Motorists who park on pavements are to be hit with a £70 fine under new rules published by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. The fixed penalty is designed to stop cars and vans blocking the free movement of wheelchairs, parents pushing buggies and morbidly obese people on mobility scooters making their way back from the chip … Read more
To paraphrase Pastor Martin Niemoller, first they came for taxi drivers and I did not speak out because I was not a taxi driver. When they came for the sandwich makers, I did not speak out because I was not a sandwich maker. When they came for the shop assistants, I did not speak out … Read more
The Notting Hill Carnival is a glorious celebration of the Caribbean heritage of generations of Londoners. It’s one of the highlights of our cultural calendar, along with Wimbledon, Royal Ascot and the British Bog Snorkelling Championships. So imagine if someone decided it was ‘hideously black’ and had to be shorn of its steel bands, dub … Read more
Dishi Rishi’s ‘Money For Nothing And Your Chips For Free’ deal has been a runaway success, depending on your point of view. More than 35 million half-price meals have been served and the Chancellor is coming under pressure to extend the scheme beyond the end of August. Restaurants report record takings on Mondays, Tuesdays and … Read more
Someone in Whitehall must have been watching the 1976 sci-fi movie Logan’s Run, starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter. The film is set in a dystopian future where everyone is killed when they reach 30. It’s the kind of radical, outside-the-box policy which would probably appeal to a blue-skies thinker like Dominic Cummings. Drop Dead. … Read more
Exeter Chiefs rugby union club has ditched its Red Indian mascot to appease anti-racism campaigners, who complained it was offensive to Native Americans. That would, presumably, be all those members of the Navaho and Arapaho tribes living in Devon. Er, not exactly. The Big Chief Must Fall campaign is spearheaded by the usual bunch of … Read more
Boris Johnson wants to clear Backlog Britain by the end of September. Good luck with that. He hasn’t a hope in hell’s chance of persuading feather-bedded civil servants back to their desks any time soon. Why would they, when MPs have just knocked off for six weeks’ summer holiday? If the Government was serious about … Read more
Once jihadi bride Shamima Begum sets foot on British soil again, what do you think the chances are of her ever being deported? Less than zero. Even if she fails in her legal bid to have her UK citizenship reinstated, she is certain to be granted ‘exceptional leave’ to remain. For a start, no country … Read more
Better late than never, Sir Humphrey is on his bike. Why has it taken Boris so long to get rid of him? Mark Sedwill should have been given his P45 the day Johnson moved into Downing Street. I said as much in this column more than a year ago, when it became apparent that Mother … Read more
When the Monty Python team couldn’t think of a proper ending to one of their more fantastic sketches, they came up with a brilliant device for calling a halt. The late, great Graham Chapman would march on set, dressed as a British Army Colonel, complete with swagger stick, and announce: ‘Stop this, it’s getting silly.’ … Read more