Robert Shrimsley



Profile:
Full name: Robert Shrimsley

Area of interest: News, Current Affairs, Politics

Journals/Organisation: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:robert.shrimsley@ft.com robert.shrimsley@ft.com]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/robert-shrimsley

Blog:

Representation:

Networks: https://twitter.com/#!/robertshrimsley | http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/robert-shrimsley/38/61a/365



Biography:
About:

Education: London School of Economics

Career: The Sunday Telegraph: reporter; The Daily Telegraph: lobby correspondent, chief political correspondent, 1989/2000; Financial Times: chief political correspondent, UK news editor, notebook editor (ongoing)

Current position/role: FT.com managing editor (see Robert Shrimsley appointed FT.com managing editor, The Guardian, 15th January 2009)


 * also writes/written for:

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media: regular appearances

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours:

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:


Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

Financial Times:
Column name: Robert Shrimsley's Notebook

Remit/Info: "A satirical look at the week’s news which seems to delight in taking on the most powerful people in the land."

Section:

Role:

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:robert.shrimsley@ft.com robert.shrimsley@ft.com]

Website: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/robert-shrimsley

Commissioning editor:

Day published:

Regularity: weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2017

 * Inside the real Brexit negotiations - Forget Brussels, it’s the Conservative party that needs a deal to heal its own divisions - 30th June
 * Theresa May and a manifesto that’s a Labour of love - The prime minister prepares to park her tanks on Labour’s lawn- 19th May
 * Trump to Comey — worse things happen in Moscow - Imagining the first draft of the US president’s letter sacking the FBI chief - 11th May
 * Brexit dinner: live leaking from the second sitting - Tweets from a London-hosted meeting between Juncker and May - 6th May
 * Sinful sex, Mother Theresa and mugwumps - The foreign secretary baits Corbyn and the Lib Dem leader does God - 28th April
 * An enfeebled Labour leaves the centre ground up for grabs - Nowhere is it written that the party must be one of Britain’s two main political forces - 19th April
 * Article 50: A love letter to a jilted Europe - Friends do not threaten; but screw us on trade and you’ll all be eating borscht - 1st April
 * The miserable aftermath of the London terror attack - It is the unexpected moments that choke you up; that cut through the deadened senses - 24th March
 * Boris Johnson and the liberation of language - A linguistic spat shows why the liberal, globalist movement is under siege - 23rd February
 * Bunker building for the end: a survivalist diary - Retreat by all means but don’t give up the chopper - 3rd February
 * Dancing: a nifty career move? - Having a child who wants to be a professional dancer is a bit like having a child who wants to be a footballer - 28th January
 * May tweets up the most special relationship ever - The PM learns to shoot from the hip in 140 characters - 26th January
 * Why all the best people live in ‘La La Land’ - I think it is no overstatement to say that people who claim not to like musicals are terrible human beings - 24th January
 * Brexit Britain: a serious case of mentioning the war - A Brexit cabinet meeting — or Big X at the escape committee? - 20th January
 * Internet of things: snitchin’ in the kitchen - Once data-enriched devices are standard in the home, it may only be a matter of time before they turn detective - 7th January



Articles: 2016

 * Vladimir Putin: what does a leader have to do to win awards? - The Russian president takes some PR advice - 16th December
 * We have a situation: President Trump’s Twitter has been hacked - ‘It hasn’t? I’m the hero in 24 and that’s the most terrifying thing I’ve heard’ - 9th December
 * Does Amazon Dash push the right buttons? - Perhaps the appeal is that this is the closest we can all get to having a little touch of “Downton Abbey” in our house - 2nd December
 * A Davos for the Donald — do it in Dagenham, mate - A way for the global elite to mix with ordinary folk - 2nd December
 * ‘Hamilton’ and the rise of muscular thespianism - The fightback against Donald Trump will only be won in a relentless and gruelling battle - 26th November
 * Tony Blair plans his second coming - Notebook - 25th November
 * My Trump-inspired plan to make my home great again - For years, my wife has been telling me to do more around the house, which is obviously political correctness gone mad - 19th November
 * Nigel Farage as envoy to Donald Trump: the go-between from hell - British PM Theresa May rejects the advances of a man with a most Special Relationship - 18th November
 * A test of British values - I cannot help noticing how some of the most bellicose British nationalists don’t actually seem to like Britain very much - 12th November
 * A look on the bright side of President Trump - Critics detect a gentler side that was lost in the hurly-burly of the campaign - 11th November
 * Donald Trump delivers America’s Brexit - This revolt against the political and economic order is immeasurably more significant - 10th November
 * Brexit blues, or life as a victim of democracy - For many, myself included, the referendum was the first real example of democracy being something that is done to us - 5th November
 * When dumb appliances are the smart choice - Just as the interconnectedness of the financial system was responsible for the scale of the financial crisis, so it could be with the internet of things - 29th October
 * 100 days of May: not so much a number, more a political strategy - Notebook - 28th October
 * When the minor injuries unit is a major headache - Once a possible broken finger brought out the parental instinct to comfort the injured spawn. Now we just think, “What a pillock” - 22nd October
 * Would you trust the future of humanity to a group called PAIBPS? - It’s the kind of name that gets chosen by a committee whose only members are Hal and Borat - 8th October
 * Theresa May offers a Dad’s Army vision of Britain - The Conservatives’ worldview pushes against modernity to invoke a more comforting, simpler time - 7th October
 * London’s five stages of baffled Brexit grief - Something momentous has happened but nothing has really changed, so we live in a phoney war - 4th October
 * The sharing dogonomy - Dog-sitting is not new but the idea of a technology-driven, part-time pet economy seems intriguing
 * Donald Trump: excuses to take you to the end of the world - He would have done so well with a good mic, a fair moderator and if Hillary hadn’t eaten his notes - 30th September
 * Why I’m making loans to PC World - An assistant helpfully pointed out a “cashback” offer that put it within our price range. It was only as we went to pay that it became clear it would be some time before we got the cash back - 24th September
 * Apple Car: breathlessly redefining the future of personal transport - This is the most tax-efficient vehicle ever. We have located our intellectual copyright on Sark - 22nd September
 * Facebook photos: snap judgments - How dare Facebook’s twentysomething techies, with a hinterland that barely stretches back to the first “Star Wars” movie, erase moments of history? - 17th September
 * The great moan offset - Somewhere in Africa, my mewling has financed clean water for a small village - 3rd September
 * Donald Trump practises politics the old Mexico way - Look moderate on one side of the border, and do the opposite on the other - 2nd September
 * How the waist was won - I’m all for more health education but it may take more than a nudge to make a fatty budge - 26th August
 * Jeremy Corbyn and the parable of the Virgin berth - An aspiring prime minister should be able to reserve himself a seat on a train - 25th August
 * Like the Olympics on steroids - Surely the time has come to embrace narcotic enhancement and stage the first truly open Pharma Olympics - 30th July
 * SDP casts a shadow over Labour’s anti-Corbyn rebels - The breakaway party did not fail; it was a successful suicide mission - 29th July
 * Accommodating Westminster’s elite - We all need to do our bit to aid the tragic human tide of refugees from Theresa May’s first government - 23rd July
 * Brexit: Three men and a country estate - The foreign secretary is forced to share his retreat with fellow leading Leavers - 22nd July
 * Twitter overload: I have heard the blue bird singing - Of late, logging on to Twitter has seemed more akin to going back to the same party and finding that the only people left are the Judean People’s Front and the People’s Front of Judea - 16th July
 * Boris Johnson: Just don’t say that when we get off the flight - Obama? I’m bloody good at apologies . . . and Latin. Whoops, not sure I quite nailed that - 15th July
 * Brexcuses: A crib sheet for shifting blame if Brexit goes bad - If the rudderless project to divorce Europe ends in disappointment, the possible causes will be many - 8th July
 * Waiting for BoJo: A Brexit play in innumerable acts - The Tory leadership contest adds a twist to the negotiation impasse with Europe - 1st July
 * Jo Cox: tabloid caution on attacker should apply in all cases - Had she been struck down by a Muslim, sections of the British media would not be so judicious - 18th June
 * Russian special forces storm the French bastion of Lillsk - Ultras sought to protect themselves from England fans armed with beer-bellies and face paint - 17th June
 * Punishing times for parents - When did we become a world that forgets that people make mistakes? - 11th June
 * Brexit exam questions for the mathematically challenged - As the referendum debate rumbles on, are your addition and subtraction skills good enough? - 10th June
 * Boris and Brexit: blond ambition and lashings of ginger beer - Does a man who is fighting for the soul of his nation spend his days leaning from a battle bus waving a Cornish pasty? - 4th June
 * A frightfully British purge of the posh - Notebook - 3rd June
 * Zen Tzu and the art of seat wars - If you know your enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt. Sit back and enjoy the flight - 28th May
 * Your handy Brexit guide to the next four weeks of fear - In case you miss it here are the best bits from the final days of the UK referendum campaign - 27th May
 * Tough A-level questions - Are we burning our coursework before we should, and requiring children to narrow their options too early? - 21st May
 * Bring back the Lib Dems - Without the Lib Dems, the only pressure on Labour and the Conservatives is to be the less repellent option - 13th May
 * The Queen’s microphone gaffe, part two: the China tapes - Notebook - 13th May
 * Forget Satoshi Nakamoto, are we sure this is the real Craig Wright? - His name is a perfect anagram, if you remove and add a few letters - 6th May
 * Political animals: a guide - The Jester — a Johnsonicus Boris to use the correct Latin term — uses amiable clownery to mask his ruthlessness - 30th April
 * Brexit: We have a hostage situation - Notebook - 22nd April
 * The Archers: Rob, Helen and John Humphrys - As with all major plot developments on the soap, the attempted murder has become the stuff of high-level public discourse - 8th April
 * Pity the land that needs a hero - There are times when a strong leader is necessary, yet most voters still yearn for such figures in ordinary times too - 2nd April
 * Donald Trump and Tay, the ultimate Twitter bots - Artificial intelligence experiments have taken on a life of their own - 2nd April
 * Going for goalzzz - Teens are using social media as weapons of conflict and persuasion - 26th March
 * Sugar tax and Osborne’s untouchables - Notebook - 18th March
 * Project Fear, or just Project La-la-la? - Project Fear calls for an Ernst Stavro Blofeld; Cameron is more like Blofeld’s director of communications, or maybe his osteopath - 12th March
 * Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour loses appeal - After a 9/11 apologist’s admission, imagine the hearing over Jack the Ripper’s membership bid - 11th March
 * My 10,000-step programme - I can burn through 1,500 steps just walking to the gym. What extra score might be achieved if I went inside? - 5th March
 * Google cars: the fast and the firmware - You drove into that bus. Negative; I merely failed to anticipate the stupidity of the human - 4th March
 * Gimme a Brexit break - I’ve already heard every argument there is to hear on British membership of the European Union at least a dozen times - 27th February
 * Sexing up a Brexit dossier - You need something that makes a good headline: ‘45 minutes from downgrade’, perhaps? - 25th February
 * Party planning down the ages - Forty is the age at which we need to prove that, though we may be stressed parents, we can still party - 20th February
 * Boris Johnson: from Brexit to Borxit - The London mayor is being very coy about which side he will support in the looming EU referendum - 19th February
 * The lady is for turning . . . in her grave - Mockery aside, there really is something distasteful about efforts to annex the dead to one’s cause - 12th February
 * Republicans seek bright side on Trump - The party is having to clutch at silver linings attached to the mogul’s possible nomination - 12th February
 * How to lose customers and infuriate people - They are not there to help. They are on defence, interested only in pacifying people till they shut up and go away - 6th February
 * A letter from Google, Apple and Facebook - You pay tax because you have no better ideas how to use the money. We do - 4th February
 * Google and my search for a tax deal - I was tempted by the Google approach and initially insisted on negotiating directly with the chancellor of the exchequer - 30th January
 * Osborne tries to sell ex-deputy to China - We haven’t singled you out as a place to send deadbeat politicians. We send them everywhere - 29th January
 * Peak new kitchen - Once, I cared only whether the tap worked; now I am surrounded by options. We are not buying a kitchen, we are buying into a lifestyle - 23rd January
 * Back to the teenage future - ‘I had to admire the democratic nature of the boy’s sloth’ - 16th January
 * Triumph of a teenage tactician - We had not anticipated being comprehensively outmanoeuvred when the showdown arrived - 9th January
 * Rock of ages - There are rules to rock concerts. We have to marvel that the star returned for three encores — an extra six songs that almost took his performance time over two hours - 2nd January



Articles: 2015

 * The angry features that Twitter lacks - Misogynist Pro: With its toolkit of offensive GIFs, this is the ultimate in woman-hating software - 18th December
 * Great American texts according to Trump - The controversial presidential candidate could possibly have a unique take on US history - 10th December
 * Time to reduce our Sugar intake - Whatever merits this show once had I ain’t seeing them any more . . . So Alan, we’re tired of it - 5th December
 * Votes at 16, and other burning issues - The main argument for me against votes for 16s is less their readiness but more the effect it will have on the already miserable nature of political campaigning - 28th November
 * Cameron’s cunning plan for bombing Syria - The questions over extending air raids answered in 43 key points - 27th November
 * How to bring meddlesome Lords to heel - We could feed them more meat — or would the Chinese buy some? - 30th October
 * Sitting witty - The way a town responds to subversive street art is a pretty good test of its true character - 24th October
 * Xi turns integrity into tradeable currency - UK’s chancellor meets a Chinese official to thrash out state visit details - 23rd October
 * Kitchen sink dramas - You look at your salesman and wonder if your deal is the difference between him losing or keeping his job - 17th October
 * Of motives and men - I don’t doubt men’s belief in equality; I simply question whether any man volunteers to read “The Female Eunuch” without some ulterior motive - 10th October
 * Cameron, Twitter and what divides Britain - Let me put it as simply as I can, prime minister, the Conservatives are not the UK either - 9th October
 * Jet lag and time warps - Trump’s attraction is to a world craving simple answers — a world where mummy and daddy can still kiss it better - 3rd October
 * Mystic Mark Carney, the BoE’s new seer - Britain’s SMEs will find it far harder to sell their goods once the cosmos is ruled by Martians - 2nd October
 * Exam stress is too much — for parents - You have to ask if this endless series of tests is actually robbing parents of all the joys of the teenage years - 26th September
 * An activist’s guide to the ‘new politics’ - Authenticity is central because voters are sick of the spin from old politicians - 18th September
 * LinkedIn etiquette and Apple style - Lawyers’ lessons in social networking - 11th September
 * Excuses for Corbyn’s loss in case he wins - A cut out and keep guide for why the favourite for Labour leader will not become prime minister - 4th September
 * Sherlock v Shylock - Maybe celebrity Shakespeare is the answer, though it seems a bit much to throw the entire weight of the task on Benedict’s slender shoulders - 15th August
 * Seriously, as fun as Strictly - The battle for the leadership of the Labour party is heading towards its hilarious denouement and it is time to see the fun in this - 8th August
 * Heir to eternity - Your digital brand is a valuable asset. I may have little further use for it myself but I need to make sure it is in good hands - 1st August
 * Walter the dentist: new face of a hunter - The matinee idol notion of masculinity attracts less obviously virile figures to the pursuit - 31st July
 * Trump alliance reveals dark fantasies - They just want to do something wild for once in their lives - 24th July
 * It’s a dad’s life - After two-and-a-half days of neglect, I threw a tantrum, pointing out that I was giving up valuable office time to be with them - 18th July
 * ‘Go Set a Taxman’: a novel about Greece - Harper Lee’s third book sees a much-loved character return home to father Yanis Varoufakis - 17th July
 * Osborne scrounges strivers’ charter - The chancellor borrows a policy or two from Ed Miliband’s Labour manifesto - 10th July
 * Cameron shakes off his EU problems - The prime minister discusses Britain’s EU membership with the commission president - 26th June
 * Only joking . . .  - One day a sociologist will chart the death of humour in western society - 20th June
 * Britain’s most hated - It turns out that the metropolitan elite are a conspiracy against the ordinary people and against the rest of the country - 6th June
 * How online survey added years to my life - Not only am I further from death than I imagined, I could still try for Young Journalist of the Year - 5th June
 * A real gun of a son - When the moment came, we caved in to the boy’s gunlust. Why did we surrender? - 30th May
 * Blair returns to brave new conflict zone - His first task: to improve the hopeless economic situation of Britain’s main opposition party - 29th May
 * Politicians seek credible backstories - These phoney concepts are the preserve of an increasingly phoney class - 22nd May
 * Confessions of a shy Tory - We were waiting to be convinced there was a better option than the Tories — but none arrived - 16th May
 * If Prince Charles batted against Pietersen - What does HRH make of perhaps the greatest cricketer of his time? - May 15th
 * Charlie Hebdo and freedom’s dubious defence - Writers offer a masterclass in how to stay cred while resiling from a cause they purport to defend - 1st May
 * Tory strategists can’t lose, but party can - National campaigns can be tweaked, but they have little impact on the election result - 25th April
 * Flash crash strategists spoof UK voters - Regulators are now not even sure that Britain’s general election took place - 24th April
 * Dear millennials: a few interview tips . . .  - ‘The basics of interview technique have not changed that much. No one ever suffered for knowing too much about their would-be employer - 18th April
 * Politics: an outsider’s game - The great advantage of posing as an outsider is that it allows candidates to pander to the voters’ contempt for existing politicians - 11th April
 * Beware juicy family feuds that go nuclear - How much will Ed Miliband’s fratricide damage his election campaign? - 9th April
 * The beans that count - Coffee snobbery is a pastime all can play, but it requires commitment - 28th March
 * Accommodating China, disappointing US - Obama is displeased with Cameron over the AIIB - 20th March
 * The good, the bad and the hopelessly outdated - The children have not watched “The Magnificent Seven” and do not care who shot Liberty Valance. Cowboys just don’t cut it any more - 13th March
 * The parents’ evening trap - We are irritated at the failings exposed, swear to crack down on his computer habit, demand to see more of his homework and then fail to deliver on this tough love - 7th March
 * Google #TheDress and a bigger truth - The ‘wisdom of crowds’ rankings could mean sites dealing in rumour fall below more credible sources - 6th March
 * A tale of two political spankings - Bennett’s human side arouses sympathy but Straw and Rifkind demonstrate less endearing ways - 27th February
 * Men and ‘Fifty Shades’: a grey area - Some may feel they are facing karmic revenge, experiencing how women feel as their partners drag them to see “Basic Instinct” or “9½ Weeks” - 14th February
 * Excuse me, while I misremember my career - Already undisputed alpha males just can’t help pointlessly wishing to be that little bit more alpha - 13th February
 * Big Mac and cheesiness - For a few days, McDonald’s US customers are going to be able to “pay with lovin’” rather than with more traditional forms of exchange - 7th February
 * A Greek strategy to win German hearts - Schäuble and Varoufakis cannot help but mention the war - 6th February
 * An appetite for change - These were decent people . . . most wanted a fairer society — just not too much fairer - 31st January
 * I spy an administrative opportunity - If we are going to have to endure a surveillance state, it might as well make itself useful - 24th January
 * No time for Jews to talk of leaving UK - That Jews face a heightened threat from Islamists is undeniable but society is not against us - 23rd January
 * The torments of teen-tracking - Technology which is meant to improve our lives is, in fact, simply fostering new neuroses - 17th January
 * Cameron, empty chairs and TV debates - The PM’s refusal to take part in debates could create a new political star - 16th January
 * Appy holidays - We were not four but five: two parents, the girl, the boy and his Facebook Messenger app - 10th January
 * Be glad some had courage to be Charlie - The magazine’s leaders were the kind of brave people who actually change the world - 9th January



Articles: 2014

 * A ‘dislike’ button? Love it - Facebook engineers are doubtless now testing the best way to allow you to signal your aversion to a particular post without overdoing the offence - 20th December
 * The Windsors’ royal run on the White House - At a recent get-together the Prince told admirers: ‘Read one’s lips — no new duties’ - 19th December
 * Beware the digilantes - Twitter is routinely ablaze with efforts to ban one person or sack another… but an apology is never enough - 13th December
 * Farage, road rage and ‘Top Gear’ politics - The Ukip leader’s outburst shows unholy union of ‘white van man’ and leather driving gloves - 12th December
 * Beware the digilantes - Twitter is routinely ablaze with efforts to ban one person to ban one person or sack another… but an apology is never enough - 6th December
 * Osborne takes Commons on a mission to Mars - Things, after all, seem so much smaller from space – like the deficit - 4th December
 * How to train your teenage hamster - The challenge is to recreate family times amid increasingly independent children. Here our training as hamster owners will pay dividends - 29th November
 * The Pope’s Chaka Khan model for Europe - The pontiff’s words in Strasbourg displayed the dexterous feminism for which the Holy See is famed - 28th November
 * Socks: let’s keep it simple - This site does not serve the socksibitionists. It’s black or blue, though perhaps over time it may dip its toe into the exciting world of grey or brown - 22nd November
 * Save our sandwich! - A once proud nation can no longer even make its own sandwiches - 15th November
 * How to ditch a (large) corporate gift - This unwanted ephemera exists not as a token of friendship but as an automated observation of proprieties - 8th November
 * A human writes . . .  - For all the Silicon Valley gains, our world is now being shaped by people who think man is nothing more than learning machines awaiting obsolescence - 1st November
 * Cameron’s EU opt outs to keep Britain in - UK PM’s growing aggression is likely to make for tricky talks with incoming commission president - 31st October
 * Hello, BT automaton. Kafka here . . . - I already need fingerprint evidence just to use my own phone. What next? Retinal scans to use the toaster? - 25th October
 * Man-made idols who cannot plead the law - Sport must decide if conduct that results in a loss of liberty should also merit a loss of career - 24th October
 * In the ring with raging dad - We all recognise the motivational parent at a sporting event but this one stood out for his monomania - 18th October
 * Frozen families and fertility in the Valley - The latest hot idea from the Palo Alto incubator could hatch all sorts of weird offspring - 17th October
 * Twin Peaks: the lost plots - Twin Peaks is set to return in 2016 for a third series. What follows is unlikely to contain spoilers - 11th October
 * A president with no boots on the ground - Barack Obama has resolved to think very carefully before he even considers making a decision - 10th October
 * Worst . . . parents . . . EVER!! - The tussle began with an argument over my 15-year-old son’s continued refusal to poison his body with vegetables. And the origin of this explosion – broccoli - 4th October
 * Redwood, the EU and a bit of friendly advice - Keep out of that Europe chatter if you know what’s good for you - 3rd October
 * A betrayal theory to fuel the Neverendum - The Scottish people have spoken so it’s only fair to give them another opportunity - 26th September
 * Walk the walk and talk the talk - People have plugged themselves so totally into technology that even walking is proving too much of a distraction - 20th September
 * Savaging Google and American capitalism - The search engine is making way too much money and it just isn’t fair - 19th September
 * Time to spin off Scotland? - UK’s made the most of these northern assets. We are ready for a management buyout - 13th September
 * A whole new level of Appliciousness - The iPhone 6 is almost upon us and you know what that means: only another 48 weeks to wait for the iPhone 7 - 6th September
 * Forget iHacks, we’re all exposed online - The hacking of celebrities’ nude photos is a reminder that nothing is private any more - 4th September
 * Airlines fight for the right to recline - Passenger row highlights the problems thrown up by aircraft economy measures - 28th August
 * When choice isn’t an option - ‘To live,’ remarked Kofi Annan, ‘is to choose.’ But apparently some of us are living too well - 9th August
 * A feeding frenzy on Facebook - One of the key lessons of recent years is that the power of social media is reduced if everyone is talking and no one is listening - 2nd August
 * Warning! Mawkish parents ahead - This week marked the last time I shall walk one of my children to school. I envisaged a wistful, maybe even elegiac, affair - 26th July
 * Welcome to the Braveheart Games - The very idea of using the event to further the cause of independence would be plain unsporting - 24th July
 * One-way conversations? Blame social media - The rules of reciprocity appear to have been set aside. Today one does not so much converse as take oral selfies - 19th July
 * Female bishops and catwalk politicians - The cause of equality has been taken to a higher level in England - 17th July
 * The computer will see you now - Doctors are going to have to learn to live with Google - 12th July
 * Why we’re all lab rats now - If Facebook can manipulate your mood (which the tests show it could) then with its huge reach, it has worrying power - 12th July
 * The Brits can teach Brazil about soccer - We have spent decades mastering the art of grace in defeat – it is now a national trait - 10th July
 * Why we’re all lab rats now - If Facebook can manipulate your mood (which the tests show it could) then with its huge reach, it has worrying power - 5th July
 * London calling – trouble on the line - David Cameron, UK prime minister, has been trying to build bridges with Jean-Claude Juncker - 3rd July
 * Culinary skills and other burning issues - Just as our ancestors taught us how to make fire, I will teach the spawn my recipe for lamb and apricot burgers - 28th June
 * How to annex the spare room, Putin-style - We do not see a military solution but have not ruled out targeted sanctions such as boycotting her school play - 21st June
 * "‘Shia Panic’: a buddy movie set in Iraq'' - They were enemies until Isis came along and threatened everything. Then they were friends - 19th June
 * Soccer chat cheat sheet - The key to watching England is that, in spite of all the evidence, you secretly believe this is their year - 7th June
 * Jean-Claude Juncker – the People’s President - The former Luxembourg premier’s campaign to lead the European Commission might take unlikely turns - 5th June
 * Michael Gove’s Frightfully British Book Club - Don’t get me wrong. I’ve nothing against foreign books. Of course we should read them; but only when we’ve finished all the British ones - 31st May
 * Of Apple homes and driverless lives - Plans for connected homes and Google’s move into self-driving cars raise several concerns - 29th May
 * The empire strokes back - At school, team sports exist to teach kids that they are less than the institutions they serve - 24th May
 * The empire strokes back - At school, team sports exist to teach kids that they are less than the institutions they serve - 17th May
 * Googling and the search for privacy - I fear the ‘right to be forgotten’ will be abused by those whose sins most need to be remembered - 15th May
 * Oh, the injustice of it all… - I felt less like a juror in a criminal trial than an Olympic ice-dancing judge - 10th May
 * Lifting the lid on the new unpopulists - The trick is to stay out of power to avoid awkward questions and the messy business of governing - 8th May
 * Oh, the injustice of it all… - I felt less like a juror in a criminal trial than an Olympic ice-dancing judge - 3rd May
 * The nine stages of the Piketty bubble - Everybody’s talking about that important work because they feel they have to - 1st May
 * A clear signal from a Christian Britain - The strength of the country’s religion is less doctrinal than social - 24th April
 * Lift your game, House of Windsor - We’ve gone from “Game of Thrones” to Lame as Clones. Do you realise we haven’t even had a decent beheading since 1697? - 19th April
 * Re-evaluating my goals - We are part of a social underclass, too tribal or emotionally stunted to break free from loser soccer teams - 12th April
 * Two wheels bad. Please take train - Cycle-safety training is a good idea although nothing can prepare an 11-year-old for the wanton carelessness of motorists - 5th April
 * The muppet show – live from London - David Cameron’s description of two political opponents as ‘muppets’ is a risky strategy - 3rd April
 * Porsche pensioners and the road to ruin - How would you rather leave this world – being starved to death on the Liverpool Care Pathway or speeding into the sunset with 700bhp at your feet? - 29th March
 * Licence evaders should not face charge - This is a crime only because the BBC has yet to find a way to block free viewing - 27th March
 * Case studies in conscious coupling - Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s intention to ‘consciously uncouple’ strikes chords elsewhere - 27th March
 * So nice not to see you again - The very technology that enabled renewed contact has also rendered it unnecessary to meet in person - 22nd March
 * Service with a scowl - London’s rudest restaurant is a badge of distinction – an opportunity to rise above the crowd - 15th March
 * The betrayal theory of immigration - The enemy within or the enemy without: who cares so long as the shirts get ironed? - 13th March
 * Feeling the strain of English on a train - The whole point of being English on a train is not speaking at all - 8th March
 * Putin seeks to calm EU’s Crimea crisis - Emissaries of the Russian president are said to have a secret memo from him EU leaders - 6th March
 * What to study – Juvenal or JavaScript? - I hope schools can still find room for Latin and Greek but the best hope lies in their not being forced to compete with technology - 1st March
 * Searching for a Scottish plan B - If Scotland becomes independent and can’t share the pound it needs to find an alternative - 27th February
 * What to study: Juvenal or JavaScript? - I hope schools can still find room for Latin and Greek but the best hope lies in their not being forced to compete with technology - 15th February
 * Barclays submerged by bonus floods - The British bank is engulfed by overflowing pools of cash that have cut it off from shareholders - 13th February
 * Harry, Hermione and the midlife crisis - A story for the Potter generation as it hits midlife . . .The terrors remain, but now they are boredom and disease - 8th February
 * The likes and dislikes of Facebook - Friending, unfriending, privacy and profits – the first 10 years of the social network - 6th February
 * How do you solve a problem like ... flooding? - Without urgent infrastructure upgrades to safeguard our musical heritage, we may be the last generation to worry about losing The Sound of Music - 31st January
 * Give that Stonyhurst couple a gold - It may say something about today’s box-ticking entry process that kids must now resort to such extreme measures as elopement just to stand out - 25th January
 * Another day on Deficit Street - Don’t be taken in by the idea that those who depend on bonuses are living it up - 23rd January
 * Beyond the naughty step - We turned, naturally, to the original great parenting manuals: von Clausewitz, Machiavelli and Sun Tzu - 11th January
 * Trash-talking on the internet of things - Once your appliances can talk to each other, it won’t be long before they bitch behind your back - 9th January
 * The Hobbit: why stop at three? - Suffice to say that at around eight hours in total, it is not only Smaug who will be desolate by the end - 4th January
 * VW Camper faces middle-age spread - Even those of us with limited Kombi experience feel something rather magical has been lost - 2nd January



Articles: 2013

 * Google robots and terminator fears - Only the nervous and those who like to make their own daily decisions need worry - 19th December 2013
 * Specs in the city - New devices are being thrown up with such frequency that it is hard for ordinary people to enforce any kind of social norms - 14th December 2013
 * Big tech, big data and big surveillance - The fictional first draft of US technology groups’ open letter to Barack Obama - 12th December 2013
 * Specs in the city - New devices are being thrown up with such frequency that it is hard for ordinary people to enforce any kind of social norms - 7th December 2013
 * In with the oldie crowd - I have hit the level at which you remain until you are so old that your mere presence is a minor miracle - 30th November 2013
 * Braveheart whose mum does the laundry - The SNP’s blueprint for independence is reminiscent of a note from a son to his parents - 27th November 2013
 * Snatching away the glittering prizes - Austerity is hitting students hard, curbing expectations and scope for extracurricular fun - 21st November 2013
 * Miley, Major and model rebranding - A singer’s self-promotion and the political interventions of a one-time PM have much in common - 14th November 2013
 * Too cool, daddy - As we discussed the various ways today’s youth could go off the rails, we realised that it is the parents who are the problem - 9th November 2013
 * A personal touch to election bribery - The old rivals are being frankly dull. So here are a few ideas to perk things up - 7th November 2013
 * A storm of sneering - By the middle of Monday the population that had cowered at home was out mocking the storm for not being hard enough - 2nd November 2013
 * Obama: I hear what you say, Angela - If your mates are listening in to their mates, just what kind of company are you keeping? - 30th October 2013
 * Way to go, Mo! - For a nation famed for saying sorry when we’ve done nothing wrong, we seem to have got awfully assertive in recent years - 26th October 2013
 * Shutdown: a drama in many episodes - The problem with a plot like this is the feeling that people can’t be as daft as that - 17th October 2013
 * On the mean tweets of Merseyside - Sometimes the police are right to act. But we also seem to be heading for a world in which it is a police matter to be an ass - 12th October 2013
 * An England team that’s true to itself - According to a certain mindset, we lose at football because of all our splendid national traits - 10th October 2013
 * Coitus interruptapuss - Naturally ‘Sex Box’ is terribly serious, highbrow and not at all voyeuristic - 5th October 2013
 * The genes we get from the Mail line - As Ed Miliband suffers for having a Marxist father, I have a confession: mine worked for the Daily Mail - 3rd October 2013
 * Another Saturday night at the Colosseum - After decades of decency in mainstream entertainment, we seem to have reverted to shows that promote casual cruelty - 28th September 2013
 * Forward guidance and home economics - Central bankers must tread lightly to manage the weight of their wives’ expectations - 26th September 2013
 * If in doubt, reach for the whatever - We do not want teenspeak creeping into our already puerile political discourse but at times it can be the best response - 14th September 2013
 * BBC: The British Blameshifting Corp - MPs have had a try, now it’s time for the ex-execs to face a tougher trial – Lord Sugar - 12th September 2013
 * Gareth Bale? Pah! We’ve scored a hamster - While the transfer system has its critics, it concentrates the mind, which is why we try it out for major domestic decisions - 7th September 2013
 * Of BFFs, the UK and the USA - Britain still struggling to adjust to its reduced circumstances - 5th September 2013
 * Escape from Notting Hill - My abiding carnival memory is of a hand snaking out from a crowd and snatching my sunglasses from my face - 31st August 2013
 * West’s leaders seek chemical reaction - Surgical condemnations of Syria will be followed up with some very aggressive rhetoric - 29th August 2013
 * Fun: it’s not just for fun, you know - Awards become less about helping others or building character than about collecting ticks for your next application form - 3rd August 2013
 * Congratulations, Ma’am, it’s a monarch - The FT columnist and Lucas Varela on the royal birth - 27th July 2013
 * Why the past still looms large - Do the dead cling on to us or, rather, do the living cling on to the dead? - 20th July 2013
 * Spreading the word one tweet at a time - Following the Pope on Twitter is an accepted path to paradise – the impact on Silicon Valley will be huge - 18th July 2013
 * MPs max out on Murray Magic - Politicians are fighting to ride on the coat tails of the Wimbledon champion - 11th July 2013
 * Tax relief: the icing on the cake - David Cameron’s plan looks like another financial incentive for marriage, but the internal party politics of the proposal are entirely obvious - 6th July 2013
 * A shorter date on summer’s lease - Michael Gove is plotting to deprive British children of their long break - 3rd July 2013
 * Snooping concerns are not paranoia - Agencies that have abused their power have a long way to go to regain the trust they now demand - 27th June
 * The trial of Fred Goodwin - How might a charge of ‘recklessly mismanaging a UK bank’ have applied to the ex-RBS chief? - 20th June 2013
 * The mother of all scare stories - The RCOG’s paper on the ‘potential but unproven’ risks to child health could send a shudder up the spine of a woman - 15th June 2013
 * Light on the NSA logo strategy - With the image planted in the public consciousness, it’s time to let people know we listen - 13th June 2013
 * A boy’s best unfriend - Our son has unfriended his mother on Facebook and she’s taking it badly - 8th June 2013
 * Bilderberg: ruling the world from Watford - A nice hotel is a good place to reminisce about conspiracy theories - 6th June 2013
 * Not wanted where I am not needed - It is testament to the British spirit that we have coped while David Cameron has been on holiday - 30th May 2013
 * I was a teenaged swivel-eyed loon - Three decades on, I can see I was not cut out for the SEL life in the Young Conservatives - 25th May 2013
 * iDodge: Apple’s new killer product - Just imagine how the company might have showcased its tax arrangements - 23rd May 2013
 * A travelling press that is no party - Overseas trips magnify rather than distract from a leader’s problems at home - 16th May 2013
 * The selfless gene - Does parenthood make us selfless, or merely widen the circle of our selfish interests? - 11th May 2013
 * Fergie, the Queen and plans to succeed - It is easy to confuse the news about the monarch and that of Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit - 9th May 2013
 * An absent ever-present father - The Skype effect: distance may no longer be a problem but a persistent relative can leave you afraid to open your laptop - 4th May 2013
 * Singalong solidarity - How Neil Diamond’s saccharine love song ‘Sweet Caroline’ is helping Bostonians to grieve - 27th April 2013
 * Of belts and breeding - The search for a new belt at an airport departure lounge leads to the identification of new social strata in Britain - 20th April 2013
 * Rebel without applause - The Paris Brown saga: the young can teach us a lot in some areas, but it is reassuring to see that the cult of youth has its limits - 13th April 2013
 * Fab Four studies? Let it be - Be it magical mystery or tragical history, it’s not just the topic that counts; it’s the quality of the teaching - 6th April 2013
 * ‘I coulda been an app vendor’ - How to nurture your child’s inner Nick D’Aloisio - 30th March 2013
 * Personal banking, the eurozone way - Managers as well as bank customers are feeling the pressure - 28th March 2013
 * The unbearable sadness of reading - ‘I have had an epiphany: I do not need to sit through things that will make me miserable‘ - 23rd March
 * Hovering parents, unite! - Claire Perry MP says we devote too much time to parenting. But isn’t that better than not enough? - 16th March 2013
 * Judging the honesty of British politics - The moral state of the UK political realm is not quite as clean as it likes to think - 14th March 2013
 * Hovering parents, unite! - Claire Perry MP says we devote too much time to parenting. But isn’t that better than not enough? - 9th March 2013
 * Welcome home! You’re downgraded - On return from holiday the house was intact but the country was in a shambles - 2nd March 2013
 * Beware of misreading Eastleigh result - The by-election is a political, not electoral, problem for David Cameron - 2nd March 2013
 * UK’s official statistics cannot be trusted - That the ONS has not fought to defend measures of the public finances shows it to be supine - 27th February 2013
 * Horses for (main) courses - There’s nothing like a good food scare to send angsty parents scurrying back to the natural food counter - 16th February 2013
 * Barclays and the new moral bankers - As the bank seeks to repair its image, here is the speech its chief, Antony Jenkins, didn’t give - 14th February 2013
 * Are we being served? - Even great shops won’t withstand real technological disruption as people will trade convenience for experience - 9th February 2013
 * The qualms of Nick - If you have the cash and a dearth of good state school options, you have a moral obligation to educate your children privately - 2nd February 2013
 * Cameron’s special leave to Romania - A little reverse psychology might dissuade immigrants from embarking - 31st January 2013
 * A frosty week, particularly for parents … - The spawn logged on to their school websites only to face the mortifying news that lessons would continue as normal - 26th January 2013
 * Be careful what you pray for… - There are many reasons people become football fans. Yet to witness the desperate devotion around us is to feel we are in the midst of a religious cult - 19th January 2013
 * PM prepares to talk tough but say little - The finishing touches are being put to that speech - 17th January 2013
 * Undeserving affluent, unite! - If I disguise myself as triplets and rent out two more addresses, I can keep the whole £33.70… Robert Shrimsley considers the loss of his child benefit - 12th January
 * Comeback time for the Thin Grey Duke - Could John Major, inspired by David Bowie, be the next to make a comeback? - 10th january 2013
 * Happy New Year, onesie and all… - It was a good break and a welcome week of atrophy, but it’s now time to go back to the real world and into work attire... - 5th January 2013



Articles: 2012

 * Why it’s curtains for Gilbert and Sullivan - Civility, understatement and gentle mockery of authority now seem hopelessly old-fashioned in a way they didn’t only a few decades ago - 22nd December 2012
 * Fulfil me up - A fulfilment centre is the must-have retail accessory. So long dreary warehouse and distribution depot, hello dreamweaving fulfilment centre - 15th December 2012
 * Taking a tax lead from Starbucks - Dear Sir, flush with the Christmas spirit, I am writing to offer you more income tax . . . - 13th December 2012
 * Fulfil me up - A fulfilment centre is the must-have retail accessory. So long dreary warehouse and distribution depot, hello dreamweaving fulfilment centre - 8th December 2012
 * Twitter feeding the Pope’s new habit - The Pontiff is gathering followers faster than Lady Gaga - 6th December 2012
 * Political parenting – a user’s guide - Only when we have a pool of the truly unengaged will we have a foster system we can trust - 1st December 2012
 * A Curious incident of the cops in the night - Society was gripped by the Leveson inquiry. Yet Sherlock Holmes remained undiverted . . . - 29th November 2012
 * Alas, poor Olek … - How do you comfort a grieving guinea pig? - 23rd November 2012
 * The Church keeps banking on men - How the arguments against women bishops might work if applied to wider society - 22nd November 2012
 * The (Disney) empire strikes back - The scene: a desert landscape. A youth is herding alpacas when he sees two figures, one tall and gold, one small and a bit like a dustbin... - 17th November 2012
 * In Britain, our sex scandals Petraeus - We just can’t compete. We haven’t had a world-beating sex scandal since Profumo - 15th November 2012
 * The (Disney) empire strikes back - The scene: a desert landscape. A youth is hearding alpacas when he sees two figures, one tall and gold, one small and a bit like a dustbin... - 10th November 2012
 * Republican right-thinking for 2016 - The post-defeat postmortem begins . . . - 8th November 2012
 * Bye, mate, nice knowing you - Expat friends are refreshing and different. Then suddenly they are off and a chunk of your social life just falls away - 3rd November 2012
 * Join the club, George old mate… - Perhaps the chancellor just wants to know the thrill of defying the rope line - 27th October 2012
 * Beginning to tire of them Apples - Even for a fan like me, the hoopla surrounding its launches has become formulaic - 25th October 2012
 * Ahhhhh, yet another killer idea… - The 007 fragrance is the latest addition to the panoply of Bond tat that proves popular among those with masculinity issues - 20th October 2012
 * Starbucks makes a mochary of tax law - The chain has found itself in hot water even though it has followed the rules - 18th October 2012
 * My life as a post-men man - I don’t feel overly threatened by the end of a particular type of macho man - 13th October 2012
 * Cash upfront for the road to serfdom - George Osborne’s share-swap scheme: the silver, gold and platinum packages - 11th October 2012
 * Permission to raid the pension pot - ‘They say you can’t take your money with you, but I had assumed I could at least hang on to it while I was still alive’ - 6th October 2012
 * David Cameron: licensed to cull - Doubts behind the prime minister’s planned slaughter of badgers push me into the corner of those opposed to it - 29th September 2012
 * Tough choices, hard realities, tough luck - The weight of gravitas is a burden for a Lib Dem leader in government - 27th September 2012
 * A crash course in reasonableness - Everyone could use a speed awareness course every few years - 22nd September 2012
 * Memo to Mitt: the 47 per cent solution - There are a number of positives to be taken from the Republican candidate’s gaffe - 20th September 2012
 * Psychodrama hears Conservative voices - Voters are doomed to endless performances in which rightwing MPs invoke the spirit ofThatcher - 13th September 2012
 * Little Brother is watching you... - For normal, law abiding citizens the problem isn’t actually Big Brother; it is all his runty little siblings - 8th September 2012
 * Olympics success – delivered at home - After witnessing so many great sporting events from the best seats, it’s hard to imagine what life will be like when the Games leave town - 11th August 2012
 * A rather too British Broadcasting Corp - Critics say the corporation’s Olympics coverage is further proof of the BBC’s dumbing-down - 9th August 2012
 * A closing ceremony to restore the nation - Tongue-in-cheek look at an Olympic finale - 1st August 2012
 * Men behaving Bradley - Following Team Sky’s Tour de France heroics, I’m back in the saddle and I’ve noticed others have been inspired too - 28th July 2012
 * Locking in the Olympic spirit - There can be no mention in this article of any products that have not paid to be here - 19th July 2012
 * Britain becomes a sucker for sob story - The British public could not love Andy Murray until he cried in public - 12th July 2012
 * Ocado man, you’re dumped - Breaking up with your online grocer is pretty devastating, but I know that it wasn’t me: it was them - 7th July 2012
 * Libor, the universe and everything - A handy guide to the complex issues dominating the news - 5th July 2012
 * ‘Newsroom’, the missing script - A never-written episode from the master of middle-aged male nostalgia for a mythical America - 28th June 2012
 * Assange: Diaries from an embassy - The imagined asylum musings of the WikiLeaks founder - 21st June 2012
 * The planet that fell from schools’ orbit - Pluto’s downgrade proves nothing is too big to fail - 14th June 2012
 * Donald Trump and the lunatic fringe - The businessman faces growing demands to prove his hair is US-born - 31st May 2012
 * Downtime Dave, chillaxed of Chequers - The PM’s relaxed demeanor seems out of kilter with austerity Britain - 24th May 2012
 * Telling business to work harder - Once it was the unemployed who felt the lash of the Tory tongue, now it is the boss class - 17th May 2012
 * Bin Laden’s dept of inhuman resources - Even in the service of bloody mayhem, certain professional standards were being maintained - 10th May 2012
 * My date night with the PM - Normality in a prime minister is, in any case, overrated, especially since no one actually thinks politicians are normal - 5th May 2012
 * Re-arming an Englishman’s castle - Hunks of aircraft will crash on to London before we let any harm befall our veldodrome - 2nd May 2012
 * Pushing the posh out of Downing St - Memos on the privilege problem must be flying across Downing Street - 26th April 2012
 * nation that’s past Titanic disasters'' - It is a national outrage that the UK is too diminished to produce a modern epic calamity - 19th April 2012
 * Deliver us from militant atheists - Atheism is a non-belief. Extremism in the name of something that doesn’t exist feels a bit silly - 24th March 2012
 * The Catholic Church is ruining my marriage - Acording to our religious leaders it is a dandelion in the wind, easily blown away by others you’ve never met - 16th March 2012
 * A PR strategy for the Kony fightback - The warlord is facing ‘a bit of an image problem’ - 15th March 2012
 * A supercomputer for Citigroup - In hiring IBM’s Watson, the bank has stolen a march on its rivals - 8th March 2012
 * Soccer spurns the handshake of history - You cannot create reconciliation with a gesture – only its appearance - 16th February 2012
 * A dead man’s tale of Russian justice - The case of the lawyer facing prosecution despite having died in custody - 9th February 2012
 * An evening in the Past Knights’ Club - Sir Fred Goodwin has joined one of the most select groups in Britain - 2nd February 2012
 * Stripping Fred and docking Stephen - A campaign is building to strip the former RBS chief of his knighthood - 26th January 2012
 * Waiving the rules with a royal yacht - Problems ahoy if the project goes private - 19th January 2012
 * Occupy Davos: reclaim the slopes - Our new offshoot movement worries about getting on the right side of the rich-poor divide - 12th January 2012
 * @rupertmurdoch’s tactical retweet - Robert Shrimsley follows something that looks like the News Corp’s boss’s unspun online thoughts - 5th January 2012



Articles: 2011

 * A fabulous Olympic festival of Britain - The extra cash for the wretched event can only come as a relief - 8th December 2011
 * The epic euro crisis disaster movie - Robert Shrimsley listens in on the Mayday calls from a sinking ship in the latest not-so-far-fetched bloc-buster movie - 1st December 2011
 * Expecting a gift today? Hard luck - Buy Nothing Day looks like a good way to save a bob or two, but it requires planning and sacrifice, and plenty of workarounds - 27th November 2011
 * The Olympian task of securing London - Some of us are frankly suspicious at Britain’s decision to double the number of security guards to cover the games – is there a hidden agenda - 17th November 2011
 * Europe: rise of the calculating machine - Apparently, the answer to the eurozone crisis is to replace elected premiers with economic experts - 10th November 2011
 * Cameron turning into a ladies’ man - The prime minister shows his female-friendly side - 3rd November 2011
 * Where were you for the great BlackBerry Crumble? - Owning a BlackBerry is just not cool anymore – except perhaps for British kids, a market not known for residual loyalty - 14th October 2011
 * The good and bad business guide - Robert Shrimsley throws the clock forward to 2015 and looks at the unveiling of Britain’s new National Council for Useful Production - 29th September 2011
 * Mummy Google knows best... - It is good to know that there is someone there looking out for us, even if it is only software - 25th September 2011
 * Tax and banking in the national interest - Robert Shrimsley finds patriotism can be the last resort of the high net worth individual - 9th September 2011
 * cycle, run? Try fridge, beer, couch'' - The not-so-subtle point about triathletes is the overweening desire to show that they are better than everyone else - 12th August 2011
 * again! Who said the party’s over?'' - At the hot-ticket party of the summer, Robert Shrimsley finds the lines between networking and friendship becoming increasingly blurred - 25th July 2011
 * faces the British spring'' - Robert Shrimsley likens the News Corp chief to Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s deposed leader, and weaves a scenario similar to the revolts in Arab countries - 14th July 2011
 * to royalties: the Firm is in business'' - Freed from state support, a monarchy might deliver stellar returns - 1st July 2011
 * gear: the failure of Formula 1'' - Formula 1 racing is a sexy sport … so how come it’s also so incredibly boring? - 25th June 2011
 * versus va-va-voom'' - We have turned our leaders into status symbols – and who wants to be with a Merkel when you could be driving an Obama - 18th June 2011
 * degree of fame is the ticket to success'' - The philosopher A.C. Grayling has announced plans for a new private college of humanities that will charge students £18,000 a year - 8th June
 * tickets: it’s not the winning . . .'' - The system for applying to attend the games was more bizarre than any of the events could be - 2nd June 2011
 * the grands séducteurs are fallen…'' - With one pounce, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has freed men of Britain suffering in the shadows of sophisticated Frenchmen - 27th May 2011
 * and cars and rock ’n’ roll'' - Middle-aged London was out in force at a recent Roger Waters concert, proving that smug rockers may have kids and mortgages but they’ve still got it - 21st May 2011
 * Osama his neighbours knew'' - Residents in Abbottabad admitted they were stunned to discover the world’s most wanted man had been living next door - 5th May 2011
 * turkey with the Taliban'' - The idea that direct talks between America and the Taliban are a way out of Afghanistan sounds less like a winning policy than a sketch by Bob Newhart - 22nd April 2011
 * parties can be a right royal pain'' - The key measure to success in life, in the suburbs at least, is the distance between you and road celebrations for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding - 16th April 2011
 * Luther Miliband speaks'' - Read the full transcript of the Labour party leader’s speech at the TUC rally - 31st March 2011
 * hail the March of the Makers'' - A dull Budget, high on rhetoric but limited in reality - 24th March 2011
 * Obama’s not-at-war room'' - The whole Libya rebellion problem could be off Barack Obama’s desk by Friday - 17th March 2011
 * Island: where the ousted wash up'' - If only there was a secure, comfortable location outside the jurisdiction of international courts that tyrants could run to, they wouldn’t cling on so desperately - 12th February 2011
 * tragedy triumphs'' - I’ve sought the advice of friends and they are quite clear. I don’t have a future in politics. You see, it turns out that I lack the right kind of personal narrative – and these days you just have to have a narrative - 5th February 2011
 * Lib Dems: there’s help out there …'' - Party members today face prejudice they are ill-equipped to handle. How can they cope with the stigma of their political condition? - 22nd January 2011
 * to play NHS Reorganisation'' - The grey hairs among you may remember this game as being rather popular during your childhood - 20th January 2011
 * to a logo? A bit of a no-go'' - Rebranding can be valuable to signify a new direction, although it does often seem to be used as an alternative to fresh thinking - 15th January 2011
 * drivers rejoice (but carry on paying)'' - ‘Whitehall’s war on the motorist’ is said to be over, but the phoney war now has a phoney peace - 7th January 2011
 * Zuckerberg shares his info only with . . .'' - Mark Zuckerberg may not care for your privacy but it seems he can see some advantages to his own, hence the company’s preference for private share placings - 5th January 2011



Articles: 2010

 * just can’t get the staff …'' - Most of us cannot afford live-in staff. Consequently we are at the mercy of unreliable decorators, idle cleaners, overcharging plumbers and cowboy builders - 18th December 2010
 * in the middle with who?'' - It’s clear now that the squeezed middle is the place to be. Everyone likes you and sympathises with the pressures you face - 4th December 2010
 * the wrong notes'' - Show me a modern recorder soloist and I’ll show you a chap who couldn’t master the clarinet - 27th November 2010
 * Dave and Dr George consult'' - Cameron and Osborne are taking the expectation management game to new levels - 10th June 2010
 * cultures obstruct real change'' - A combative parliament and a feisty media may dash hopes for a new era - 15th May 2010
 * Papal bear hug for the AnglicansA Papal bear hug for the Anglicans'' - The Catholic Church this week went public with an audacious bid to acquire the Anglican community – and to swallow up its smaller rival - 22nd October 2009
 * to reclaim that 70s feeling'' - As RBS toys with recreating a famous old banking brand Robert Shrimsley looks back to the seventies and wonders if this is a good thing - 15th October 2009
 * By George, Osborne will make us hate him'' - The shadow chancellor has predicted he will become the most unpopular man in Britain. Robert Shrimsley has some pointers to help him achieve his ambition -8th October 2009
 * the record: Westminster’s Got Talent'' - The much vaunted live prime ministerial debate could soon be upon us but Robert Shrimsley wonders if it might be better off the record - 30th September 2009
 * talks the walk in the foreign policy minefield'' - It’s 3am in the White House and Robert Shrimsley listens in to the call Barack Obama would prefer was taken by Hillary Clinton - 24th October 2009
 * Place product here for biggest impact - The news that the ban on product placement on commercial television companies might be lifted has been greeted with excitement - 16th September 2009
 * After the remastered Beatles: the remastered Tories - It is not just the Beatles enjoying the marketing opportunity; Robert Shrimsley sees a similar trend among David Cameron’s conservatives - 9th September 2009
 * Social usefulness and banking bosh - Lord Turner’s remarks that bankers may perhaps have been engaged in ‘socially useless’ economic activity have clearly stung some in the City - 2nd September 2009
 * Tweeters of the world unite - After Twitter comes Twittiquette. Businesses and PR companies are flooding the world with guides on the do’s and don’t’s of micro-blogging (Number 7 – Don’t Tweet and drive) - 29th July 2009
 * Making the moon landings sexy again - The biggest threat to a new US lunar landing programme may not be the cost but problems with stimulating viewer interest - 22nd July 2009
 * Wisdom out of the mouth of babes - Robert Shrimsley asks FT intern Darren to offer readers some valuable teenage perspectives on bank regulation and the tripartite system, which is ‘like, Duh, not working’ - 15th July 2009
 * California in not such a golden state - Is California too big to fail? If so might the federal government be forced to nationalise it? Lawmakers would certainly demand a change at the top. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced, possibly by Vin Diesel - 8th July 2009
 * Jail beckons for the Westminster gang - MPs who defraud the taxpayer now face a prison sentence, says Robert Shrimsley. But why should this crackdown be limited merely to the patently criminal? - 24th June 2009
 * For thine is the Kingdom... - Mervyn King used his Mansion House speech to demand more power for the Bank of England, likening it to a church able to warn but unable to compel people to listen to its sermons - 18th June 2009
 * Cabinet quakes as a tsar is born - The transformation from tellypreneur to government guru could have unseen repercussions for Gordon Brown’s cabinet as Robert Shrimsley envisages - 10th June 2009
 * The new order is dead; welcome to the past - Gordon Brown may be days from departure. Or - like the twitching body at the end of a hangman's noose - he may sputter on - 5th June 2009
 * And the band played on - The ship has struck an iceberg and on the bridge Captain Brown is talking to senior officers - 3rd June 2009
 * An appeal for our hard-pressed MPs ...surrounded by shabbily dressed MPs, brandishing an empty pad of receipts. At worst we should be able to win them Nepalese citizenship - 13th May 2009



News & updates:

 * Robert Shrimsley appointed FT.com managing editor - The Guardian, 15th January 2009

