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You don’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer Listening to the Today programme on my way to work this morning, I actually heard a government spokesman – the Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting no less – say something sensible. He was talking about bringing in …

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. It’s that time of year again when a grizzled old hack’s fancy turns lightly to thoughts of …

Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won I’m returning to a topic I’ve not touched on for a while, because there hasn’t seemed much to say apart from, how is this still going on? Let me start by going off at a tangent. …

I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves I had a longish journey the other day, so downloaded a few podcasts to keep me going. As you do. One of them was an episode of BBC’s Women’s Hour. I picked this particular episode because it …

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. The sun may be shining, the  days may still be long enough for a cheeky sundowner in the pub beer garden after work, but, flick onto the BBC News …

Venus, anxious for her son’s affairs, New counsels tries, and new designs prepares Everyone loves a soundbite. Especially those in politics. Remember Greenest Government Ever, Build Back Better, Take Back Control and Get Brexit Done? Now we have another one courtesy of the Deputy Prime Minister’s planning reform, er, plans. …

a Stygian pool reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors I’ve written here before about the review into the water industry conducted by Sir Jon Cunliffe, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England. It is the largest investigation of the water industry since the mad rush for privatisation in …

A goal is a dream with a deadline Ever seen that sign on the roads that reminds you about your speed? The one that reads: “It’s a Limit, not a Target”? I was reminded of this looking at the numbers for the Government’s much heralded housing plans. The 1.5 million …

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results The government has published its 10-year Industrial Strategy in which it promises to set out  a “new economic approach to backing the UK’s strengths, with ambitious plans for eight high-growth sectors”. All good, yes? Well, mostly good, rather like …

The company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company It’s not very nice out there in the real world: the Air India crash – enough to make even the most confident frequent flyer wonder whether they should leave a …