Nick Cohen



Profile:
Full name: Nick Cohen

Area of interest: Politics and Society

Journals/Organisation: The Observer | Evening Standard | New Statesman

Email: [mailto:nick@nickcohen.net nick@nickcohen.net] | http://nickcohen.net/about-nick-cohen

Personal website: http://www.nickcohen.net

Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/nickcohen

Blog: Nick Cohen: Writing from London

Representation: AP Watt

Networks: https://twitter.com/#!/NickCohen4



Biography:
About:

Education: Hertford College, Oxford: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE)

Career: Birmingham Post and Mail; The Independent: reporter; New Statesman: columnist - until June 2007

Current position/role: The Observer: columnist


 * also writes/has written for: Time, Spectator, Standpoint, New Humanist; previously wrote for the London Evening Standard (columnist) and the New Statesman

Other roles/Main role: author

Other interests:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * Domestic politics (Wikipedia)
 * Cohen, Islam and the "war on terror" (Wikipedia)
 * Signatory to the declaration of principles of the Euston Manifesto group; National Secular Society Honorary Associate

Broadcast media:

Video: Regular appearances
 * BBC Radio 4's Start the Week: ‘To be good, you had to be on the Left’ (audio) discussing - 'What's Left?: How Liberals Lost their Way', 29th January 2007
 * YouTube: Interview with Nick Cohen by Julia Hobsbawm

Controversy/Criticism:


 * Is Nick Cohen right about the left? His critics reply (Peter Oborne, Beatrix Campbell, Isabel Hilton, Sunder Katwala, John Lloyd, Michael Gove, Christopher Hitchens) 28th January 2007
 * How my critics lost their way: 'My book is a history of how liberal people turn their backs on the victims of totalitarian movements - but most people seem to have missed this', 31st January 2007
 * Martin Ivens meets Nick Cohen: You’ve lost it, Guardianistas: 'Nick Cohen's diagnosis of the left-wing pathology is brutal', The Times, 4th February 2007

Awards/Honours:

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Cruel Britannia: reports on the sinister and the preposterous (1999) OCLC 41018030
 * Pretty straight guys (2003) OCLC 52695866
 * What's left?: how liberals lost their way (2007) OCLC 73953577

Latest work: Waiting for the Etonians: reporting from the sickbed of liberal England OCLC 267161634, 2009 (listen to radio interview on Resonance FM)

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

The Observer:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Politics and Society

Section:

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/nickcohen

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * Prosecuting tyrants – one thing the global order gets right - Putting kleptocrats like Teodorin Obiang on trial harks back to a time when we valued justice but the future looks less encouraging - 2nd July 2017
 * Perhaps the clever thing to do is just give up on politics - We are a nation trapped in a cycle of self-harm. Politics may well have failed us all - 25th June 2017
 * I was wrong about Corbyn’s chances, but I still doubt him - No one can deny that the Labour leader ran a fluent campaign, but can he capitalise on it? - 11th June 2017
 * Labour must start standing up for the ‘left behind’ - The party has too long ignored the plight of its core voters, especially in the north - 4th June 2017
 * After Manchester, our values will only prevail if we speak up for them - The warming words about community and diversity are worthless if we are losing the battle for Muslim minds - 28th May 2017
 * If Labour crashes, don’t expect the hard left to bow out - Civil war in Unite foreshadows Labour’s battles to come - 23rd April 2017
 * The dirty tricks that demonise George Soros - Nationalists around the world have found an enemy – now they’re prepared to pin anything on him - 16th April
 * The lies of the right that debase civilised society - Instead of using a horrific terror attack to bolster prejudice, politicians should consider how Muslims in the west should be treated - 26th March 2017
 * Don’t tell me you weren’t warned about Corbyn - Jeremy Corbyn is going to bury the Labour party. If you don’t want that, do something - 19th March 2017
 * Farage meets Assange in a shameless illiberal alliance - The old rules about probity in public life are being shredded at both ends of the political spectrum - 12th March 2017
 * No patriot can take pride in these stupid and cruel acts - The government’s refusal to confirm that 3m EU migrants can stay in post-Brexit Britain shows that the tolerant nation we thought we knew no longer exists - 5th March 2017
 * The return of the MMR charlatan fits with our times - The return of the disgraced Andrew Wakefield should put us on our guard, as should the actions of politicians such as Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn - 19th February 2017
 * How the lunatic fringe conquered world politics - The left and the right ignored the extremists and we ended up with Brexit and Trump - 13th February 2017
 * Trump’s lies are not the problem. It’s the millions who swallow them who really matter - As the alt-right continues to set the agenda in global politics at a frightening pace, has the world reverted to a 20th-century era of totalitarianism? - 5th February 2017
 * Fate of eight Turkish airmen is an acid test for democracy - The future of Europe will be imperilled if the birthplace of democracy agrees to extradite eight ‘coup plotters’ to Turkey - 22nd January 2017
 * Russian treachery is extreme and it is everywhere - Vladimir Putin’s worldwide influence is pernicious. Dare Theresa May confront it? - 8th January 2017
 * Leavers are angry, for their lies will return to haunt them - The protracted negotiations to extricate Britain from the European Union are exposing the falsity of Farage and his cohorts - 18th December
 * Theresa May’s bunker: only the meekest courtiers are allowed in - The recent sycophantic interviews show that the prime minister’s stubbornness and parochialism leave her ill-equipped for Brexit negotiations - 12th December 2016
 * How our laws inspired Trump’s attack on free speech - Hard-won press freedoms are under attack on both sides of the Atlantic - 4th December 2016
 * For Boris Johnson and his cronies, blame always lies elsewhere - The foreign secretary and his fellow Brexiters have left this country in an imperilled and intolerable situation - 20th November 2016
 * If liberals want to stop the right winning, we must change - Trump’s victory shows we have reached a turning point and the left must change to survive - 13th November 2016
 * It’s not enough to moan about the new right – resist it - The new demagogic right is seeking to undermine the checks and balances of our political system - 6th November 2016
 * Theresa May lied and lied again to become PM - She told untruths to win the job and now she is doing the same to make us believe that she is acting in our interest - 30th October 2016
 * A free market in tax is a grotesque reality - Donald Trump’s tax affairs are as nothing compared to those of the great global corporations - 9th October 2016
 * Good and brave Labour MPs need to be defended - Such is Corbyn’s grip on the Labour party that his supporters can pick off opponents with impunity - 2nd October 2016
 * Only true liberalism can thwart the demagogues - From Brexit to Trump to Putin, it is the scourge of crude nationalism that must be challenged - 25th September 2016
 * Why would the EU appease the deluded Brexiters? - The harsh political truth is that Europe will have no qualms about turning its back on Britain - 11th September 2016
 * I’m sorry if rewilding hurts farmers, but we need it - The National Trust’s purchase of Thorneythwaite sheep farm is part of a plan to reshape the landscape to meet the threat of global warming - 4th September 2016
 * Did better broadband make Americans more partisan? - The internet has helped polarise politics but the zealots need to look to themselves - 28th August 2016
 * How Liam Fox got into bed with Azerbaijan’s kleptocrats - The new secretary of state for international trade has enjoyed many benefits from his close relations with the regime in Baku - 7th August 2016
 * Extremism thrives because of cowardly collaborators - Donald Trump is being allowed such free rein because Republicans are reluctant to face him down - 31st July 2016
 * Labour has the stench of death – meet the killers - The party whose raison d’etre was once to govern has now become unelectable, robbing Britain of a viable opposition - 17th July 2016
 * Failure to confront Britain’s political ultras has cost us dear - Labour and the Tories were both unprepared for the opportunists and nationalists who were preparing to wreck our prosperity - 10th July 2016
 * The Tories played with fire and you can hear the flames crackling round you - These over-grown adolescents now skip away from the awful results of their folly - 3rd July
 * There are liars and then there’s Boris Johnson and Michael Gove - The Brexit figureheads had no plan besides exploiting populist fears and dismissing experts who rubbished their thinking - 26th June 2016
 * Take your country back from those who seek to destroy it - Vote Leave has poisoned rational debate by endorsing paranoid populism, the spirit of our age - 19th June 2016
 * Deathbed conversion? Never. Christopher Hitchens was defiant to the last - There was no deathbed conversion to Christianity, despite the claims of a ‘strange, spiteful book’ - 5th June 2016
 * There’s nothing a Brexiter loves more than a good conspiracy - Rather than engaging in genuine debate, Vote Leave assumes the Remain camp is lying or plotting - 29th May
 * Radical tourists have been deluded pimps for Venezuela - Lefty westerners who trawl the world for revolutions to praise are no better than sex tourists in search of ‘exotic’ thrills - 22nd May 2016
 * Brexiteers put their trust in paranoia and mendacity - Every country in the world that wishes us well thinks we should stay in the European Union - 8th May 2016
 * I saw the darkness of antisemitism, but I never thought it would get this dark - The party faces a huge problem that must be surmounted, if only for moral reasons - 1st May 2016
 * Lessons from the Dutch – watch the dangerous fringe - The myth-making of the far right and far left over an exit from Europe is delivering us into the hands of our enemies - 10th April 2016
 * Boris Johnson. Liar, conman – and prime minister? - The mayor of London has been treated with woozy indulgence by the media. But Britain may pay the price - 27th March 2016
 * Why I’m becoming a Jew and why you should, too - We will learn the essential lesson that antisemitism is not about Jews, but power - 20th March 2016
 * Plant some trees to save a town from flooding? Not a bad idea - Towns such as Keswick deserve proper protection from flooding rather than the shabby half-measures on offer at the moment - 13th March 2016
 * Goldsmith, Khan, smears, lies and innuendo – welcome to ‘new politics’ - Those employing questionable political strategies has at its root the failure of moderates to stand by their beliefs - 6th March 2016
 * Our one-party state allows bunglers such as Chris Grayling to thrive - Chris Grayling is an example of the kind of nasty politician that rises when there is no credible opposition - 21st February 2016
 * Farage’s vile views are dominating the Europhobe pitch - In the EU referendum build-up, the Out brigade are not only Trumpish in their bigotry, but also strangely sure we’ll be treated well - 14th February 2016
 * To help real refugees, be firm with economic migrants - By blurring the distinction between refugees and economic migrants, the left does little to advance its cause - 6th February 2016
 * Nobody, not even British soldiers, should be above the law - David Cameron denounces Putin’s contempt for the law - yet he proposes to exempt British troops from legal accountability - 24th January 2016
 * The Kurds should not be denied our support - The Kurds are our allies against Isis, but we bow to Baghdad’s shameful treatment of them - 16th January 2016
 * Don’t look to the pope for enlightenment values - Church leaders and politicians seem wary of embracing true liberal values - 9th January 2016
 * With no opposition, the Tories are free to do what they like - While Iain Duncan Smith is still in office, compassion will be no part of the Conservative canon - 26th December 2015
 * Is this really the end for America’s death penalty? - The use of the ultimate sanction in American justice is on the wane - 20th December 2015
 * Corbyn’s ‘new politics’ means the self-righteous left wallows in its cruelty - Their virtuous hatred is reserved for their own side, and its ugliness will destroy the myth of leftwing decency - 6th December 2015
 * Has Dominic Cummings sabotaged the anti-EU cause? - Vote Leave’s ‘strategy of intimidation’ has led to calls for it to be denied a leading role in the referendum. If Ukip takes over, the anti-EU campaign will suffer - 19th November 2015
 * After Paris, Europe may never feel as free again - The horrific events in Paris sound the death knell for European liberalism - 15th November 2015
 * Traduced by all sides, who will defend the BBC? - If there is one British institution that we should all be ready to stand by, it is the BBC - 1st November 2015
 * How brave Muslims are being silenced - The most vocal attacks on a group fighting Islamophobic attacks are not racist yobs but friends of the Islamist right - 4th October 2015
 * Why the Women’s Equality party is long overdue - The comforting story of the ascent of women is complacent to the point of somnolence - 27th September 2015
 * Yes, men are fools, but these web fraudsters are vile - Before we laugh at those duped by the dating website, we should remember that nobody is exempt from vanity or vulnerability - 30th August 2015
 * Take a tip from waiters: workers’ rights are being destroyed - As Pizza Express’s handling fee for staff tips attests, British workers have never had it it so bad. And the situation is about to get far worse… - 9th August 2015
 * If you hate the migrants in Calais, you hate yourself - Over the centuries, we offered succour and shelter to the persecuted. Now it’s Fortress Britain - 2nd August 2015
 * A Jeremy Corbyn triumph would shame his opponents - Labour’s leadership candidates must confront the man who could lead the party into the electoral wilderness - 20th July 2015
 * George Osborne’s Britain is no country for young men… or women - Conservative policies are often designed to protect the old at the expense of the young. The July budget was no different - 11th July 2015
 * Islamism prevails even as we suppress free speech - The death of Bangladeshi secular blogger Avijit Roy should give pause to all those in the west who refuse to confront the fascism of our age - 5th July
 * Pope Francis a liberal free thinker? Don’t kid yourself - Francis can never steer humanity to environmental salvation while he remains in thrall to Catholic dogma on birth control - 21st June 2015
 * Tony Blair has just joined the crew of reckless muzzlers - Moves by Blair, Cameron and co to end tolerance of intolerance will create a country unable to be honest with itself - 7th June 2015
 * A Labour London mayor inevitable? Think again… - Taking comfort from general election success in the capital could backfire badly - 23rd May 2015
 * Labour would do better if it learned to like the English - For the past two elections, the party has stuck with leaders it knew the public thought were useless - 10th May 2015
 * Tower Hamlets: how a dictatorship flourished in the East End - The neurotic fear of accusations of race and religious bias in Britain helped Lutfur Rahman control the London borough - 26th April 2015
 * Why mentally ill people are an easy target for the Tories - Despite the valiant work of Norman Lamb, people with mental health problems are increasingly vulnerable in an era of swingeing cuts - 12th April 2015
 * The Tories’ European problem will bring chaos - The Tories’ obsession with getting out of Europe blinds them to the terrible economic consequences - 5th April 2015
 * The sinister treatment of dissent at the BBC - The whistleblowers who broke the Jimmy Savile story have seen their careers nosedive while executives protect their own status - 8th March 2015
 * Super-jails are the inhumane mark of ignorant politicians - Stuffing prisoners into gang-dominated ‘super-prisons’ where excrement-pelted officers cower and soap is scarcer than drugs is a catastrophic error - 22nd February 2015
 * Is Mr Cameron the most parochial PM ever? - Whether it’s Ukraine or the European Union, this country has no coherent strategy - 15th February 2015
 * Pope Francis shows he’s fallible when it comes to critics of religion - The pope’s intervention in the Charlie Hebdo attack marks him out as anything but a liberal - 18th January 2015
 * Paris attacks: unless we overcome fear, self-censorship will spread - We take on the powerful – and ask you to admire our bravery – only if they are not a paramilitary force that may kill us - 11th January 2015
 * Prince Charles, we’ll not stomach a meddling monarch - The heir to the throne makes no bones about his desire to intervene. But what about royal neutrality? - 4th January 2015
 * Why must we tolerate police spies in our midst? - There can be no such thing as free speech when the police demand to know the names of dissenters - 21st December 2014
 * There is hope in how child abuse has been exposed - The process is flawed, but at least those who suffered are finally being heard - 7th December 2014
 * Big Brother IS watching you. Don’t be complacent about surveillance - It may seem that the government’s ever-increasing spying is only going to affect terrorists. Don’t be so sure - 30th November 2014
 * Nigel Farage is a coward, yet Cameron and Miliband are too gutless to attack - At Rochester, the main party leaders showed they are too frightened to take on Ukip’s rabble-rouser in chief - 22nd November 2014
 * Russia Today: why western cynics lap up Putin’s TV poison - It’s no surprise that the Kremlin delights in piping TV propaganda to the world – it is guaranteed a receptive audience - 9th November 2014
 * It’s not just on Ebola that good science must prevail - Nay-sayers are all too quick to decry scientific findings if they don’t agree with their own cracked views - 2nd November 2014
 * The stateless Kurds are right about radical Islam, but the west is too meek to stop Isis’s fascism - For too long, persecuted Kurds have been the victims of political machinations - 12th October 2014
 * Tory wreckers out to destroy their own human rights - The Conservatives’ threat to scrap the Human Rights Act emphasises how extreme the party has become - 5th October 2014
 * Isis and Syria: ‘Western hypocrisies have been driving support for extremism’ - Western foreign policy is only shoring up the Syrian leader’s brutal regime - 28th September
 * The privileged few are tightening their grip on the arts - Politics, journalism, the arts – they are all increasingly controlled by nice people from wealthy backgrounds. And their niceness is strangling us - 14th September 2014
 * The phantom menace of militant atheism - Non-believers never harmed anyone in the west. Which is more than you can say for cowardly 'intellectuals' - 7th September 2014
 * Two Days, One Night – a film that illuminates the despair of the low paid - Millions are taking jobs no rational person looking to maintain a family or build a career would normally consider - 31st August 2014
 * JK Rowling is too good to be a propagandist - She's been criticised by both left and right, but in her novels at least, she's beyond reproach - 10th August 2014
 * Why do we still honour free-market intellectuals? - It's mystifying that the former chairman of Northern Rock is still garnering plaudits - 3rd August 2014
 * Yes, Britain can afford to defy Tsar Vladimir Putin - At last there may be justice for Alexander Litvinenko, but it has taken a downed passenger jet to make us see that Russia does not own Britain - 27th July 2014
 * Jean-Claude Juncker's real scandal is his tax-haven homeland of Luxembourg - The favoured candidate for the presidency of the European Commission has dedicated himself to making society less fair - 13th July 2014
 * Why stubborn Iain Duncan Smith is no statesman - The minister's reluctance to abandon his disastrous Work Programme is further proof of his pig-headedness - 29th June 2014
 * Why we prefer our immigrants to be invisible - The treatment of cleaners at the University of London highlights our shameful treatment of immigrants - 22nd June 2014
 * Secret justice will lead to paranoia – and it's not very British - The trial of two terrorism suspects will now be partially reported in the press after an appeal court ruling last week. This is nothing to celebrate - 15th June 2014
 * Our prisons have mental health problems - The NHS can't cope with our society's mentally ill, so the crisis is hidden behind bars - 1st June 2014
 * A hollow European culture is writ large in Amsterdam - Alain de Botton's homilies in the Rijksmuseum are proof positive that old Europe is dead - 25th May 2014
 * Ukip's running scared – all it takes is a good argument - It seems large sections of British society no longer know how to argue and suppression is their default position - 18th May 2014
 * 220 schoolgirls haven't been 'abducted' by Boko Haram, they have been enslaved - Boko Haram is a vile manifestation, yet the liberal press stays silent, fearful of 'demonising the other' - 4th May 2014
 * Nigel Farage is a phoney. Scrutinise him and he'll crumble - Instead of tearing into the preposterous Ukip leader, Britain's famously aggressive media have made him a celebrity - 26th April 2014
 * Beware the fake patriots' anger on immigration - To save British culture from foreigners, the Tories and Ukip will bring in identity controls – and we will all be losers - 20th April 2014
 * From food banks to property bubbles – the moral decay that blights Britain - Social historians will have no difficulty in giving an accurate portrait of the decline of today's Britain - 13th April 2014
 * How Reader's Digest became a Chinese stooge - Reader's Digest is alleged to have censored stories in its publication to maintain a cheap publishing deal in China - 30th March 2014
 * The climate change deniers have won - Scientists continue to warn us about global warming, but most of us have a vested interest in not wanting to think about it - 23rd March 2014
 * Why London turns a blind eye to Russia's adventurism - Threats to Russia over its actions in Ukraine are undermined by the warm welcome its billionaires continue to receive in the west - 16th March 2014
 * 'Homely' Boots treats its staff like red revolutionaries - The pharmacy is a high street favourite. But its attitude to the negotiating rights of its workers is anything but healthy - 2nd March 2014
 * How to stop state terrorists: seize their assets - The most effective method of hurting those who murder their own people is to recover the wealth they have amassed - 23rd February 2014
 * Gay people are not genetic aberrations - If you welcome research that says being gay results from genetic inheritance, don't be surprised when they start offering a 'cure' - 16th February 2014
 * Thanks to Leveson, the police are above public scrutiny - After the revelations of Plebgate, is police reform possible? - 9th February 2014
 * Ukip's rise threatens the left as well as the right - That Nigel Farage can speak to former Labour voters ought to be a matter of shame to the British left and a call to arms - 2nd February 2014
 * The Liberal Democrats face a true test of liberty - A Liberal Democrat activist is at the heart of a furore caused by a T-shirt depicting Jesus meeting Muhammad - 25th January 2014
 * Take note, BBC. Whistleblowers are good for you - The Newsnight reporters in the Savile scandal were the corporation's true defenders - 18th January
 * George Osborne's hard choices will only hurt the young and poor - As his speech last week made clear, George Osborne is threatening to transform Britain into a country governed for the needs of the few - 12th January 2014
 * Food banks: cowardly coalition can't face the truth about them - Conservatives cannot admit a real fear of hunger afflicts thousands - 29th December 2013
 * Vladimir Putin is outflanking the west at every turn - The Russian president runs rings around the supposed liberal leaders of the west as he advances his authoritarian agenda - 22nd December 2013
 * What does a chap have to do to be ostracised? - What does it take these days to be banished from polite society? - 15th December 2013
 * Iain Duncan Smith's catalogue of waste and poverty - Sneaking out an admission of yet more delays to his grandiose universal credit system comes as no surprise given Iain Duncan Smith's past record - 8th December 2013
 * The real cultists are not Maoists, they're CEOs - It is not only in religious or political circumstances where people are made to follow a leader unthinkingly - 1st December 2013
 * Universities should be the last place to ban free speech - The censorship of an atheist bookstall at freshers' week is just another example of heavy-handed repression in our universities - 24th November 2013
 * George Osborne, call yourself a Tory when you fritter taxes? - The chancellor's reckless use of taxpayers' money to boost borrowing on housing is anti-Conservative and will end in disaster - 17th November 2013
 * Lest we forget, most ex-soldiers don't go bad in civvies - The average ex-serviceman is less likely to end up behind bars than the average civilian - 10th November 2013
 * He can't tell the truth, yet the right needs Iain Duncan Smith - Let's not forget that his blustering and blundering leads to a great deal of human suffering - 3rd November 2013
 * Wild emotions are all very well, Russell Brand, but then what? - Now, as in the 1920s and 30s, many Europeans agree with Brand that all politicians are crooks and democracy is a sham - 27th October 2013
 * Why Frieze art fair reflects London all too well - The return of 80s artists such as Jeff Koons reveals that art is once again pandering to the rich - 20th October 2013
 * In Theresa May's surreal world, feelings trump facts - The home secretary's claims about health tourists are both wrong and an insult to voters - 13th October 2013
 * Will Qatar's World Cup be built on a graveyard? - Unless Qatar allows foreign workers to form unions, Sepp Blatter must prevent it from hosting the World Cup - 6th October 2013
 * Open government? Don't make me laugh - David Cameron is boasting about the UK's transparent government. In fact there is more darkness than daylight - 29th September 2013
 * How many more must die for Qatar's World Cup? - In hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Fifa is choosing to ignore the abuse of migrant workers - 22nd September 2013
 * Yarl's Wood affair is a symptom, not the disease - Increasing numbers of vulnerable people are being denied redress under our criminal justice system - 15th September 2013
 * The Lib Dems used to keep us honest. Not any more - The party was once the home of reasoned dissent. Power sharing has now emasculated it - 25th August 2013
 * Egypt: we may despise the Muslim Brotherhood, but a coup is a coup - Europe and the US need to accept that the Muslim Brotherhood may be foul, but it did not abolish democracy - 18th August 2013
 * Don't be fooled. Pope by name, pope by nature - Forget what liberal Catholics and the liberal media think the pope said on the papal plane and read what he actually said - 11th August 2013
 * The water companies and the foul stench of exploitation - The privatisation of water is a story of greed, incompetence and fleecing the public - 4th August 2013
 * Hate porn, sure, but be wary of banning it - The principle that consenting adults are free to watch what they want is worth defending - 30th June
 * Natural justice faces a savage loss of innocence - Plans to reduce legal aid are an unwarranted assault on the very nature of our legal system - 16th June 2013
 * Syria is bleeding to death and the west stands by - Apart from William Hague's Foreign Office, the western leadership is shamefully indifferent to the abuses committed by Assad - 9th June 2013
 * Britain can no longer afford to bankroll the rich - Not only is the ever-growing wealth of the super-rich not trickling down, it is creating ever-growing instability in a future not worth having - 2nd June 2013
 * Terrorism: life-denying ideologies have no place in this country - So entwined have the English Defence League and radical Islam become, they might as well be married - 26th May 2013
 * One tax law for us and another for Amazon - Britain's reluctance to pursue multinationals risks turning us into another Italy - 19th May 2013
 * Lies, damned lies and Iain Duncan Smith - The way the work and pensions secretary manipulates statistics is a shaming indictment of his department's failings - 12th May 2013
 * Read all about Amanda Knox – except in neurotic Britain - Fear of libel action stopped UK publication of Amanda Knox's memoir – and shows again how little we care about free speech - 5th May 2013
 * Mothers and children lose out in benefit changes - Iain Duncan Smith's universal credit poses a serious threat to women's independence - 28th April 2013
 * Why Cameron won't confront Ukip - The Tories, doing less well than they should be, are running scared of challenging what Nigel Farage's crew stands for - 14th April 2013
 * Ding Dong over Thatcher song makes the BBC no better than China - The BBC's decision to censor the protest track from The Wizard of Oz recalls the Chinese Communist party - 13th April 2013
 * Bankers carry on unabashed, unscathed and unashamed - The right's folly lies in its inability to understand that bankers have barely been slapped - 7th April 2013
 * Beware the lure of Mark Zuckerberg's cool capitalism - The high-tech, borderless future envisaged by the Facebook boss is not a future many people can live in - 31st March 2013
 * Boris. Brilliant on the outside. Nothing inside - Is a new documentary just another part of the clever construct that is the mayor of London? - 25th March 2013
 * Leveson's liberal friends bring shame upon the left - MPs who vote to regulate the press tomorrow are siding against the principles they're meant to uphold - 17th March 2013
 * Ten years on, the case for invading Iraq is still valid - A decade after Hussein was overthrown, why are some progressives still loath to celebrate his demise? - 3rd March 2013
 * What price freedom with Labour's stance on libel? - Labour peers' amendments to the libel reform bill are a fundamental threat to a free society - 24th February 2013
 * The agonies of Bangladesh come to London - Shahbag protests in Dhaka are reflected in the demonstrations in London - 17th February 2013
 * Michael Gove's gang perfect the art of fighting dirty - The attack dogs of the education secretary blight him and decent political behaviour - 10th February 2013
 * Why 'leftists revolutionaries' are not the best feminists - The rape allegation against a member of the SWP is hardly surprising, given the party's attitude towards women - 3rd February 2013
 * Now even the right is focused on capitalism's flaws - Even some Tories are starting to accept that our free market model doesn't work - 27th January 2013
 * British fair play lies dead and buried - In the sporting arena and in other areas of our national life, gentlemanly conduct is now an alien concept - 20th January 2013
 * Why this obsession with what gay people do in bed? - Whether they are hypocrites or plain ignorant, shame on them - 13th January 2013
 * Are our lawyers being used by the Kremlin kleptocracy? - Bill Browder's successful campaign against the Russian authorities who stole his company and contributed to his lawyer's death has landed him in an English libel court - 6th January 2013
 * Secular Britain is ruled by religious bureaucrats - Why is the church still such a force in our society when most of us disregard its clerics' teachings? - 16th December 2012
 * The British have no fight in them any more - Look at the public protests in the past and you'll see how subdued we are now - 9th December 2012
 * The west's hypocrisies give succour to tyrants - Western politicians and judges behave as if the rest of the world is not watching - 2nd December 2012
 * A tough new Labour party emerges – on the ground - Councillors are trying to defend their towns and cities and breaking new political ground - 25th November 2012
 * Greece flirts with tyranny and Europe looks away - Greek democracy is in peril and much of the fault lies with the EU's hard stance - 4th November 2012
 * Britons have never been angrier or more confused - In these harsh times, it's not surprising that there is so much outrage at the behaviour of the ruling elite - 27th October 2012
 * Prince Charles has no right to privacy on public matters - Once he's crowned king, the meddlesome prince could put an end to our monarchy - 21st October 2012
 * The week I shed my anti-Tory taboos - There are often as many differences within right and left as between them about the big issues – except one - 14th October 2012
 * The shameful history of silence on child abuse - While we pore over the details of the allegations against Jimmy Savile, we turn a blind eye to other forms of exploitation - 7th October 2012
 * Is this the death knell for the Lib Dems? - At a time when the country needs them, the party seems intent on self-destruction - 30th September 2012
 * How did the English judiciary stoop so low? - Legal tourists are making a mockery our legal system - 23rd September 2012
 * Nothing, however vile, justifies censorship - Even in the hardest of cases such as this anti-Islamic film, the old arguments against censorship remain the best - 16th September 2012
 * Our children go hungry for want of Tory compassion - British children are begging for food and what do the Conservatives say? That's not real hunger - 9th September 2012
 * Simon Walsh: the vindictive persecution of an innocent man - The prosecution of Simon Walsh has shown English law in the worst possible light - 12th August 2012
 * Welcome to Britain, a home fit for shysters - In America, plagiarists and cheats lose their livelihoods. Our fabricating journalists and authors are allowed write on and to bully their critics - 5th August 2012
 * The deadly scandal in the building trade - Construction workers are blacklisted if they say health and safety rules are being flouted, even though many of their colleagues could die or be maimed - 29th July 2012
 * Persecuting the press diminishes us all - As another journalist is arrested, it's time to start worrying about the repressive turn the British state is taking - 22nd July 2012
 * Tales of hope from modern young Muslims - Two writers who experienced racial violence in Britain as children have challenged a still fearful status quo - 15th July
 * Enfeebled, yes, but parliament is still the best judge of scandal - Like many, I favour a judge-led inquiry into the banks fiasco. But what could it realistically achieve? - 8th July
 * This wretched coalition only offers populist stunts - Like a drunk trying to grab a drink, the coalition aims for one policy and then stumbles in the opposite direction - 1st July 2012
 * Definition of paranoia: supporters of Julian Assange - The right does not have a monopoly on paranoia, as the conspiratorial fantasies of the backers of Julian Assange show - 24th June 2012
 * A church fit only for bigots and hypocrites - The Church of England's stand on homosexuality and women priests is isolating it from the rest of the country - 17th June 2012
 * Russia is playing western democrats for dupes - Western efforts to find a solution in Syria are floundering thanks to misplaced deference - 10th June 2012
 * No wonder the working man despises the elites - How long before the people of Europe wake up to the fact that they are not living in a democracy? - 3rd June 2012
 * Tony Blair's moral decline and fall is now complete - Tony Blair's willingness to prop up the brutal Kazakhstan regime shames the one-time champion of democracy - 27th May 2012
 * Why Charles III will be the republicans' best friend - The Prince of Wales with his interfering ways and terrifying belief in alternative medicine will get even worse on the throne - 20th May 2012
 * Autocrats step in as the west's money runs out - Authoritarian governments have learned from the Arab Spring that the best way to nip revolution in the bud is to exploit the new technologies - 13th May 2012
 * Why Cameron daren't cast Murdoch adrift - Possible revelations at the Leveson inquiry are striking fear into the Tories - 6th May 2012
 * Beware PR men bearing dictators' gifts - From Hungary to Kazakhstan and Putin's Russia, despots see the British as the masters of the black art of spin - 29th April 2012
 * The British Council brings more shame on us - All authors are welcome to the London Book Fair… as long as they don't upset the Chinese - 15th April 2012
 * Galloway and Livingstone: twins in so many ways - Step outside party politics and the differences between the two disappear like the morning mist - 1st April 2012
 * Toulouse killings: in France or elsewhere, let's not play politics with murder - Many on both sides won't admit that the motives and targets of totalitarian movements are often identical - 25th March 2012
 * Keep corrupt regimes out of British culture - Too many of our cultural and educational institutions have been quiescent in suppressing uncomfortable truths - 18th March 2012
 * One law for the rich, no law for the poor - Cuts in legal aid mean the underprivileged will have little access to justice - 11th March 2012
 * It's time to hold Ken Livingstone to account - The London mayoral candidate's tax affairs are yet another reason to doubt his integrity - 4th March 2012
 * Art and ideology make uneasy bedfellows - It's imperative that we fight the urge to applaud any book or drama that confirms our own prejudices - 26th February 2012
 * Greece is being destroyed by 'respectable' fanatics - The EU, which boasts that solidarity is its founding principle, is forcing Greece into destitution and chaos - 19th February
 * Where are the judges fit for the internet age? - Twitter and Facebook are having a transformational effect on the nature of secrecy and access - 12th February 2012
 * Public interest should trump self-interest - The judiciary seems to have a skewed view of what the public has a right to know - 5th February 2012
 * Peter Tatchell, still on the front line at 60 - The human and gay rights activist is as indefatigable as ever. We should cherish him - 22nd January 2012
 * Viscount Astor, you really are a class apart - The rich bleat that times are hard and there's a socialist conspiracy to rob them of their wealth and property. Nonsense - 15th January 2012
 * Stieg Larsson was an extremist, not a feminist - The bestselling author's attitude to the abuse of immigrant women was truly shocking - 8th January 2012
 * The west has a duty to intervene in Syria - Those who continue to appease President Bashar al-Assad also have blood on their hands - 1st January 2012
 * Christopher Hitchens: He died too young, with too much left to say - Nick Cohen pays tribute to the most 'intellectually generous' man he ever met - 18th December 2011
 * Enough of keeping calm and carrying on - Neither we nor our leaders are willing to come to terms with the fact that the 2008 crash changed everything - 11th December 2011
 * Who will rid us of hate channels such as Press TV? - Ofcom is allowing an Iranian broadcaster to undermine our sense of broadcasting balance - 4th December 2011
 * The deafening silence on a good man's death - The murder of Rafiq Tagi reveals the west's cowardice in the face of religious extremism - 27th November 2011
 * Does the left have a voice in the euro crisis? - It's the crypto-fascists and the nationalists who will rejoice if European reforms prove ineffective - 20th November 2011
 * Guilt is both a reason, and an excuse, for German inaction - Every attempt to resolve a crisis that could push us into a second great depression is met by German prevarication - 13th November 2011
 * Executive greed is still a besetting sin - Lavishly rewarded FTSE executives seem ever further removed from the real world - 30th October 2011
 * Welcome to Britain, a haven for tax dodgers - The HM Revenue & Customs chief seems to think it's OK for financial big boys to skip paying their dues - 23rd October 2011
 * Money talks even in the internship slave trade - If you're young and want a job, you'd better hope that your parents can pay your way - 16th October 2011
 * Lest we forget, the City still thrives on greed - When it comes to honouring our war dead, forget it. Making money is much more important - 9th October 2011
 * The Leveson inquiry will miss the real scandal - A genuine inquiry would investigate how David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt prostituted their government - 2nd October 2011
 * The treachery of Julian Assange - The Wikileaks founder, far from being a champion of freedom, is an active danger to the real seekers of truth - 18th September
 * Labour's wretched lack of backbone over banks - Ed Balls's inability to say he made a mistake and move on is a great boost to the City - 11th September 2011
 * bewildering tale of everyday English justice'' - For the father of one young man arrested during the riots, a day in court has done nothing to cement his faith in our legal system - 21st August 2011
 * eurozone: it's a pyrrhic victory for the eurosceptics'' - When the centre cannot hold, dissenters are as likely to be appalled as the most uncritical propagators of the received wisdom - 14th August 2011
 * riots here. Just quiet, ever-deeper misery'' - What we are witnessing in this recession is not abrupt catastrophe but the slow erosion of the hopes and aspirations of so many - 9th August 2011
 * riots here. Just quiet, ever-deeper misery'' - What we are witnessing in this recession is not abrupt catastrophe but the slow erosion of the hopes and aspirations of so many - 7th August 2011
 * to Britain, a breeding ground for talking hate'' - We like to think we are a reasonable country, yet we are home to all kinds of extremism - 31st July 2011
 * chance to drag ourselves out of the gutter'' - While elements in the media have debased our lives, there is still much to be cherished in Britain - 24th July 2011
 * and fall of the puppetmasters'' - Although Chomskyan self-delusion has all too often blighted public life, the downfall of Ratko Mladic and Rupert Murdoch gives cause for optimism - 17th July 2011
 * the law save whistleblowers, not silence them'' - Spill the beans on your company's criminal activities and you'll not just lose your job, you could lose your career - 10th July 2011
 * is still good for Britain's elite'' - The people continue to bail bankers out. Isn't it time there was a real challenge to these undeserving rich? - 3rd July 2011
 * secret scandal of Britain's caste system'' - Why isn't the Equality and Human Rights Commission taking action against this prejudice? - 26th June 2011
 * the facts – Syria is an apartheid state'' - The west is conniving in Bashar Assad's brutal suppression of opposition - 19th June 2011
 * price freedom of expression now?'' - MF Husain was driven into exile by a hatred that has been allowed to flourish in Britain too - 12th June 2011
 * horrible own goal for Sepp Blatter and Fifa'' - The Fifa boss acts just like any other dictator. Thank goodness the FA stood up to him - 5th June 2011
 * ignorance was bliss for Fred Goodwin'' - A supine and compliant judiciary has allowed too many corporate wrongdoings to go unpunished - 22nd May 2011
 * for the reign of Charles the Meddler'' - The notion that the royal family is above politics is arrant nonsense - 1st May 2011
 * takes more than PR to be trusted with the NHS'' - Satisfaction with the NHS has seldom been higher, so why is the coalition so determined to overhaul it? - 17th April 2011
 * has vanquished religion, but not its evils'' - The astronomer royal accepting the Templeton prize is a casual endorsement of all that is wrong with religion - 10th April 2011
 * Woolf's conflict of interest at the LSE'' - Some scholars want the right to choose their own investigator - 3rd April 2011
 * despair doesn't come from the marchers'' - As the cuts bite and voters hurt more, the more the government stands to lose - 27th March 2011
 * – no country for young men'' - The furore over Midsomer Murders hides a harsher truth about rural England - 20th March 2011
 * support for Arab rebels is shamefully late'' - Europe has shown none of the generosity to the Arab world it displayed to the states of the former Soviet empire - 13th March 2011
 * absurd obsession with Israel is laid bare'' - The Middle East meant only Israel to many. Now the lives of millions of Arabs have been brought to Europe's attention - 27th February 2011
 * omerta still suits the the City's mafiosi'' - Banks will begin the process of reform when their employees aren't penalised for speaking out - 20th February 2011
 * last, Islam's appeasers may be on the run'' - Politicians and civil servants have been too willing to treat with religious bigots - 6th February 2011
 * plays into the hands of the right'' - The cuts in arts, humanities and social science courses can be seen as a self-inflicted wound - 30th January 2011
 * believe the myth of 'broken Britain''' - Only a safe and placid country, where people fear violence but rarely experience it, could find Joanna Yeates's death shocking - 23rd January 2011
 * Pope's unholy alliance with the dictator'' - Alexander Lukashenko, still president of Belarus thanks to a rigged election, has found an ally in the Vatican - 16th January 2011
 * religious thugs love blasphemy laws'' - Blasphemy is not a protector of religious freedom, as the UN maintains, but its mortal enemy - 9th January 2011
 * will confront the hatred in Hungary?'' - The European Union seems happy to ignore the repression that is happening under Viktor Orbán - 2nd January 2011
 * least Bob Ainsworth dares to speak about drugs'' - Our leaders are too addicted to power to upset voters by demanding we have a proper debate about the possible legalisation of narcotics - 19th December 2010
 * young will have their revenge, Mr Clegg'' - The students have not stopped fees rising, but they have surely destroyed the Lib Dem leader's reputation - 12th December 2010
 * shouldn't pick at Ireland's bones'' - The reparations foisted on the republic condemn its taxpayers to a bleak future - 5th December 2010
 * the libel law sharks are going for the little guy'' - It's too easy for big companies to use our legal system to silent dissenting voices - 21st November 2010
 * Vodafone made tax dodging respectable'' - The communications giant's deal with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs leaves a sour taste with ordinary taxpayers - 14th November 2010
 * cuts will put legal action out of reach of the poor'' - Government cuts will hit poor people who need help bringing legal action to challenge incompetent bureaucracy - 7th November 2010
 * arrogance presages a mighty fall'' - The internet giant could pay a high price for its heavy-handed attitude toward the collection of confidential information - 31st October 2010
 * Rooney symbolises the greed that laid us low'' - The Manchester United striker has negotiated a deal for £10.4m a year. That's small beer to our avaricious financiers - 24th October 2010
 * Jacobson offers a contrary voice in the arts'' - Last week's Booker prize winner shines a light on the lack of honest comment in modern drama and broadcasting - 17th October 2010
 * radical Islam seduced the academics'' - The Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab case highlights the pusillanimity of those who should be confronting extremism - 10th October
 * Miliband's got the right idea – move back to the left'' - Labour's new leader can restore faith in his party by promising to confront vested financial interests - 3rd October 2010
 * need electoral reform, not this Liberal fudge'' - AV, so warmly embraced by Nick Clegg, will not lead to greater democratic fairness - 26th September 2010
 * and terrifying tale of modern Britain'' - Paul Chambers has felt the full force of state persecution, simply for sending a tweet - 19th September 2010
 * without God are more benevolent'' - The pope's visit to Britain has been the perfect excuse for many commentators to traduce secularism - 11th September 2010
 * media's part in the death of David Kelly'' - The BBC, the press and politicians betrayed the MoD scientist. Trying to blame Tony Blair is ridiculous - 22nd August 2010
 * middle class will get you, Mr Cameron'' - Why do the rich always think everyone else is earning six figures? - 15th August 2010
 * book that has the Tories running scared'' - A polemic that blames inequality for most troubles in our society has energised Labour - 8th August 2010
 * salesman's patter demeans Britain'' - Cameron understands PR but he needs to realise that history is important in diplomacy - 1st August 2010
 * one wins when brother fights brother'' - The Milibands' struggle for the leadership risks making the opposition look ridiculous - 25th July 2010
 * fine art of making a drama out of a crisis'' - An underground theatre group is shining a light on the tyranny that rules in Belarus - 18th July 2010
 * all getting a flogging – and we love it'' - ' Share the pain,' say the Tories and the country thrills. De Sade would have been impressed - 11th July 2010
 * our prisons but pay for the consequences'' - Ken Clarke's desires for reform hinge on providing an alternative to incarceration - 4th July 2010
 * me, the rich really aren't suffering'' - If you want to know why the rich love the coalition, look no further than the Masterpiece art fair - 27th June 2010
 * television gives us The Wire. We give them Piers Morgan'' - We used to export quality TV and import dross. Now it's the other way round - 20th June 2010
 * with Israel, but not the blockade'' - The situation in Gaza is a gift to apologists for extreme Islam - 6th June 2010
 * much do you really want an iPad?'' - The west's desire for gadgets comes at an inhumane cost in China - 30th May 2010
 * there a new Martin Amis to chart the coalition's flaws?'' - 'Money' told of the excesses of the 80s. For the poor, things are about to get just as bad - 23rd May 2010
 * to Britain in 2010 where money + class = power'' - The establishment is back at the heart of government. It's as if the last 100 years had never happened - 16th May 2010
 * walk away, Nick'' - If the Lib Dems are brave enough to go into coalition with the Tories, they will earn the public's respect - 9th May 2010 (Cif at the polls)
 * still has something to give, despite the problems'' - The cant and bourgeois hypocrisy of Nick Clegg and his party won't be of any use to those who are dirt poor - 2nd May 2010
 * right has only itself to blame for Nick Clegg's rise'' - The complacency of the Tories has allowed the Liberal Democrats to become their unlikely nemesis - 25th April 2010
 * Ms Lumley, you should apologise too'' - Joanna Lumley is right to be angry at the treatment of Gurkhas, but she must understand that her campaign does have flaws - 4th April 2010
 * City slickers are arrested'' - We must wake up to the harm white-collar crime does to society - 28th March 2010
 * could be such a force for good'' - Unite and Labour are in an abusive relationship that stops any chance of worthwhile change - 21st March 2010
 * McEwan's Solar: it's green and it should be read'' - At last, global warming inspires good fiction. And scientists are the rightful heroes - 14th March 2010
 * happy ending for the Gurkhas? Think again'' - Veterans, ill-served by middle men, arrive in debt to find their life here is far from good - 7th March 2010
 * should back our claim to the Falklands'' - The US president has yet to find his feet when dealing with international affairs - 28th February 2010
 * abhor torture – but that requires paying a price'' - Spineless judges, third-rate politicians and Amnesty prefer an easy life to fighting for liberty - 14th February 2010
 * tourists will love the tales of Lord Hoffmann'' - If you want to see hypocrisy in action, look at England's libel courts - 7th February 2010
 * all aboard the gravy train for Network Rail bosses'' - While European train users get exemplary service, British rail bosses splash out on Highland estates - 31st January 2010
 * is the most reactionary president since Nixon'' - He's been seen off by Iran, sucked up to Putin, so where is the man who sold us his liberal values? - 24th January 2010
 * it – Blair will never be branded a war criminal'' - Opponents of the Iraq war are deluded if they think Chilcott will find the allied intervention was illegal - 17th January 2010
 * new puritanism would drive anyone to drink'' - First they came for smokers. Now the health lobby is after drinkers. But prohibition has its own dangers - 10th January 2010
 * IRA's culture of silence extended to child abuse'' - Gerry Adams is praised for his honesty about his family's sins, yet his protestations are hollow - 27th December 2009
 * rape cases, 'no' means 'no' to everyone except the British public'' - Judges and the police have come far since the 70s. How sad juries haven't kept pace - 20th December 2009
 * Barack, but you're in the same boat as us now'' - America boasts of its uniqueness, but its belief that it is exempt from breeding terrorists is flawed - 13th December 2009
 * anti-green backlash is a gift to brutish regimes'' - If you think climate change is a lie, your logic will lead you into the arms of Putin and Chávez - 6th December 2009
 * no one stop politicians consorting with conmen?'' - If political parties don't have to return fraudsters' money, what hope is there of honest democracy? - 29th November 2009
 * are all these militant atheists ruining Britain?'' - In a desperate attempt to secure its electoral base, the government is shamefully wooing religious extremists - 22nd November 2009
 * the government buys the silence of charities'' - Once, enlightened liberals stood up for the rights of prisoners. Now they have taken the state's shilling - 15th November 2009
 * we rail at MPs, the City gets away with murder'' - Nobody benefits more from our emasculated MPs than tax-avoiding plutocrats and bonus bandits 8th November 2009
 * the instant online anger of the HobNob mob'' - Once, it took effort to protest. Now, fury can be whipped up so swiftly, it threatens free speech - 1st November
 * the BNP's far-right journey ends up on primetime TV'' - Nine years ago BNP leader Nick Griffin set out plans to cleanse the party's image in his bid to win over the media. On Thursday he joins BBC's Question Time, an appearance that has already caused controversy – will his views be rebuffed, or will he flourish in the media spotlight? - 18th October 2009
 * response to Berlusconi has been cowardly'' - After the war, the Continent united in defiance of bullying leaders. Alas, this is no longer the case - 11th October 2009
 * Roman Polanski just loves the English courts'' - Only in Blighty could a fugitive paedophile sue a magazine for calling him a groper – and win - 4th October 2009
 * bankroller who is blighting British political life'' - Michael Ashcroft's wealth gives him huge influence in political life… and the power to crush debate - 27th September 2009
 * woman's success is another's exploitation'' - Migrant labour lets Britain's middle classes escape drudgery and thrive. Just ask Baroness Scotland - 20th September 2009
 * Stieg Larsson, the bestselling socialist militant'' - There was nothing false about the Swedish writer's belief in women's rights or anti-fascist campaigning - 13th September 2009
 * does Labour bail out bankers, yet deny the young?'' - Despite unemployment rising and thousands denied university places, the government just sits back - 23rd August 2009
 * saw Lockerbie's victims. Tell their families the truth'' - Secret papers must be disclosed so that relatives can finally be given a full account of the disaster - 16th August 2009
 * be fooled – the recession is far from over'' - In the early 30s, plenty of people called the end of the Depression. We shouldn't be so naive now - 9th August 2009
 * has gone out of the arts, which suits the Tories'' - Times have changed and our cultural freedom diminished since the writers of the Eighties raged - 2nd August 2009
 * Cameron doing with Europe's lunatic fringe?'' - Rather than work with Sarkozy and Merkel, the Tory leader courts the company of extremists - 26th July 2009
 * Even mathematicians run scared of our libel laws now - The people who could expose the City's folly are reluctant to speak out because of a hostile judiciary - 19th July 2009
 * lost generation has been betrayed by its elders'' - Many young people have no hope of work because the UK did not learn the lessons of the last recession - 12th July 2009
 * it's easy to play the hard man with Ronnie Biggs'' - Jack Straw's spiteful denial of parole to a dying man is typical of Labour's attitude to law and order - 5th July 2009
 * I wouldn't ban BNP members from being teachers'' - Perhaps it's a foul thought, but barring people from jobs is the first step to witch-hunting in Britain - 28th June 2009
 * unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer'' - An anti-liberal ideology is being created by groups who would once have been sworn enemies - 14th June 2009
 * horrible truth is that cowards prosper in Britain'' - From the City to Westminster, it's clear that doing nothing is still the profitable and prudent option - 7th June 2009
 * are they trying to gag a top British science writer?'' - When chiropractors drag a top science writer into the libel courts, the country has lost its backbone - 31st May 2009
 * BNP's rise is a fantasy created by anti-democrats'' - The real cause of our anxieties is not the potential of the far right. It's the emergence of people power - 24th May 2009
 * can't run away from Europe much longer'' - There's nothing compassionate about the friends the Conservative leader is making on the Continent - 17th May 2009
 * Damned Parliament has well earned its title'' - Would-be MPs are looking with glee at revelations that could radically transform the Commons - 10th May 2009
 * not to make a pig's ear out of a swine flu pandemic'' - Just for once, the government's response to a possible crisis is sensible and proportionate - 3rd May 2009
 * we need to close the door to Pakistan's dispossessed?'' - Our leaders are losing sleep over the Taliban's advance and what that could spell for Britain - 26th April 2009
 * we suffer, the box-tickers will continue to prosper'' - Even if Alistair Darling offers an austerity budget, one level of bureaucracy will emerge unscathed - 19th April 2009
 * are in danger of creating an abandoned generation'' - School leavers and graduates are unjustly bearing the brunt of their elders' incompetence - 5th April 2009
 * would you rather trust - the BBC or a blogger?'' - As the internet imperils newspapers, we need a strong broadcaster, not one being strangled by its managers - 29th March 2009
 * the whistleblowers have been silenced'' - What hope do we have of being looked after in hospital if targets are more important than care? - 22nd March
 * little wonder liberal Muslims feel betrayed'' - Their views are seldom heard as ministers prefer to court radical Islamists - 15th March 2009
 * basic. We simply need more houses'' - Most homeowners must want to rewind the tape to the bubble property market of 2007 - 8th March 2009
 * the Tate's posing curator is so passé'' - A visit to the near empty galleries left me baffled by the blandness of the work Bourriaud's radical theories have produced - 1st March 2009
 * sordid legacy of the end of empire'' - The on-field drama in Antigua couldn't hope to match the exposure of Stanford's rotten regime - 22nd February 2009
 * club that refuses to accept its failures'' - Loud were the snorts from RBS staff as they watched the men who had led their bank to ruin make their excuses to MPs - 15th February 2009
 * much for our honeymoon with Obama'' - He came to power on a wave of international goodwill but his popularity will not last if he indulges the protectionists - 8th February 2009
 * everybody wants to keep the Lords'' - politicians do not change the constitution because it is unjust, but because they calculate that change is in their interests - 1st February 2009
 * very worried - rioting's coming home'' - Our authorities look likely to greet the disorder of recession with all the nervous bafflement of the Icelandic 'riot squad' - 25th January 2009
 * not the poor the middle class really fear'' - The villains of today are not the radical union bosses of old, but Sir Fred Goodwin and his kind - 18th January 2009
 * as I am to give Joan Bakewell a kicking ...'' - The elderly voting bloc will use political muscle to make the younger generation pay - 11th January 2009
 * was powerful and passionate, but often misguided'' - In 1988, Harold Pinter accompanied Arthur Miller on a trip to study the plight of the Kurds trapped in the mountains that divide Turkey from Iraq... - 28th December 2008
 * man condemned by psychobabble'' - Genetic fingerprinting catches the guilty and frees the innocent. Psychological profiling traps the innocent and sends the guilty out to kill again - 21st December 2008
 * vile tax havens have had their day'' - Stopping tax exiles milking places such as Sark for their own benefit should not be a tough choice for Labour - 14th December 2008
 * doesn't anyone say: 'Not in Britain'?'' - No one in authority ever seems to say to the bewigged authoritarian or uniformed goon: 'This isn't Zimbabwe, you know. This is Britain and you just can't do that here.' - 30th November 2008
 * no help on the origins of greed'' - The posters outside the Natural History museum's Darwin exhibition have a wary feel - 16th November 2008
 * myth of the banker on the edge ignores a wider misery'' - The Buckinghamshire coroner has yet to hear the case of Kirk Stephenson, but Fleet Street already knows why he threw himself in front of an express train - 9th November 2008
 * - creationism's march will go on'' - The idea of intelligent fundamentalists, like the theory of intelligent design, does not stand up to 30 seconds' scrutiny. I must, nevertheless, give credit to American evangelicals for showing belated glimmerings of sense - 2nd November 2008
 * annoy an oligarch at your peril'' - Little wonder Oleg Deripaska is angry. His murky connections are now being closely scrutinised - 26th October 2008
 * talk about class rather than colour'' - You can at least give the old left credit for having an ideology that encouraged immigrants and natives to see themselves as fellow members of the working class - 19th October 2008
 * shows how poverty helps the right'' - At the TUC, the gossip among the comrades was all about the presence of David Threlfall on a demonstration against child poverty last week - 12th October 2008
 * plutocrats still love Downing Street'' - I wish my colleagues at the Conservative party conference had waited before writing that the financial crash would turn Labour from a party of exhausted politicians into the saviours of the country - 5th October 2008
 * Brown's bar-room brawlers won't win'' - In the last days of Labour, Her Majesty's government conducts itself thus. Amid the screams and whoops of the conference bar, a member of the Prime Minister's court whispers secrets to David Grossman of the BBC - 28th September 2008
 * Sally. Her case should scare us all - The security services planned the arrest of the journalist with painstaking care - 21st September 2008 (see also: In light of Sally Murrer’s case, Damian Green's arrest was absurd'' - Sean O’Neill, The Times 1st December 2008)
 * off your mafioso aides, Mr Brown'' - The trouble with the Brown administration is that increasingly its thuggish face is the only face on show - 14th September 2008
 * Barack's berserkers lost the plot'' - the US liberal press reaction to Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin - 7th September 2008
 * a very modern Marie Antoinette'' - He sees the poor as happiest when they have their place in a natural order, with royalty at its head - 17th August 2008
 * be fooled. China hasn't changed'' - Environmental concerns will always be trumped by the party's survival instinct - 10th August 2008
 * A cast-iron case for a secular society - Politicians, judges and the godly are trying to turn religion into an equal opportunities cause - 3rd August 2008
 * Why Bush has been a liberal's best friend - By building him up into a great Satan, they have hidden the totalitarian threats of our age from themselves and anyone who listens to them - 27th July 2008
 * Fraudsters get a free ride in the City - The reasons Brown gave for going easy on the muggers in high finance apply just as well to the muggers on the high street - 20th July 2008
 * Which foreigners DO you like, David? - When a governing party's time is up, no one cares about the failings of the opposition - 13th July 2008
 * No-one wins in modern-day academia - The first concern of the universities isn't teaching. Ministers would do better to redirect public money to make sure that it is - 8th June 2008
 * A truly criminal approach to policing - Modern British detectives stand out because they have to deal with managers like no other - 1st June 2008
 * People loathe Labour's elitists, not toffs - When hard times come, voters blame the people in power for their troubles, not 'the people on the grouse moor' - 25th May 2008
 * At last, an apology from foolish policemen - When Channel 4 tried to expose bigotries of Saudi-backed clerics it came up against the West Midlands police - 18th May 2008



Evening Standard:
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Remit/Info: Politics and Society

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Website: Standard.co / Nick Cohen

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Articles: 2009

 * Obama makes rhetoric cool for school - To understand why this week's government proposals to teach children to speak properly matter, think back to the US election - 28th April 2009
 * Cripes! The Mayor is backing a Leftie plot - You used to be able rely on the upper-class wing of the English Tory party to denounce “the nanny state” at every opportunity — and always to respect private property - 21st April 2009
 * Maybe this wasn’t another police cock-up - Like a hungry machine, political debate in Britain needs an endless supply of raw material. Just before Easter the arrest of 10 Pakistani “terror suspects” provided the fuel that kept the engines turning. Our student visa restrictions on Pakistanis were lax, came the cry. Our borders were too open. Our universities were hotbeds of Islamo-fascism - 14th April 2009
 * The Met is still out of control - sort it, Boris - In 25 years as a journalist, I have never come across a scandal like the Metropolitan Police ­losing £30 million of Londoners' money in the Icelandic banking collapse - 7th April 2009
 * Keeping your job beats bonding with baby - Like a juggernaut heading towards a wall, the quangocracy ploughs on. Yesterday the clumsily named Equality and Human Rights Commission put its foot down on the accelerator and declared that fathers should have the right to take four months' parental leave - 31st April 2009
 * Retro chic never looked so comforting - It's a brave writer who makes optimistic predictions in this climate, but there is a hint that, unlike the stock and housing markets, the antiques market may not be collapsing. In recessions, the old no longer seems boring but tried and tested. Antiques - especially brown furniture - look reassuringly familiar - 24th March 2009
 * Quirky London beats Big Apple glitz - Like an underground newspaper in a repressive state, copies of the New Yorker are being passed around by shocked London sophisticates. At first glance, it is hard to understand why they should be transfixed by the review of Fiamma, a Manhattan restaurant, by one Nick Paumgarten - 10th March 2009
 * Just beware the great middle-class revolt - While he was writing The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles came up with the line "the middle class is the only true revolutionary class in English history". For most of my life, it has been anything but. Terrified by Seventies union militancy, the middle class made a bargain. They did not mind the rich getting richer, as long as they could make money too. The banking collapse has broken that deal. For the first time in a generation, the middle class is directing its fury at the rich - 24th February 2009
 * The whistleblowers’ lesson to us all - To varying degrees we all join a cult when we go to work. Even if we do not have to worship our bosses, we habitually wear an eager, smiley face and applaud their ideas as strategies of genius - 17th February 2009
 * How my friends fell for the MMR panic - I have seen many middle-class manias in my time but none has matched the dangerous frenzy caused by the false accusation that the MMR vaccination causes autism - 10th February 2009
 * Goodbye Polish nannies, we’ll miss you - Let's be honest, and admit the real reason why Gordon Brown's slogan “British jobs for British workers” has drawn such tutting from the London middle class - 3rd February 2009
 * Give me affluenza over poverty any day - About the most wrong-headed book produced in the Brown bubble was Affluenza by Oliver James, an Old Etonian psychologist and media don - 27th January 2009
 * Put a salary cap on the council bosses - I met the chief executive of Islington council just before Christmas and immediately took to him. He was a commonsensical northerner who talked about the urgent need for the Government to allow councils to keep the construction industry in business by building social housing - 20th January 2009
 * Where I live, social mobility is a dead duck - If Labour is serious about improving social mobility in the professions, I will take its new equality champion, Alan Milburn, up the road from my Islington home to Canonbury Primary School to show him how bad London has got - 13th January 2009
 * Give up detox - it's bad for your health - New Year's resolutions normally involve a renunciation of pleasure. You may give up smoking, as I have done with an iron will every year since 1986... - 6th January 2009



Articles: 2008

 * We don't need your petulance, Mr Quick - The best definition of a bully is of a man who "can give it but can't take it". As well as describing the intimidation, it includes the necessary elements of rank hypocrisy and unwarranted self-pity. Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick of the Met can certainly give it... - 23rd December 2008
 * the BBC beware of the wrath of suburbia'' - The hash Newsnight made of covering the effects of the recession in suburbia shows more tellingly than the Ross affair the depth of the trouble the BBC is in - 19th November 2008
 * free speech crusade we should all be proud to join'' - Saudi bankers and Russian oligarchs love London, and not only for its chichi boutiques - 12th November 2008
 * liberals may come to regret the class divide'' - One of the best things to hope for from Barack Obama's election is that by proving racism is on the decline it will allow liberals to concentrate on the real cause of disadvantage in modern societies: class - 5th November 2008
 * a pit bull, Boris - grab London any cash on offer'' - Londoners already look back at the peak of the bubble as if remembering a dream world - 29th October 2008
 * iPod generation has the most to lose in a global recession'' - 22nd October 2008
 * payback time for the City's greedy freeloaders'' - 15th October 2008
 * all blabbing about our money now'' - The spread of fear in London has not followed the pattern of the classic horror movie. There was no slow build-up of tension, no gradual realisation... - 8th October 2008
 * London profit if the US reins in the bankers?'' - I was at the Conservative Party Conference when Boris Johnson did what no other politician on the planet would dare do and defended City bonuses - 1st October 2008
 * Menezes – the Left’s new excuse to beat up the police'' - Often it is hard to feel happy about the state of this country but the inquest into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes ought to make us proud - 24th September 2008
 * the shark and a tale for our uneasy times'' - As it was, the doormen stopped the little boy getting into Sotheby's, so no one shouted “But the emperor has no clothes!” as giddy buyers bid more... - 17th September 2008
 * don't want to see the truth about radical Islam'' - Britain isn't America, and journalists can't ask jurors what went through their minds in the jury room - 10th September 2008
 * or not, young people still cannot afford a home'' - Employment is falling, inflation rising, the pound collapsing, business confidence evaporating, the unions striking and banks busting - 3rd September 2008
 * attack on football clubs is just class envy'' - chief constables said yesterday that they wanted to charge football clubs the full cost of policing games - 13th August 2008
 * the point of a test that doesn't test anyone?'' - Sats grades have become meaningless. First, we had the shambles of the marking. In true New Labour fashion, ministers gave the job to ETS, a cut-price US company - 6th August 2008
 * So, let the punishment fit the crime of passion - Let me see if I can get Harriet Harman's proposed reforms to the murder laws straight. She wants to make it harder for men to get away with murdering women, but easier for women to get away with murdering men - 30th July 2008
 * Our new man in town to fight political correctness - Anthony Browne, Boris Johnson's new policy director - I first met Anthony Browne, Boris Johnson's new policy director, in the newsroom of The Observer in 2002. He had a square jaw, square glasses and square shoulders. I assumed he was a placid and conventional man who went home every night to cocoa and the crossword - 23rd July 2008
 * Mosley's trial by tabloid is the price of free speech - When Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded the Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran in 1980, Henry Kissinger looked at the two ghoulish combatants and said: "It's a pity they can't both lose." - 9th July 2008
 * If we don't get tough on knives, the young will - Never have I seen my working-class neighbours as angry as they are about the motiveless murder of Ben Kinsella. Everyone knows the family. Everyone knows that he was a good boy who never went looking for trouble - 2nd July 2008
 * Please don't be a coward, Mr Mandela: speak out now - On Friday evening, a warm glow of self-satisfaction will spread through Hyde Park as tens of thousands join Nelson Mandela in celebrating his 90th birthday - 25th June 2008
 * Green spies and taxmen who make us see red - The British are a stoic people, not given to hanging civil servants from lampposts. We barely raised a murmur at the billions Whitehall wasted on the passport, NHS, Serps, probation, prisons and courts computerisation programmes - 18th June 2008
 * No, Nadine - these perks just look like a scam to us - With Ann Widdecombe heading to retirement, I feared that the long line of occasionally brave and often batty Tory battleaxes looked to be at an end - 11th June 2008
 * Wossy can't save the BBC from being a turn-off - He may be paid £6 million a year but I can't bring myself to join the chorus of complaint about Jonathan Ross: he strikes me as a natural broadcaster. On the other hand, the spiteful face of Graham Norton (£5 million) reminds me of the type of boy who egged on bullies at school. He is the best reason I know for reaching for the remote - 4th June 2008
 * Never mind 'chicken chic', the Good Life is about hard times - Planting your own vegetables in small London gardens is a near pointless gesture - you need an allotment to produce enough to cut your shopping bill significantly - and keeping six chickens won't turn you into an agri-business. But at least you're not just sitting there passively while the recession builds - 28th May 2008
 * Stop telling us not to worry about knife crime - For the past few months, people in authority have been telling us not to let the murders of Steven Bigby and Jimmy Mizen stop us from realising that London is a safer, happier city - 21st May 2008
 * We can't go on living the good life on a credit card - A junior trader walks into a City bank and gets into the lift with his boss, the last person any employee wants to be stuck in a lift with. "What's the latest news from the bank?" he asks - 14th May 2008
 * Forget these Londoners and the BNP reaps the harvest - They are well-scrubbed and media-trained. They have learned to avoid quoting Hitler and giving Nazi salutes. Should we worry that they have won a seat on the London Assembly, winning more than 130,000 votes? - 7th May 2008
 * I've got more faith in Mystic Meg than in our pollsters - Boris is ahead by a mile. No, it's neck and neck. Livingstone can do it. Don't be ridiculous. The Lib-Dems are in freefall. Wait a minute, they're bouncing back - 30th April 2008
 * Bad times for bankers - I'm trying hard not to laugh - Schadenfreude is an apt reaction to the news that Deutsche Bank is going to purge the expenses of its lavishly paid financiers. The credit crunch is hitting hard, and they will no longer be able to lunch without restraint. In future, a line manager must approve bills higher than £52 per person - 23rd April 2008
 * Organic food, Fairtrade coffee - and a line of coke - The London media world of Natasha Collins and Mark Speight is mine to an extent and I know its codes and taboos. For instance, the apparently simple act of eating out at a restaurant is a minefield. The meat has to be free range, to lessen the suffering of animals, the vegetables organic, to lessen the suffering of wild flowers, and the coffee Fairtrade, to lessen the suffering of peasant farmers - 16th April 2008
 * Balls is firing blanks in the class war over our schools - The Labour tribe has many prejudices against the privileged but not the one that would help Britain most. It should have an aversion to Left-wing public school boys and never allow them to run the state education system - 9th April 2008
 * Boris talks up crime - but London's no Gotham City - After taking a good look at London, any outsider might reasonably expect the contest for Mayor to be dominated by weighty and urgent debates. The candidates would argue about the exorbitant cost of housing, he might imagine. Perhaps they would wonder how a city that can't manage to operate a baggage-handling system will cope with the Olympic Games. But surely they wouldn't waste their time bickering about a crime problem which, aside from a handful of high-profile teenage gang killings, appears under control - 2nd April 2008
 * Southern discomfort is looming for Labour - Everyone has an easy explanation for the coming disaster for Labour in London and the wider South. The party will be hammered because it has taxed the middle classes too hard and wasted too much of their money - 26th March 2008
 * More tax on drink - you'll drive us all to Calais, Darling - Smokers warned you, when you cheered on Labour as it forced us out of pubs: "First they come for the smokers, then they'll come for the drinkers." - 12th March 2008
 * You just don't get the point of the Proms, Mrs Hodge - Margaret Hodge berates the Last Night of the Proms for being exclusive. She is right. The Proms exclude the majority of the English who have no time for classical music - 5th March 2008
 * A U-turn on casinos? I wouldn't put money on it - On the A1, a couple of hundred yards from the Emirates Stadium, is the new Leisure World amusement arcade. The local reaction gives you a taste of how the public will receive New Labour's planned casinos - 27th February 2008
 * Ken has no right to take the black vote for granted - On paper, there is no organisation in London as admirable as Operation Black Vote. Founded to encourage black Britons to become equal citizens, it not only strives to increase turnout but also encourages black people to become magistrates, councillors and MPs - 20th February 2008
 * Law and order can't be left to a man with a Mosquito - If you are young and hanging about with your friends, the sight of you may inspire a shopkeeper or security guard to switch on a Mosquito. A low, fast rhythmic beat will thump out with a high-pitched, almost metallic jangle rolling along in the background. It is audible only to those under 20; by all accounts, the young hate it - 13th February 2008
 * When will it dawn on MPs how bad they look to us - No names, no clues - but I know the mole who dug out how Derek Conway MP diverted hundreds of pounds of public money to his wife and sons - 6th February 2008
 * My dilemma: Ken is past it and Boris hasn't a clue - The Mayoral election is meant to make politics exciting, not insufferable. But how is any intelligent Londoner meant to cast their vote? - 30th January 2008
 * Why no fury over London post office closures? - For an urban country, Britain is still obsessed with the countryside to a disproportionate and in my view dangerous degree. Where once politicians wasted 700 hours of parliamentary time discussing whether to impose an unenforceable ban on fox-hunting - far more than they spent on such trivialities as the second Iraq war and the banking crisis - now they argue about the closure of rural post offices - 23rd January 2008
 * Don't blame private sector for the crisis in our schools - Occasionally, I get into a row with a member of the great and the good, and if the temperature rises and I need a putdown fast, the first that leaps to mind is "public school berk" - 16th January 2008
 * You can do it, Boris - just wow us with your true grit - Unlike many in the political class, I think it's possible that 2008 could see London get its first Tory Mayor. There are grandiose reasons for thinking this - the great shift in British politics of the past two years has been the collapse of the Labour vote in the south. And there are boring, anoraky reasons too - people are more likely to turn out if they live in the outer-London suburbs where Tory support is concentrated - 9th January 2008
 * Bendy buses aren't fair to London's fare-payers - Much of my Christmas holiday seems to have been spent travelling on bendy buses, and every time I boarded a 38 or 73 I was treated as at best an irredeemable eccentric and at worst a probable psychopath. Whenever I swiped my Oyster Card, I was met by the uncomprehending stares of the freeloaders all around me - 2nd January 2008



News & updates:


References:


Links:

 * New Statesman articles 1998/2007 (archive)
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cohen
 * In the name of decency: the contortions of the pro-war left Richard Seymour: International Socialism (journal), Winter 2006/2007
 * What's Left of Cohen Stuart Abercrombie's review of What's Left? - 13th February 2007UK Watch
 * Taking Nick Cohen Seriously Tim Holmes' review of What's Left? UK Watch 21st February 2007
 * Nasty Nick Cohen’s attack fails to hit his targets Ian Birchall's review of What's left? in Socialist Worker online, 24th February, 2007
 * What's Left? - not Nick Cohen!, Peter Taaffe's review of What's left?, The Socialist (UK newspaper), 8th March, 2007