member of British Rail, 1979/90
 * Board member of London Transport, 1984/86
 * Deputy chairman of English Heritage, 1985/90
 * Member of UK Millennium Commission, 1994/2000
 * Chair of the Independent Commission on Local Democracy, 1994/5
 * Chairman of the Buildings Book Trust
 * Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
 * Chairman, National Trust (elected July 2008) see: Maev Kennedy, The Guardian

Current position/role: Columnist: The Guardian, Evening Standard


 * also writes/has written for:

Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4527741/Recession-blues-Come-to-see-our-snowdrops.html ''Recession blues? Come to see our snowdrops''] - The National Trust's new chairman, Sir Simon Jenkins, praises our national treasure - by Elizabeth Grice, The Daily Telegraph, 5th February 2009

Controversy/Criticism:

Broadcast media:

Video: Presented the Channel 4 series based on his book, England's Thousand Best Churches

Awards/Honours: Knighted for his services to journalism, 2004; What the Papers Say Journalist of the Year, 1998; Columnist of the Year, 1993; Journalist of the Year, 1988; Honorary Fellowship, University of Wales, Lampeter

Other: Married to US actress, Gayle Hunnicutt



Books & Debate:

 * Education and Labour's axe OCLC144568, 1969
 * Here to live: study of race relations in an English town OCLC203011, 1971
 * Landlords to London: the story of a capital and Its growth OCLC1622562, 1975
 * Newspapers: The power and the money OCLC5210834, 1979
 * Newspapers through the looking-glass OCLC16550881, 1981
 * Battle for the Falklands OCLC9197447, with Max Hastings, 1983
 * With respect, ambassador: enquiry into the Foreign Office OCLC13397072, with Anne Sloman, 1985
 * The market for glory: Fleet Street ownership in the twentieth century OCLC22767658, 1986
 * "Times" English style and usage guide OCLC59942540, with Robert Ilson, 1992
 * The Selling of Mary Davies and Other Writings OCLC29472819, 1993
 * Against the grain: writings of a sceptical optimist OCLC31656598, 1994
 * Accountable to none: Tory nationalization of Britain OCLC33889133, 1995
 * England's thousand best churches OCLC42004142, 1999
 * England's thousand best houses OCLC56648979, with Quintin Wright, 2004
 * Thatcher & Sons: a revolution in three acts OCLC70401937, 2006

Latest work: Wales: churches, houses, castles OCLC 237176845, 2008

Speaking/Appearances: 2010 Mishcon Lecture

Debate: 

The Guardian:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Politics and media, democracy, civil rights, environment, education

Section: Comment & Debate

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: Guardian.co / Simon Jenkins

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Wednesday / Friday

Regularity: Twice weekly

Column format:

Average length: 1100 words



Articles: 2011

 * Hutton's naive pay review won't stop the bosses' bonus racket'' - Will Hutton's new strategy for top public-sector pay is flawed. Bonuses are not about performance and incentive – just greed - 16th March
 * who've flunked pensions reform for 40 years can hardly complain now'' - Pensions review: Lord Hutton merely reflects the widespread view that individuals should take responsibility for their families' future - 11th March
 * zone' is a euphemism for war. We'd be mad to try it'' - Cameron's urge to dust himself in military glory may be strong, but he should not interfere in the Libyan rebels' cause - 9th March
 * the LSE, in thrall to a dictator, Gaddafi was pure roast duck'' - The school's association with Libya's leader is just an extreme version of the predicament now facing all UK universities - 4th March
 * decry cuts, but spare the Philip Hammonds who fritter cash'' - Against prestige projects like aircraft carriers, the Olympics or high-speed rail, the poor taxpayer hardly gets a look-in - 2nd March
 * Christchurch's bell tower is a first step to easing the city's trauma'' - The spire lost in New Zealand's earthquake matters. Obliterating past treasures or leaving the scars of ruins never helps - 25th February
 * can push democracy or weapons – but not both'' - David Cameron's arms-sale tour has mired him in typical liberal interventionist hypocrisy. Better let the Arab world sort itself out - 23rd February
 * directs the boot of truth at the crotch of power. Long may it sting'' - After Baltimore's raucous HL Mencken died, some felt the age of the column was over. Yet today news is the endangered species - 18th February
 * cure for an ailing, ageing NHS is to cut it down to size'' - Since its nationalisation, the health service has defied sensible pruning. Losing 24,000 backroom staff would be a start - 16th February
 * giggle at his machismo – but Silvio Berlusconi has the last laugh'' - The EU claims to be the guardian of a democratic confederacy, and treats Serbia as beyond the pale. So why appease Italy? - 11th February
 * should uncap council tax and stop taking all the blame for the cuts'' - The coalition is getting the blame for councillors' decisions. To stop this, David Cameron should lift Thatcher's local tax cap - 9th February
 * the crime map shows up is Whitehall's pointless zest for data'' - Theresa May's crime map joins school league tables in its statistical fatuity. The information geeks need holding to account - 4th February
 * west's itch to meddle is no help. Leave Egypt alone'' - Our sole contribution to Muslim states wrestling with self-determination is plunging their neighbours into bloodbath and chaos - 2nd February
 * secrecy and privacy become things of the past, media ethics are in a mess'' - A journalist's job is to get the story, but electronic surveillance and the internet demand a new map of the boundaries - 28th January
 * protection from banks? A pile of ordure called Merlin'' - If half the cash showered on these casinos had gone to the high street, the economy wouldn't be in such double-dip straits - 26th January
 * like Stalin, wants to tell us what history to study. Well, let me tell him'' - From Canute to Thatcher, Britain is rich in stories of wisdom and folly. If only politicians could learn from others' mistakes - 21st January
 * all inquiries, Chilcot is a pageant, too late to matter'' - These surrogate courts of law should be crisp, swift and certain. Instead they slowly ensure none spill any establishment blood - 19th January
 * speech can't exist unchained. US politics needs the tonic of order'' - If America is to speak in a way that heals, as Obama wishes, it needs the curbs and regulations that make freedom of expression real - 14th January
 * state's pedlars of fear must be brought to account'' - Why have a private firm run police to spy on a few greens? The Ratcliffe Six case is a warning story of securocrats out of control - 12th January
 * castles built from postwar dreams must not be demolished'' - The Excalibur prefab estate in south London may be scruffy, but it's a precious chapter in the nation's story worth preserving - 7th January
 * the economy? No, VAT's pandering to the powerful'' - George Osborne's VAT rise illustrates an unbending truth of politics: it's easier to raise £13bn from the poor than upset VIPs - 5th January



Articles: 2010

 * glorious winter weather'' - Snowy slopes, blue skies. Ignore what you read in the papers – most people are having a lovely break - 24th December
 * localism bill shows Eric Pickles is Hazel Blears in super-sized wolf's clothing'' - Like his predecessors, communities secretary Eric Pickles set out on the road to localism but has swerved off into the fudge factory - 15th December
 * this World Cup sewer, we reptiles of British journalism hold our heads high'' - Let Fifa's murk be cleared. As WikiLeaks has shown, disclosure is all we have when audit is polluted and politicians are cowed - 3rd December
 * job of the media is not to protect power from embarrassment'' - It is for governments – not journalists – to guard public secrets, and there is no national jeopardy in WikiLeaks' revelations - 29th November
 * reforms: Napoleon Gove can dictate its terms but the school curriculum is bogus'' - Like his predecessors, the education secretary must fiddle. Yet his list will mean just as little for life beyond the school gate - 26th November
 * lesson: the Tories cannot give up central control'' - Programmed to resist devolution, the benefits of granting Holyrood the power to tax and spend have been sacrificed - 24th November
 * are in, and must stand proxy for biography, psychology, gossip and sex'' - Elections are won and royal fiancees analysed on looks alone. We accord appearance far more value than we dare admit - 19th November
 * coalition poker, broken promises are small change'' - It's absurd for Lib Dems to berate Clegg on tuition fees. If you want the smooth of PR, you take the rough of compromise - 17th November
 * England do 'lose' the 2018 World Cup, it may be in a noble cause'' - It is feared that the BBC's Panorama may derail the FA's tournament bid. But scrutiny of the murky world of sport is crucial - 12th November
 * Britain can beg for scraps from China and tell them how to behave'' - David Cameron says he will drum up trade in China, and tackle human rights. It is an exercise in bluff concealing hypocrisy - 10th November
 * Britain really need the military?'' - Our armed forces were made to fight in conventional wars and cannot meet the real threats to modern Britain. So why must we pay £45bn for something that's so obsolete? - 5th November
 * Cable was going to tackle the waste called university life. He bottled it'' - Real reform was needed. But this coalition fudge on tuition fees will leave our medieval institutions unruffled by change - 5th November
 * drugs hypocrisy is a giant self-inflicted wound'' - No minister has the guts to do what's needed on narcotics: make it harder to drink alcohol, and legalise and tax the rest - 3rd November
 * saved our Victorian cities. Now they are demolishing my prejudices'' - Perhaps one day a 21st Century Society battling to preserve Canary Wharf will emulate the heroes of our Victorian heritage - 29th October
 * with banks won't do. Osborne needs a plan B'' - Supporters of cuts can still fear a recession. The lenders will pay no heed: demand and jobs must be kickstarted elsewhere - 27th October
 * they bow to London's arts mafiosi, the Tories still handcuff the provinces'' - The cultural axe spared our gilded elite to chop local grants. It's only fair to let those councils now raise their own taxes - 22nd October
 * review: So, the RAF is going to target cyber-nerds with drones?'' - Years of capitulation to the defence industry has led to this absurd review, where 'threats' and solutions do not match- 20th October
 * from the rich and clobbering the middle, Cameron looks like a lefty'' - Pension relief, graduate loans and child benefit all hurt the better-off. Now the axe will hit the public sector's well-paid classes - 15th October
 * whingeing rivals actually have a case for once'' - He's the best thing that happened to our media. But he should accept a market geared to helping others challenge him - 13th October
 * shouldn't be afraid of the chisel and oil can'' - George Osborne's call for a manufacturing revival is welcome. Working by hand is better than doing it solely with the head - 8th October
 * the ship sinks, the elite grab all the lifeboats'' - Gilded professionals mobilise friends in the media to lobby against cuts – if only the poor could do the same - 6th October
 * Cameron is taking a big gamble with his own party'' - At what has become the 'cuts' conference, can the Conservative leader keep the troops happy or at least quiet? - 4th October
 * very afraid – we are being fleeced by purveyors of fear'' - Home Office threat levels are absurd abstractions of no help to anyone except the security lobby raising cash through fear - 1st October
 * about Ed's redness. The economy is the only game in town'' - Osborne has taken an almighty gamble. If Britain double-dips into recession, Ed Miliband will hold all the cards - 29th September
 * to a lootfest like London or Beijing, Delhi is just an also-ran'' - Yes, India's planners take gold in the corruption stakes. But the real culprit is international sport's bloated chauvinism - 24th September
 * middle-class escape tunnel parents don't want'' - He may see them as a way of saving children from local politics – but Gove's free schools are just a blackboard Tea Party - 22nd September
 * coalition, Nick Clegg chose glory in death'' - Nick Clegg's love affair has brought the Liberal Democrats short-term power. But longer term, the deal is a suicide note - 17th September
 * must act to spread the blame on cuts – and fast'' - As TUC delegates swap dark scenarios and public approval of the coalition falls, it's time for councils to join the 'big society' too - 15th September
 * 'war on drugs' has been an abysmal failure. Just look at Mexico'' - The west's refusal to countenance drug legalisation has fuelled anarchy, profiteering and misery - 10th September
 * budget? I prefer to call it expensive showing off'' - The armed forces chiefs don't like it up 'em – but at last a government is putting their gargantuan spending to the sword - 8th September
 * job was done by 1997: to numb Labour, and to enshrine Thatcherism'' - In Downing Street, Blair never fulfilled his early promise and let Brown in. Now he can only emit a long wail of impotence - 3rd September
 * trillion-dollar catastrophe. Yes, Iraq was a headline war'' - Mission accomplished? The Iraq war did more than anything to alienate the Atlantic powers from the rest of the world - 1st September
 * the name of purity, public funds are wasted on the rich'' - From IVF to universities and museums, Britain's aversion to charging for services punishes women, students and the poor - 25th August
 * spilled. But hysteria did the real damage in the Gulf'' - From the BP leak to terror or ash clouds, politics has spurned its most precious responsibility: to react proportionately to danger - 18th August
 * Cameron gets radical, the left dozes on planet 1945'' - The coalition is seeking to redefine the individual's relationship with the state. From Labour we get not a peep - 11th August
 * Treasury whinge at banks won't pull us from the mire'' - The bonuses are obscene, but the government can't tell bankers to lend while it cuts demand and drives us back into recession - 4th August
 * spender Boris should spend a little less on Londoners like me'' - The capital must take its share of cuts. But if the mayor insists on public project behemoths, he must be free to fund them - 30th July
 * history of folly, from the Trojan horse to Afghanistan'' - By recording failure in meticulous detail, the leaked war logs bear devastating witness to our incompetence - 28th July
 * told the truth on Iraq. It's for Cameron to end a decade of pretence'' - The coalition inherited a mendacious foreign policy, leading to two disastrous wars. Time now for an honourable peace - 23rd July
 * this howl of protest – the police are ripe for cuts'' - Spending has doubled, and yet the number of officers on the beat has fallen – something is seriously awry - 20th July
 * best way to finance universities is to make the participants pay'' - Vince Cable was right to take aim at universities, but wrong on a graduate tax that will make them more chained to the state - 16th July
 * must hold his VAT hike to avert the double dip'' - All the signals are flipping to danger. The chancellor is taking too big a gamble by cooling both public and private spending - 14th July
 * is a catastrophe. But we will have to wait for a new Chilcot to admit it'' - Our leaders would rather avoid embarrassment than be honest about the horrific futility of the wars we are fighting - 9th July (Afghanistan: summary)
 * democracy? No, Clegg's is a pledge for opportunism'' - As we saw in May, the proposals put forward by Nick Clegg will lead to a Westminster oligarchy of party leaders and officials - 7th July
 * Russians have spy rings. We have trooping the colour'' - This nostalgic yarn shows how security services, like the armed forces, are struggling to find a new role in a changed world - 30th June
 * Rees makes a religion out of science so his bishops can gather their tithe'' - The BBC's reverence for genes, space and bugs gives its Reith lecturer a claim to public money based on faith, not reason - 25th June
 * Belgium is leading the way. Today Flanders, tomorrow Scotland'' - However much Euro-enthusiasts wish it were otherwise, the craving for lower-tier self-rule refuses to die - 18th June
 * or cuts, hawks or doves? We are lost in a fiscal fog'' - Professionals cannot simply agree to disagree. Economics is behaviour, and subject to science as much as politics - 16th June
 * for an elected Lords is not about democracy, but grabbing power'' - The second chamber's job is to deliberate, not legislate. Elections would just put the peers firmly under Commons control - 11th June
 * once-in-a-generation cut? The armed forces. All of them'' - We are safer than at any time since the Norman conquest. Yet £45bn is spent defending Britain against fantasy enemies - 9th June
 * every adult is a paedophile, a terrorist or a mass murderer'' - As the Cumbria shootings show, there's no such thing as safe. Stop spending money on the security lobby that is running amok in the public sector - 4th June
 * Cameron hasten the end of our absurd Afghan war'' - Rather than send British troops to Kandahar, the cabinet should admit the obvious and start to plan how best to leave - 2nd June
 * claim to be 'freeing' schools is a cloak for more control from the centre'' - This dreary abuse of local democracy was tried by Thatcher and Blair. All people want is fair access to a good, nearby school - 28th May
 * Hardly. But Cameron is so much more than Blair reincarnated'' - The Queen's speech may cleanse only Labour's most fouled stables. Yet Cameron has proved an original political personality - 26th May
 * half page of waffle will not do to bind the shreds of union'' - Its spectre hangs over his party's history but that mustn't stop the Tory leader striving to build a more modest EU - 21st May
 * coalition for cuts? Canada, not Thatcher, is the model'' - Osborne and Cameron need to seek a wider deal than any yet seen. This is a matter of economic science, not ideology - 19th May
 * happened to the Big Society? It was killed by proximity to power'' - It didn't play well on the doorstep, so it had to go. But if Cameron is wise, he'll revive localism, and only Pickles can deliver it - 14th May
 * new PM will need the guile of Disraeli. And the luck'' - David Cameron's quite remarkable political coup is only the start of what will be a volatile year in British politics - 12th May (Cif at the polls)
 * is the best place to be'' - Forget coalition. The real competition is not for power now, but for power after the next election - 11th May
 * closely, fluffy bunnies of electoral reform'' - A once ailing Tory party has been restored to life – and we have been given a glimpse of life under proportional voting - 8th May
 * Cameron hugs Nick Clegg close'' - David Cameron's 'comprehensive offer' of coalition partnership to Nick Clegg may prove irresistible. But I predict it'll end in tears - 8th May
 * is what hung parliament means'' - The Lib Dems' ecstasy swiftly turns to agony as they confront their brief moment of power - 7th May
 * Lib Dem to feel good – or Tory to chuck Labour out'' - To present a Cameron cabinet as a reactionary throwback is silly, as is to imagine a vote for Clegg means electoral reform - 5th May
 * shows just why the Celts should be grilled on the BBC'' - Why should the Scots or Welsh cut jobs if London will pay? Locking them out of debate only feeds this accountability deficit - 30th April
 * Clegg enjoy his moment. Next week the horror begins'' - A coalition will split Nick Clegg's own party and make no progress on PR. His best bet is to grab a plum job and quit the Lib Dems - 28th April
 * lurks everywhere. Let the pilots handle ash'' - As with terrorism, swine flu and now aviation, the scientists offer absolutes rather than probabilities and the authorities panic - 23rd April
 * trauma in Britain's placid meadow of political concord'' - Nothing in the manifestos would turn a hair in a US election. But Americans are enjoying the sight of a presidential race, UK-style - 21st April
 * ash is the new swine flu panic'' - Putting large, heavy bits of metal into the air is just too much for the psyche of modern regulators – they panic - 19th April
 * democracy unravels at home, the west thuggishly exports it elsewhere'' - While the US and Britain slide towards oligarchy, the forced elections in Afghanistan and Iraq have brought no good - 9th April
 * of wild election pledges and perilous consensus'' - These weeks present a democratic hazard as parties fill manifestos with fantasy while crucial matters go undebated - 7th April
 * drug dealers will benefit from this absurd ban on mephedrone'' - Prohibition will drive supply underground, endanger users and make it tougher to wean addicts off harder drugs - 2nd April
 * long for a real Labour voice to slam this City-fearing trio'' - The TV debate proved it. Darling, Osborne and Cable still don't see they were conned into propping up the banks at our expense - 31st March
 * may gloat, but an assault is under way against the arts'' - Why is there such a huge funding bias towards science when the chief growth in graduate jobs has been elsewhere? - 26th March
 * the tooth fairy turns cuts into efficiency savings'' - Forget ideology. The new dividing line in politics is not left and right but a quiet life versus tough decisions close to home - 24th March
 * for dogs appeals, but giving animals rights is moral chaos'' - Better to assert the human qualities of kindness to all creatures and avoid unnecessary pain to any of them - 19th March
 * this munificent man and his lobbying machine'' - Willie Walsh is right - BA's dinosaur practices must be stamped out. Starting with the preference the airline gets from ministers- 17th March
 * bankers lied. And Darling, a mere puppet on their string, knows it'' - Britain has paid a horrific price for allowing the City to dictate credit policy. Yet there is no inquiry, no questioning, only silence - 12th March
 * has left justice to the tender mercies of the press'' - Under the banner of transparency, ministers have allowed a frenzy of blame to develop around the Jon Venables case - 10th March
 * at the inquiry, even Saddam would come up smelling of roses'' - No question discomfited Gordon Brown and he gave nothing away. You can see why witnesses have come to love Chilcot - 6th March
 * root of the Tories' dire Ashcroft gaffe is our medieval party funding'' - Politicians crave money but not accountability. Linking financial support to mass membership is the clear democratic way - 5th March
 * victory could harm Cameron'' - The Tory leader rejected a plea to 'set the people free', and this won't go down well with the party workers he depends on - 3rd March
 * Falklands can no longer remain as Britain's expensive nuisance'' - Distant colonies are an anachronism. Britain will have to negotiate with Argentina because the world will insist on it - 26th February
 * Newry to Helmand, the lessons are the same'' - Had Monday's car bomb exploded in London it would have been inflated into a terrorist atrocity, fuel for the Afghan war - 24th February
 * torture memos show how illegal wars turn even the nicest people bad'' - The deceit, the slaughter, the atrocity, the abuse of human rights. Today, Hannah Arendt's banality of evil is everywhere - 12th February
 * may take a Tory Tea Party to make Cameron coherent'' - Whether they play it safe or raise totems to party gods, Conservatives need to deliver a much clearer message on local control - 10th February
 * you are fallible. Get off the pedestal and join the common herd'' - Climatologists above all need to rediscover the virtue of self-criticism - or others will continue to question their evidence - 5th February
 * odious view, indeed. But I'm with Pope Benedict on this one'' - The pope's right to practise what he preaches needs defending in the face of Harriet Harman's intolerant equalities bill - 3rd February
 * Kindles, Nooks, iPads – none are as cool as Gutenberg's gadget'' - For 20 years I have been trying e-books and e-newspapers – but print on paper has outlasted every obituarist - 29th January
 * another 1988 moment. Universities can break free'' - Governing bodies must take advantage of this brief window to finally wrest back control over fees and teaching - 27th January
 * world of screens and plastic has fed a cultish craving for relics of the past'' - Ancient bones and shards are fast gaining mythical status, benefiting their priestly interpreters from museums to the BBC - 22nd January
 * nostalgia and edgy kit are no basis for sane defence'' - The head of the army is right: war today means boots on the ground, not bombs in the air or manoeuvres at sea - 20th January
 * flu was as elusive as WMD. The real threat is mad scientist syndrome'' - Remember the warnings of 65,000 dead? Health chiefs should admit they were wrong – yet again – about a global pandemic - 15th January
 * most brazen disdain for democracy in modern times'' - Bumper banker bonuses are back. And what is it really, if not grand-scale theft – from treasuries, customers and taxpayers - 13th January
 * proliferation of nuclear panic is politics at its most ghoulish'' - The risk from radiation is exaggerated. Worst-case scenario fantasies are used to justify wars that cause many more deaths - 8th January
 * rail will bleed us all for a few rich travellers'' - The politicians can drool over their new trains, but a crowded island needs a well-managed network, not an expensive fantasy - 6th January



Articles: 2009

 * £1m idea: the vote'' - The Tories will pay someone if they find a way of tapping the wisdom of crowds. They won't like my solution: more democracy - 30th December
 * blame the system for winter travel chaos. Stay put'' - Hypermobility is now the opium of the people, an obsession that wrecks communities and planet. There are no free trips - 23rd December
 * this gaseous burp explodes in the desert air, we'll still have the Burj Dubai'' - The 818-metre tower is a true wonder of the world, a fitting monument to Dubai as the capital of excess and irrational exuberance - 18th December 2009
 * its mania for jailing people, Britain has declared trivial offences crimes'' - A libertarian coalition is emerging in the US to resist an ever expanding statute book. The need is just as urgent here - 11th December
 * very British inquiry: a chat in a Whitehall club'' - The Chilcot inquiry met its first 'hostile' witness, Sir John Scarlett, former head of MI6 - 9th December
 * make me slash back bureaucracy. But not yet'' - Be it Labour or Tory, an insidious lobby sees off promises to cut a bloated public sector, and power stays stuck at the centre - 9th December
 * this mist of antique loveliness, the object is all. For history go elsewhere'' - I regard the magnificent new show at the V&A as essentially a taster – an invitation to voyage back from Kensington to origin - 4th December
 * idiot sanctions on Iran is a direct route to war'' - Britain has no interest in bullying Iran over nuclear proliferation. The very trap that led to Iraq and Afghanistan looms again - 2nd December
 * a city built on sand'' - Before the desert sands close over its luxury follies, lessons should be learned – number one, don't believe the hype - 28th November
 * shame, blame the bankers, if you like. But they're the wrong target'' - Regulators have long been suckered by 'too big to fail'. The Walker report has all the power of a feather duster - 27th November
 * want Blair's head. But Chilcot won't give it to us'' - The parliament that approved the war now bays for his blood. This inquiry is a way of getting MPs off the hook - 25th November
 * love affair with a city like London demands much more than an air-kiss'' - I know people who swear by the charms of Lagos or Grozny. For them, as me, a city is where friends are. Take note, Jan Morris - 20th November
 * down the militarists and get out of Afghanistan. No strings attached'' - Obama must call time on the Afghan war. Retreat can be spun as victory. But it can't be conditional on impossible objectives - 17th November
 * for Britain. Better for Europe. I'm backing Brown for EU president'' - While Brown's qualities are being neglected at home, the clunking fist could be just the thing to save us from Lisbon's rotten treaty - 13th November
 * feel for Brown. But he should have left the letter-writing to the Queen'' - Despite the hounding of the prime minister over his condolence letter, such acts of sympathy are best left to heads of state - 11th November
 * extraordinary old treasure chest revels in its new incarnation'' - The Ashmolean's curators have been truly bold. Old favourites gain new depth as chronology gives way to svelte modernism - 6th November
 * the drugs debate, politicians are intoxicated by cowardice'' - Nutt was the victim of an outdated taboo that neither Johnson nor Cameron appear to have the courage to challenge - 4th November
 * texts and lineage are no way to assemble state schools'' - The primitive barring of a child on ethnic grounds is the nadir of the pursuit of 'choice'. Pupils should go local, warts and all - 30th October
 * is toff economics, demand just for the proles'' - As the rest of the world comes out of recession by stimulating spending, we remain in snobbish thrall to the bankers - 28th October
 * banana republic police HQ maybe, but not a home for the Elgin marbles'' - I am a restitutionist – but the new museum fails to clinch the case. It is not so much an argument as a punch in the face - 23rd October
 * export of the ballot box elixir is pure hubris'' - The absurd expectation heaped on Afghanistan's election is a fig leaf for leaders seduced by the allure of military power - 21st October
 * are paying an enormous price for the myth that banks are too big to fail'' - Lloyds necks £5bn more and bankers binge. Where is the apology or inquest from those who brought our economy to its knees? - 16th October
 * bold, Obama. Resist the hawks crying one-last-push'' - A battle royal is being fought in Washington over the Afghanistan endgame. The sooner this war ends the better - 14th October
 * this leafy fantasy. For green living, head for Mumbai or New York'' - Ecotowns are a blind alley. It may be a dirty secret, but the most environmentally friendly places to live are big cities - 9th October
 * full of sound and fury, but signify next to nothing'' - Conference season 09: The election is in David Cameron's pocket. He has created a winning personality. But all this policy talk is sheer folly - 7th October
 * forgotten Saxon world that is part of Europe's modern heritage'' - The careful conservation of pre-industrial villages in Transylvania is Europe at its best, guarding the relics of its diversity - 2nd October
 * the police? It's all we know in feudal, feral Britain'' - Reaction to the Pilkington deaths was predictable in a nation where social activities are deterred and civic leadership is extinct - 30th September
 * are a farrago of show-offs. Gaddafi just does it better than most'' - The UN and the G20 are gigantic junkets, giving leaders the glamour of the world stage while precisely nothing is done - 25th September
 * want a gadfly party, not this rickety Ikea version'' - Merger with the statist Social Democrats killed the Liberal soul. Focus groups, not freedom, are what excites Nick Clegg - 23rd September
 * the credulous kiss their relics. It's no weirder than idolising Beckham'' - Sending the bones of St Thérèse to Wormwood Scrubs sounds ghoulish, but a test of tolerance is indulging the irrational - 18th September
 * but fair. The public sector must take the pain'' - Mandelson talking about cuts sounds like Marie Antoinette discussing cake. Forget semantics: spending must be slashed - 16th September
 * obsession with misery has turned us into a nation of whingers'' - A Martian listening to Radio 4 would have us all down as codeine addicts. The media have scarred our view of public life - 11th September
 * trial tells us it's policing, not war, that stops terrorists'' - The airline plot was not thwarted by soldiers in Helmand: the nearer the trail got to Afghanistan, in fact, the colder it got - 9th September
 * war on drugs is immoral idiocy. We need the courage of Argentina'' - While Latin American countries decriminalise narcotics, Britain persists in prohibition that causes vast human suffering - 4th September
 * End these bogus parallels. We are fighting no Nazis now - Any attempt to equate the war in Afghanistan with the great conflicts of the 20th century is a gross misuse of history - 2nd September
 * played the Megrahi case right. But for the most cynical reasons'' - This was not a question of Scottish sovereignty. It was about pouring money down the throat of commercial London - 27th August (see: Abdelbaset al-Megrahi)
 * Afghan election is a moment of truth for zealous liberal aggressors'' - A bombastic crusade has mutated into despair. Where next will they bless with democracy at the blast from a drone? - 20th August
 * best hope: delegate the axe'' - Devolve budgets to local councils and his party could avoid voter fury at the coming 'Tory cuts' - 14th August (with Tony Travers)
 * Guardian. Hello the Guardian Experience'' - A paywall will only delay newspapers' Dunkirk. But I saw the future at Glastonbury – it's time for print to go live - 11th August
 * Met Office thinks August will be wet. Buy futures in sun cream now'' - Like recent pandemic predictions, weather forecasting is best left to the private sector, to ball-gazers and seaweed - 31st July
 * defeat siren is sounding for Blair's vainglorious jihad in Afghanistan'' - The take-hold-and-build strategy is mere pastiche imperialism. All wars end in talking, as must this US vendetta in Afghanistan - 29th July
 * the elite's building funds dry up. Outside, cultural Britain is flourishing'' - Beyond taxpayer-funded temples of establishment art, people are flocking to participate in festivals – and paying to do so - 24th July
 * two months of swine flu sniffles, and madness reigns'' - Scaremongering officials are leading us to lose all sense of proportion and waste resources. People should take an aspirin - 22nd July
 * and turbines are a political slap in the face of the landscape'' - Climate change is like defence during the cold war, wrapped in hysteria of envy, class, greed and commercial interest - 17th July
 * must tell Obama: the alliance of denial has to end'' - Brown can salvage the diplomatic disgrace of Afghanistan if he acts as he is known to believe, and sets a withdrawal date - 15th July
 * who justify state snooping might now learn that biters can be bit'' - The News of the World phone-hacking scandal lays bare the chaos that surrounds our privacy and data security - 10th July (See: News of the World hacking story: summary)
 * back a Treasury with the steel to cut pay all round'' - A wage freeze is one of the least hurtful of public sector savings, but expect no assent from workers in the face of bosses' greed - 8th July
 * soldiers die, the MoD is stockpiling for the cold war'' - Defence ministers are too concerned with showing off their military muscle to provide what fighting forces actually need - 1st July
 * must call off this folly before Afghanistan becomes his Vietnam'' - Senseless slaughter and anti-western hysteria are all America and Britain's billions have paid for in a counterproductive war - 26th June
 * gaping hole calls for a new party. Let's call it Labour'' - The party I joined as a gullible student has been dismantled by Blair and Brown, and with it any voice for those on the left - 24th June
 * Iran there is no mob but courage, and the mystical power of the crowd'' - People have cast aside their concern for safety in a unified, unmistakable protest at a sense of being cheated by their rulers - 19th June
 * Iraq inquiry is barmy. At least it will be held in private'' - It is hard to see what more can be learned about this great blunder. There is another war, though, that demands investigation - 17th June
 * of archaic wonder they may be. But a medieval outlook won't pay'' - President-of-everything Mandelson could yet rescue our universities – if he can halt the ruinous reliance on state money - 12th June
 * wonder John Major is Gordon Brown's patron saint'' - With enemies like the Labour party, he needed no friends. But the prime minister had one in the form of his old rival, Blair - 10th June
 * voting revolution leads back to the arms of the Westminster club'' - Far from delivering the devolved politics that its supporters want, PR is a recipe for entrenching undemocratic elites - 5th June
 * parties have lost sight of the potency of the franchise'' - When voters' blood is up, there's no other target in public sight. Yet political leaders want fewer, not more representatives - 3rd June
 * China destroys its culture, Hong Kong proves that its people care'' - To those in power in Beijing, demolition is potency and rebuilding is glory. But don't assume this is a national view - 29th May
 * sounds stirring, but he's restating old verities'' - Britain is over-ruled, over-inspected and over-centralised. It's nice to know that the Tory leader thinks so too - 27th May
 * Humphrey would never let his minister be ambushed by Gurkhas'' - Labour has landed in the shambles of the Lumley affair by shunning the civil service's wisdom, checks and balances - 22nd May
 * answer lies in local democracy'' - A new politics: MPs are in no position to act as civic leaders. Directly elected mayors must take their place on the local stage - 20th May
 * Miliband's piccolo diplomacy'' - Blair at least walked the walk. But this foreign secretary can offer only feelgood gestures of episcopal concern - 20th May
 * should stick to his guns. The carbuncle crew are still hard at work'' - The glass boxes, blobs and phalluses thrown up now by architects show little has changed since the prince's 1984 speech - 15th May
 * mother of all expenses cock-ups is the stuff of banana republics'' - Hilarity aside, the exposé of expenses calls for a return to self-employed MPs – and a bouquet for old-fashioned journalism - 13th May
 * can lead a rally and win the next election. All he needs is a war'' - Forget the revisionist spin. The Falklands conflict rescued Thatcher. History chronicles the power of the beating drum - 8th May
 * is no known antidote for panic'' - It's sickening. Schools have shut and businesses have gone bust – all thanks to the swine flu doom-merchants - 6th May
 * Johnson: a new Dick Whittington'' - In a year as the capital's mayor, he has honoured his pledges and transformed the style and language of politics - 1st May
 * journalism disease – more contagious than swine flu?'' - The death rate from flu, even in Mexico, is still at about the normal rate, yet 'Armageddon' headlines abound - 30th April
 * flu? A panic stoked in order to posture and spend'' - Despite the hysteria, the risk to Britons' health is tiny - but that news won't sell papers or drugs, or justify the WHO's budget - 29th April
 * fool can raise a tax. But it takes a gutless one to splurge it on this stuff'' - Austerity vanishes when it comes to the prestige projects saddled on Britain. Ministers fear the IOC more than the IMF - 24th April
 * and the apologists of torture distrust democracy'' - The great threat to our way of life comes not from deranged fanatics but politicians who abuse the language of terror - 22nd April
 * futurologists don't want to hear it, but live performance is booming'' - The Bolívar orchestra is thrilling proof of the folly of writing off an activity because a new medium renders it 'obselete' - 17th April
 * Gordon's G20 failure is good news for the people'' - One silver lining to today's cloud is that the dreaded fiscal stimulus has been placed firmly back in the statist box - 8th April
 * spin and flam: these are trying times for those who treasure words'' - Our leaders have lost the rhetorical arts at the very moment when I most need to hear a speech of convincing reassurance - 3rd April
 * proof. The innocent do have something to fear'' - The crashing of Jacqui Smith's privacy shows that data 'security' is garbage. Yet gullible MPs still vote as if it existed - 1st April
 * hoarding of treasures is a scandal. They belong to the world'' - Scotland may want its chessmen back, but the real outrage is the vast number of objects our museums bury from view - 27th March
 * last we get it - this war is Vietnam for slow learners'' - Eight years of fighting has made no difference to the balance of power in Afghanistan. Only one word makes sense: exit - 25th March
 * they did Ozymandias, the dunes will reclaim the soaring folly of Dubai'' - This off-the-shelf city state, built on laundering the profits of oil, drugs, arms and western aid, stands on the brink - 20th March
 * Pat makes a better banker than Fred the Shred'' - After billions of bailout pounds have gone to waste, politicians could do worse than fund a Post Office people's bank - 18th March
 * Thatcher mythology condemns her strengths and excuses her failings'' - Twenty-five years after the miners' strike, a wave of drivel sees Thatcher daftly cast as originator of the financial crisis - 13th March
 * biggest mistake was not to be a bank boss'' - The contrast between her treatment and that of the financiers shows how far Labour has travelled from any sense of fairness - 11th March
 * used to a corrupt and chaotic South Africa. But don't write it off'' - As long as the opposition is strong enough, this great democracy can defy the moral contamination of a President Zuma - 6th March
 * banker welfare. Hand out cash and make us spend it'' - Billions have been tipped into a black hole, yet still lending is stalled. The economy needs urgent intravenous demand - 4th March
 * culture is skim, bribery, theft. Pay for performance is called salary'' - For the taxes of the poor to be topping up the pay of the rich is inexcusable. The cynicism of the farrago beggars belief - 20th February
 * thing unites Brown and Cameron: fear of 100 Borises'' - The Tory leader protests his localism every year, but like his opponents he just can't bear the idea of giving up central power - 18th February
 * v statesman: who can call the battle of the bicentennial men?'' - Lincoln's world may seem squalid compared with Darwin's voyage of discovery, yet progress relies on politicians too - 13th February
 * should put themselves on trial'' - Parliament has slept while the Treasury pursued the gigantic folly of tipping public money into a black hole of bank speculation - 11th February
 * poison of Guantánamo still courses through ministerial veins'' - The disregard for law and liberty threatens to taint our state indefinitely. A full, open inquiry could lift it out of this mess - 6th February
 * fertility wardens are the enemies of female liberation'' - Science can offer great new freedoms, but to the authorities women are not to be trusted with their own eggs or wombs - 4th February
 * real secrets we already have the one-and-a-half-year memoir rule'' - Paul Dacre is right to be cautious. Too much openness can often neuter impartiality and politicise advice - 30th January
 * sense has no place on the Brown-Darling Titanic'' - As the economic ship goes down, all lifeboats are for bankers, however hopeless they might be. Let the steelworkers sink - 28th January
 * is new. Even Gutenberg's ghost has returned to live in Silicon Valley'' - The neophilia of the boom years is over, and as the recession clouds gather there is a rush for the security of the past - 23rd January
 * nation has a bad case of mad Treasury disease'' - Brown and Darling's bid to seduce the banks is daft - they should turn to Keynes and focus on stimulating demand - 21st January
 * slaughter from the air is a barbarism that must be abolished'' - From Vietnam and Iraq to Gaza today, history testifies that aerial bombing is an ineffective, intolerable military tactic - 16th January
 * runway for jobs? It's time aviation's bluff was called'' - I would flatten rare toads for growth - but for all the airline lobby's cant, there is no wider economic case for expanding Heathrow - 14th January
 * all the wild apocalyptic punditry, recessions pass. This one will, too'' - Where economists fail, bishops, philosophers and gurus rush foolishly in. Despite them, we will muddle through again - 9th January
 * will cure ministers of illiberal headline addiction?'' - Whether it is ecstasy or knife crime, barely a week passes without some new statistical mendacity to sustain a dud policy - 7th January



Articles: 2008

 * banks we trust should not be the mantra for 2009'' - Bankers save the economy? You must be joking - they're far too busy feathering their own nests - 31st December 2008
 * rewriting of the Iraq debacle will fuel worse disaster in Afghanistan'' - An inquest into Blair's support for the invasion could fit on a postcard. Eager inquirers should turn their gaze to Kabul - 19th December 2008 (see: Face to face with the Taliban, The Guardian, 14th December 2008)
 * this public waste is born of a macho bigness fixation'' - From pension blunder to Sats debacle, oversized Whitehall bureaucracy wreaks havoc. But those with power cling to it - 17th December 2008
 * the poet was a bore and a prig. But on liberty he was majestic'' - His verse lacks the humanity or humour to stand the test of time. He remains an inspiration, however, on free speech - 12th December 2008
 * to hand us all a grand than hurl billions at banks'' - Call it unsophisticated and crude, but the best way to stop a slump is to shower people with cash and make them use it - 10th December 2008
 * cowering to an imaginary enemy, is not the country I once knew'' - Like McCarthy, Bush relied on a synthesised climate of fear. Obama inherits a nation that sees al-Qaida fiends at all turns - 5th December 2008
 * last this exhausted region is energised - by its old foe'' - From the Mediterranean to Islamabad, people battered for a decade by dreadful US policies are in the grip of Obamania - 3rd December 2008
 * show's diplomacy is for real - and it's worth a hundred Milibands'' - The V&A exhibition takes Syrians seriously in their own capital, unlike the hectoring speeches of the foreign secretary - 28th November 2008
 * who practise politics are dazzled by the dictatorship of the short term'' - Leaders always enjoy a boost in national crises. History suggests that the Tories should lie low and wait for the polls to turn - 21st November 2008
 * errors of Iraq are being repeated - and magnified'' - The awful prospect is of Obama and Brown, no fans of the 2003 invasion, blundering on in a more perilous war: Afghanistan - 19th November 2008
 * cannot hammer straight the crooked timber of mankind'' - Social workers under the cosh of compliance culture have less time than ever to understand problem families - 14th November 2008
 * not only the Queen. We're all screaming for an answer'' - This recession is a catastrophe that our government's economic advisers simply refused to believe would happen - 12th November 2008
 * the cliches about colour obscure the real challenges awaiting Obama'' - The world must get over its hysteria. The next US leader has Russia to deal with, and could face his own Cuban missile crisis - 7th November 2008
 * gunboat oratory over Congo is futile, cruel bravado'' - Miliband and Kouchner's hubristic threat to African leaders does little for those in desperate need of food, safety and shelter - 5th November 2008
 * stock is overpriced, and a crash could really hurt'' - Outlandish expectations can only render the task harder should he win - and make the impact of failure almost unbearable - 29th October 2008
 * the fat and cut the crap. Tough times demand an austerity Olympics'' - Britain cannot avoid staging the 2012 games. But recession is a golden opportunity to inject sanity into its budget - 24th October 2008
 * of the right to die is sheer religious primitivism'' - In years to come, those who argue against this most personal, and final, freedom will be seen as not just illiberal, but cruel - 22nd October 2008
 * a bull market for humility, and shares in kindness are soaring'' - My search for good news among the financial ruins is proving fruitful. In times of trouble Britons cling to a rare optimism - 17th October 2008
 * end of capitalism? No, just another burst bubble'' - Those drooling over the free market's collapse are wrong: this passing crisis is down to lax regulation and craven ministers - 15th October 2008
 * man, not even a banker, can be a beast or a fool on a great mountain'' - The credit crunch is best escaped on Cader Idris. Solace is to be found here in the eternity and predictability of nature - 10th October 2008
 * and the Commons ignored the ticking of bombs'' - Today must surely see the state become a bank. But the chancellor has been hopeless - and Westminster on holiday - 8th October 2008
 * was no sex-mad garret artist. The scribblers have got the wrong girl'' - The truth about the subject of this famous image has been trampled over by a salacious West End and Hollywood - 3rd October 2008
 * must show he can go beyond Blairite gimmicks'' - The scope for today's speech is limited. But the Tory leader has to prove he is about more than facile council tax pledges - 1st October 2008
 * is being saved by the mob'' - The current credit crisis will be George Bush's final poison pill to his successor - 28th September 2008
 * as A&E unit is a revelation that druid mumbo jumbo can't match'' - Science is now revealing the secrets of prehistoric Britain, and its answers are commonsensical rather than supernatural - 26th September 2008
 * was not the speech of a leader about to be unseated'' - Brown plainly expects those who slavishly queued at his door a year ago to back him into an election. Now they will - 24th September 2008
 * Macpherson deserves a medal for defying the health and safety gods'' - The press are idiots to condemn the model for cycling without a helmet. The real villains are over-active traffic managers - 19th September 2008
 * tribunal must tell us what to fix. And whom to punish'' - The state shirked its role while City stupidity and greed slid into thieving. When the crisis subsides, an inquiry is needed - 17th September 2008
 * neglect of our heritage is shameful - to be told it by outsiders doubly so'' - How, and why, did we get to the point where bureaucrats in Paris have to come to the rescue of British public design? - 12th September 2008
 * is what happens when a crime is redefined as war'' - The proper investigation of terrorist conspiracy has been wrecked by cynical politics. Meddling has again made us less safe - 10th September 2008
 * great hope of local politics has become Margaret Thatcher in a kilt'' - Alex Salmond is about to learn that abolishing property taxes offers political jam today, but wormwood tomorrow - 5th September 2008
 * need to panic. Falling house prices are good news'' - Myopic analysis in the media and politicians' propensity to meddle don't serve the market, or those who need a home - 3rd September 2008
 * 2012, the big winners are chauvinism and profligacy'' - The success of the British Olympic team in Beijing has been like that of British troops in battle - 27th August 2008
 * Europe, as in Asia, Nato leaves a trail of catastrophe'' - This outdated military alliance is playing with fire in Russia. In Pakistan and Afghanistan it is playing with dynamite - 20th August 2008
 * rebuking Russia? Putin must be splitting his sides'' - Moscow has to take some of the blame. But it is the west's policy of liberal interventionism that has fuelled war in Georgia - 13th August 2008
 * very British way to choose a ruler - down at one's club'' - Miliband has staked his claim to replace Brown. His fate will be decided not by voters, however, but by cabal and clique - 6th August 2008
 * This circus of minority sports is a PR triumph for a brutal regime - so far - The only vindication of giving the Olympics to China will be if its rulers are taken to task. To date, they've had it all their way - 25th July 2008
 * The concept of international justice will be on trial, too - Serbs will now look to The Hague for a kind of closure, but it is always better for a nation to seek atonement within itself - 23rd July 2008
 * This hate figure doesn't merit a state funeral. All she did was rescue Britain - Margaret Thatcher was a revolutionary leader who improved people's lives. The left's continued fury will serve to cheer her - 18th July 2008
 * The withdrawal dynamic is shifting Iraq's political plates - The surge is at best a crime-cutting exercise. It is the promise of Obama and disengagement that really concentrates minds - 16th July 2008
 * Tax and policy? You're lucky to have parking tickets and bin bags - Britain's local democratic deficit is the starkest variance between our politics and that of other western states - 11th July 2008
 * When the going gets tough, economists go very quiet - They're happy to take the credit in the good times, but the disciples of this false science are hard to find as recession looms - 9th July 2008
 * Let a church so fond of division test its worth in the marketplace of belief - Anglicanism is often the last servant of the poor; that it can tear itself apart in an absurd imperial argument is a tragedy - 4th July 2008
 * Sanctions are a coward's war. They only boost brutal rulers - Exhortations to stop buying from Zimbabwe may sound bold but such a strategy makes the poor poorer and the evil richer - 2nd June 2008
 * Blears' vision may appease builders, but it won't do much for the rest of us - The idea that the new planning bill will serve anything other than existing interests is Alice in Wonderland logic - 27th June 2008
 * We've done enough damage. All we can do is send food - Mugabe has a point on imperialism. Britain has no option but to sit out the Zimbabwean tragedy, impotent on the sidelines - 25th June 2008
 * This icon of 60s New Brutalism has its champions. So let them restore it - Architects and developers who want to save Robin Hood Gardens should put their money where their mouths have boldly gone - 20th June 2008
 * Scotland's gullible politicians are the victims of a colossal Trump try-on - The tycoon's plans are about luxury holiday homes, not fairways. It will be an environmental outrage if they go ahead - 13th June 2008
 * These are the teachings of wild intervention and vanity - Ed Balls's embrace of academies forms part of a cull of community Britain. Stable schools are firmly rooted in locality - 11th June 2008
 * Maths? I breakfasted on quadratic equations, but it was a waste of time - Championing a difficult discipline of no use merely panders to the political correctness of the conservative classes - 6th June 2008
 * The government has failed to make the case for 42 days - Detention without charge cannot simply be regarded as a matter of police convenience in a good cause - 4th June 2008
 * Once, 'international' sounded saintly. Now it means bureaucracy and waste - From Eurovision and the Olympics to the UN and the World Bank, a deficit of accountability drains all true legitimacy - 30th May 2008
 * If I were Brown, I'd tell the whole lot of them to get lost - With nothing left to lose, now is the time to do what feels right on Iraq or ID cards, and to stop chasing cheap popularity - 28th May 2008
 * In these drab tenements and vacant lots, a community's memories cling on - From inner London to the Lower East Side, conservation is about identity and psychology as much as buildings - 23rd May 2008
 * The world and its media are playing the dictators' game - Heroic Chinese rescuers and quake survivors lead the news. But away from our TVs, the Burmese we could save are left to die - 21st May 2008
 * When it comes to kissing and telling, you can't beat this 15th-century gadget - The flood of memoirs has again proved the worth of the book as a receptacle for almost all the human imagination can devise - 16th May 2008
 * As Burma dies, our macho invaders sit on their hands - The Chinese quake gave relief to western leaders whose hypocrisy on intervention is exposed by post-cyclone inaction - 14th May 2008
 * In the battle of the birds, whose side are we really meant to be on? - Flourishing, protected populations of raptors are wreaking carnage on Britain's songbirds - and ripping apart the RSPB - 9th May 2008
 * Policy won't cut it. Voters want charm and novelty - Brown's salvage effort looks stuck in a time warp. He'd do better to cheer up and seek a charisma implant - 7th May 2008
 * The tide has turned - Local elections 08: This is a sea change. And most significantly, David Cameron now looks like a realistic prospect for prime minister - 2nd May 2008
 * Even an atheist can marvel at this exquisite refuge for the urban poor - The comfort given to all in the gloriously restored St Martin-in-the-Fields shows how the church excels at unofficial welfare - 2nd May 2008
 * The only message being sent is of cowardice and stupidity - This pseudo-tough move to reclassify cannabis flies in the face of the science and delivers a boost to the illicit drugs market - 30th April 2008
 * The White House race is a catalogue of misspeaking - When no great issues divide the political tribes, aspirants are defined by their mishaps - and how they bounce back - 25th April 2008
 * Despite Iraq, America's love affair with war runs deep - Conflict is still seen as crucial - and very, very far away. The next leader faces quite some task to confront this attachment - 23rd April 2008
 * Betjeman's discreet, dignified muse makes today's look like mere groupies - The woman who inspired his famous love poem never kissed nor told, but was the ideal subject to eroticise suburban tennis - 18th April 2008
 * The cost of green tinkering is in famine and starvation - Biofuels threaten food supplies, rainforest and climate - yet our leaders push them in the name of the environment - 16th April 2008
 * Atheist versus Bishop - As religious objections to the embryology bill mark the latest skirmish between faith and reason, Simon Jenkins and Richard Harries confront their differences head-on - 12th April 2008
 * Here's to the mob, for its humiliation of dictators and hypocrites alike - The hubris of China and the IOC's torch relay have given protesters a golden chance to derail a grossly tainted Olympics - 11th April 2008
 * The occupation has frozen Iraq. All else is tinkering - Yesterday's declaration by General Petraeus that the surge must go on will simply prolong the country's agony - 9th April 2008
 * This sporting fiasco - Yesterday's Olympic flame relay through London was a disaster: the government should never have sanctioned it - 7th April 2008
 * Ecotowns are the greatest try-on in the history of property speculation - The plan for 15 new settlements is a builder's dream - but only our existing cities actually serve the green agenda - 4th April 2008
 * Tough? Brown looks more like an image-obsessed wimp - This gutter government looks anything but strong in its unnecessary, unpopular bid to extend detention without charge - 2nd April 2008
 * The dazzling walls of medieval England deserve a bold restorer - These enigmatic church murals were once the national gallery. Art conservation must bring them back to brilliant life - 21st March 2008
 * Closure mania ignores the real cost of axing post offices - The state's pursuit of shortsighted savings is ripping the heart from communities. No wonder Britain is up in arms - 19th March 2008
 * Scientists and soldiers can no longer keep these paradises to themselves - It is wrong to ban tourists and prospectors from the Arctic and Antarctic. The poles must be governed for the benefit of all - 14th March 2008
 * They preach citizenship, but are terrified of losing power - Real participation is not bestowed by politicians. New Labour needs to get over its obsessional aversion to voting - 12th March 2008
 * Bigotry and violence made Paisley and Adams the Taliban of Europe - They say they brought peace to Northern Ireland - but delayed it so long that the peace is fragile and the land traumatised - 7th March 2008
 * Democracy is ill served by its self-appointed guardians - Our sonorous moralising lies behind so much bloodshed in the past 50 years. A sense of history surely counsels humility - 5th March 2008
 * A princely blunder - Whoever sent Harry to Afghanistan was taking an almighty risk, apparently motivated by the fear of adverse publicity - 29th February 2008
 * Rip out the traffic lights and railings. Our streets are better without them - Drivers and pedestrians negotiating shared space is shown to cut accidents and traffic, yet flat-earth planners won't believe it - 29th February 2008
 * Instead of elected local leaders, we have the police - Our society has no tier between individuals and the central state - and nobody to enforce communal discipline - 27th February 2008
 * Blair risks ending up as one more crusader in the Levantine ditch - Europe has never been unified, and its history is littered with the failed ambitions of those who would wear the crown - 22nd February 2008
 * The state is utterly clueless on the public-private divide - Northern Rock is far from unique. The government has long been throwing cash at behemoths that have failed to deliver - 20th February 2008
 * A travesty of justice - The inquest into the death of Diana rumbles on this week. It has been a sorry farrago for British jurisprudence - 18th february 2008
 * The Olympics is a festival of politics worth every penny to a fascist state - am against boycotts, but we must not pretend the games are anything other than a grotesque display of chauvinism - 15th February 2008
 * This zeal for intervention is imperialism in new clothes - The foreign secretary speaks as part of a political generation with no experience of war and little sense of history - 13th February 2008
 * No topic is so surrounded by myth as the golden age of the press - Anti-newspaper diatribes bewail falling standards. That's rubbish, and the glory days they hark back to were dreadful - 8th February 2008
 * Britain is slithering down the road towards a police state - The pretence of oversight has been ripped aside by the Khan bugging affair: the security apparat has become a law unto itself - 6th February 2008
 * Infatuated with Sarkozy's infatuation, France is blind to his recklessness - The president is eager to give France a new world confidence, but he has so far proved impetuous in matters of heart and state - 1st February 2008
 * The 'war on terror' licenses a new stupidity in geopolitics - The language loved by Bush and Musharraf has translated into a global disaster bringing death and misery to millions - 30th January 2008
 * Forget saving it for the nation - great art must be freed from the vaults - It's better for a Monet or a Matisse to be shown in Los Angeles or Dubai than to lie in a basement in Moscow or London - 25th January 2008
 * Denying us a vote on the EU treaty is arrogant cowardice - Without the debate a referendum would bring, Britons will rebel against unsanctioned meddling, to the union's detriment - 23rd January 2008
 * Russia's assault on the British Council reveals the true nature of diplomacy - 18th January 2008
 * Bush's trip, without principle or plan, had one big winner - In talking war and being feted by autocrats in the Gulf, the US president just drummed up more support for Ahmadinejad - 16th January 2008
 * Here in the city of Kim, Pakistan's magnificent history is being left to rot - Musharraf has allowed one of the wonders of Asia to disintegrate; and a country that neglects its past endangers its future - 11th January 2008
 * The west has not just repressed democracy. It has aided terror - Pakistan has as many paradigms as pundits. What is clear, however, is that meddling will only ever foment disorder - 9th January 2008
 * Britain has too many flaws to lecture about democracy - Hectoring phone calls from a post-imperial nanny won't help Kenya or Pakistan create stable and prosperous societies - 2nd January 2008



Evening Standard:
Column name:

Remit/Info: London issues

Section:

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email:

Personal website:

Website: Evening Standard / Simon Jenkins

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Tuesday

Regularity: weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2009

 * These expenses scams violate the spirit of the law – and MPs know it - It may not be fraud but as accusations of diddling the taxpayer reach the top of government we are owed more than excuses from those we elect - 7th April 2009
 * One great capital city, 20 world leaders – and 40,000 holes in the road - As heads of state gather for the G20 summit, they will find a London disfigured by the digging-up of its streetscape - 31st March 2009
 * Stay home, swap notes by email: London does not need this G20 summit - Next week’s G20 meeting of world leaders in London will cost millions but nothing will emerge except hot air and protests. We should have called the whole thing off - 24th March 2009
 * You’ve brought the Tube to its knees, Gordon. Now take the blame - The Treasury has told the Mayor he must fill a looming £1.4 billion hole in the capital’s transport budget. Yet it was Whitehall that got us in this mess from the start - 17th March 2009
 * Immigrants are good for us. Let them stay - and pay their taxes - The Mayor, Boris Johnson, wants a government amnesty for the estimated half million illegal immigrants now living and (mostly) working in London - 10th March 2009
 * Compared to Boris, Mayor Sugar would really mean business - There is only one name mentioned by Labour’s ‘Stop Ken’ campaign who can win back City Hall. But does the party have the courage to say ‘you’re hired’ to Britain’s favourite entrepreneur? - 3rd March 2009
 * Spare London’s skyline yet another episode of these faulty towers - London towers policy is in chaos. Boris Johnson, elected on a pledge to stop the plague of towers promised by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, now wants towers everywhere - 27th February 2009
 * Keeping up with the Joneses - The Welsh are back in the limelight, to the delight of one London Welshman, as their stars shine in music, TV and sport - 20th February 2009
 * London’s melting pot deserves better than this theatre of cliché - A new production at the National Theatre lectures its audience on racism. But pandering to like-minded liberals doesn’t get to the heart of the matter - 17th February 2009
 * Calm down: not all our bankers should suffer for the sins of the few - Today and tomorrow a Commons committee will be running what has been trailed as the credit-crunch Nuremberg - 10th February 2009
 * When London cast its care aside and became a great white wonder - The snow may have brought our workaday city to a halt, but we should defy the moaners and make the most of it while it lasts - 3rd February 2009
 * First job for the new Met Chief: bring back the feel-safe factor - The announcement of the new Commissioner is imminent ‑ he needs to ditch the Government’s targets and pay more heed to Londoners’ wishes - 27th January 2009

Simon Jenkins column returns to Evening Standard - Press Gazette, 19th January 2009



The Sunday Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Politics and media, democracy, civil rights, environment, education

Section: Features

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:simon.jenkins@sunday-times.co.uk simon.jenkins@sunday-times.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: TimesOnline / Columnists

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 1400 words



Articles: 2008 (archive)
Column ends "...Next month Simon Jenkins takes up the chairmanship of the National Trust"
 * My farewell plea to MPs: defend liberty - Is Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, a pocket dictator? Is there no drop of liberalism in her veins, no concept of personal freedom, no fear of a repressive state? Or is she just another home secretary? - 26th October 2008
 * fires first shot in this mad war'' - It is obscene to justify Afghanistan's carnage by citing a few rebuilt Afghan schools and roads - 19th October 2008
 * are rewards for all in this crunch'' - As the New York mayor said after the 9/11 attacks, take the kids to the park, buy a pizza, see a show - 12th October 2008
 * has wielded a cosh for real policing'' - Boris Johnson was right and within his rights to ask the head of the Metropolitan police to go - 5th October 2008
 * lack of guts let the spivs roam free'' - The crash of 2008 has proved that capitalism, like any system of human behaviour, needs policing - 21st September 2008
 * student fees, vice-chancellor'' - Universities must bite the bullet and charge their students what their courses cost - 14th September 2008
 * big bang and ... big problems are ignored'' - Recreating the formation of the Universe is much more glitzy than prison reforms, hospital cleaning and inner-city schools - 7th September 2008
 * offer: an end to US stupidity'' - Americans cannot begin to realise how powerful a message the election of a black president would be - 31st August 2008
 * tilt at windmills as war looms'' - The world is run by a generation of leaders who have never known global war. Has this dulled their senses? - 24th August 2008
 * the north a go at running itself'' - The reason for peculiar failure in Britain has been the emasculation of local leadership and its replacement with central government - 17th August 2008
 * spy an Olympic crack in China’s wall'' - China must realise that progress on the world stage cannot be divorced from certain freedoms - 10th August 2008
 * Et voilà, France has a better way of justice - 3rd August 2008
 * Glasgow spells the end of 300-year union - A new spirit of Scottish identity has emerged into which the Scottish National party has tapped - 27th July 2008
 * A broad church with narrow attitudes - The visible loathing of some Anglicans for gays and women is indefensible - 20th July 2008
 * Sanctions are a war waged by cowards - Nothing is more arrogant than a powerful nation’s belief in the efficacy of all it does - 13th July 2008
 * Computer says get a life – and we have - Futurology has a built-in distortion towards technological novelty, while ignoring the continued appeal of what has gone before - 6th July 2008
 * Two years and two giant tasks ahead for lame duck Gordon - Never has a political tribe turned so swiftly on its chief and beaten him close to death - 29th July 2008
 * Stop killing the Taliban – they offer the best hope of beating Al-Qaeda - 22nd June 2008
 * All that a school needs to succeed is a head who’s good with a razor - 15th June 2008
 * You’re safe, Mr Mugabe; we will not act - Where now are the fine words of the international community in the Noble Nineties, boasting the new doctrine of humanitarian intervention? - 8th June 2008
 * Oh do pay attention, 007, this enemy simply isn’t worthy of you - 1st June 2008
 * Oil costs up, house prices down - good news - The market has delivered in months what the Treasury failed to force on us, a better husbanding of scarce resources - 25th May 2008
 * Family planning is one area in which we don’t need MPs’ help - Antediluvian lobbyists and their press allies shriek ‘hybrid’ and ‘Frankenstein’ yet nobody wants to create monsters - 18th May 2008
 * Silence from our sabre rattlers as Burma’s dying cry out to be saved - What are we waiting for? Where now is liberal interventionism? - 11th May 2008
 * Now mayor Boris must spark an electoral surge nationwide - 4th May 2008
 * Clinton’s battering of Obama is brutal, bloody – and fair - 27th April 2008
 * Every city needs a Ken v Boris show – it brings local politics back to life - 20th April 2008
 * There is no crisis. Buying your own home is a luxury, not a right - The only victims are those encouraged by ministers to take on debts they could not afford - 13th April 2008
 * Stand up, for today you can force China through a tunnel of shame - The London torch procession shows how craven Britain has become: ignore it or protest - 6th April 2008
 * The rise of imperialism lite is prolonging the Iraqi horror - 16th March 2008
 * Americans elect two presidents: one for them and one for the world - 9th March 2008
 * Defy the flying monster for once, Brown, and stop this runway - It makes sense not to build another London airport but direct traffic, whether it likes it or not, to local airports - 2nd March 2008



Links:

 * Wikipedia biog.
 * Sir Simon Jenkins: History man by Andy McSmith (The Independent 5th July 2008)