Proms Podcast

We all dream of leaving, but it's hard to go

The cases of the Darwins and Radovan Karadzic show that it's no simple thing just to drop everything and vanish

I’m writing about deafness. What? Deafness

Blindness is tragic, deafness is comic — but it is my genetic inheritance, along with a short temper and long legs

Even in our fantasies, we're all grunting fools

Only in the bedroom can many of us be abandoned, silly, free from rational concerns. Sex is a mini-break from life

Stabbings, not sex, are the real facts of life

A message of Gandhi-like passivity turns hordes of docile potential victims into human cash machines

This is no way to close the pay gap

A clunking Equality Bill will not put fairness into the nation's wage packets. Try tax relief on nannies

The British vice: we just can't talk about sex

Parents leave it to schools, children learn from internet porn. Until we all grow up, we'll never cut teenage pregnancies

Weddings: fashion's evil sister

The bridal industry is a bloated £5bn business. No wonder fewer people are choosing to get married

Children divided by a lack of opportunities

Britain's children are separated into two classes, those with parents with resources and those with far fewer chances

Let's save Thatcher from fashionistas

Even for those who hated her, the Iron Lady's legacy is too important to be trivialised

Hillary, Cherie: don't men hate 'em?

It's dangerous for an outspoken woman in public. They'll be shot down from all angles

We are boiling with anger

Beneath the surface there is a mass of rage. But why, when we have never been better off?

The divine right of bling now reigns

Royals are hereditary celebrities: the new generation is perfect for our present culture

We've become a nation of bulimics

Shop, eat, purge... John Prescott's revelations have become symbolic of a wider malaise

We need to learn to take more risks

Our pampered offspring would benefit from a spell in the Third World

It’s everything we hate. I love it

I don’t want to contain my inner angst. I want to expiate it from my system by pummelling an old leather bag

I want to be a saga lout

At a time when fun is being squeezed out of life, the over-55s need to buck the trend

Schools: we want kids like ours

High educational standards, oddly enough, are not the sole aim of the middle classes

Let's clear up this dog fight

Tensions are rising between dog-lovers and dog-haters - and the haters are winning

Brothels are booming. Ban them

We have no problem taking a moral view on battery hens. What about battery sex farms?

I'm sick of Ken and his emissions

I used to like the mayor. Now his car policy is nonsensical and his ego out of control