Iconic Films

Take our quiz to find out whether your partner is Just Tory Enough

Is his favourite film a) The Dam Busters; b) Elizabeth; or c) any film in which British imperialists get it in the eye?

Paradise is Hell

The problem with the sort of luxurious inactivity that island holidays promote is that it doesn't refresh. It exhausts

Don't let's be beastly to the Germans: I'm one of them myself

Just as we have an inner age, we have an inner nationality. Whatever it says on our passport, most of us may find that we are spiritually...

Et in Orcadia ego: confessions of a D & D addict

Pretending to be an elf for an afternoon is ludicrous. But for a few spotty years I was that geek

Will my verbal seedlings take root and flourish?

Chipping Norton is the fear that hits you, on your way to the airport, that you left the cooker on

Trafalgar Square plinth should be the public's decision

Ground Control to Mayor Ken: it's an empty space oddity

How do I know that aliens are among us? Well, they’re everywhere you look. Their numbers proliferate daily

The corruption of words is irritating

Any piece of clothing that is called a ‘piece’, is automatically going to be overpriced. Ditto anything ‘vintage’

Downhill course was uphill for me

The one activity that makes the winter worthwhile is skiing. And I am someone who hates heights

Champagne lifestyle, pint of mild income

People enjoy jobs that bring proximity to fame and fortune, but go home to beans on toast in a postcode devoid of Starbucks

Are we tetchier? I think so

I drink coffee at a rate that has me get through as much of the stuff in seven days as my parents did throughout the Seventies

How to live with someone who’s on a diet

If a diet is going well, the proof of the absence of pudding should be all too visible

Doing the conga won’t save the planet

As Politicians develop ever-greener credentials, is it necessary for freelance activists to jet to Bali to make their point?

Bethlehem and bigotry

There’s one invariable sign that Christmas is almost upon us – a story about how Bethlehem is suffering at the hands of wicked Israel

Choosing curtains is enough to drive me off the rails

However house-trained you are, there are things even the most mild-mannered man will revolt at within the demands of married life

Alas, I was born far too late for my inner era

I suspect that my real inner era is the 1930s. I find everything about that decade seductive