Simon Heffer's Blog, page 11

There is always another way, however much the non-believers like Sir Ivan Rogers might protest

W hen I read of Sir Ivan Rogerss plaintive resignation as our man at the EU I was reminded of the reaction of well-fed prelates of the Roman Catholic church half a millennium ago, in 1517, when Martin Luther professed another way of doing Christianity. They railed at his effrontery;...

Andrew Strauss must reject any resignation that Alastair Cook offers and retain him as England captain for the Ashes

P erhaps a Christmas break and the psychological change of a new year will provide some sort of perspective on the England tours of Bangladesh and India, and on the humiliation there is no other word for it they inflicted on English cricket.

Give the House of Lords a spring clean

S o toxic was the Cameron resignation honours list , with its devaluing baubles for losers, cronies and at least one former drug dealer, that it is now proposed that prospective peers should be interviewed for their suitability before a prime minister can appoint them.

Brexit is no excuse for ignoring crises in defence, policing and prisons

L ast Wednesday my colleague James Kirkup wrote about ministers need to stop obsessing about Brexit and to get on with tackling other issues, notably the NHS, that seem on the verge of disaster. Sadly, the states current failures go even more widely than James had room to describe.

Anyone for Tennyson?

T ennyson comes to mind at this season: Ring out the old, ring in the new,/ Ring, happy bells, across the snow:/ The year is going, let him go;/ Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Don't ban strikes ��� let the unions dig their own graves

C hristmas is a time of nostalgia, and so what a joy unless you happen to depend for the conduct of your working life on Southern Rail to be whisked back to the heyday of militant trades unionism in the 1970s, by the strike called by the RMT...

West Indies were the other 'Boys of 66' and taught England a lesson about spin they still have not learnt

I have written before about how sport triggers nostalgia, and how few sports do so with the effectiveness of cricket. That the game runs over warm summer days at a slowish speed must be a factor: matches imprint themselves on our minds so vividly, and we feel we have a...

Calm down, Brexit and President Trump will be much better than the liberal elite would have you think

G iven the propaganda about the consequences of the alleged disasters two great electorates have inflicted upon themselves by choosing Brexit and Donald Trump it is amazing people are mostly so cheerful. Either we are incredibly stupid that is the view of many disseminating the propaganda, who...

Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral is a testament to architectural genius

T he 20th century was more distinguished in Britain in architectural terms than one might think. I have dealt in this column with glories of Edwardian baroque. There was some magnificent Art Deco think of Broadcasting House, the Hoover factory or the De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill ...

How can Ofgem let energy firms get away with such flagrant dishonesty?

M any readers have written to me about their problems with utility companies, prompting me to suppose that the government-appointed regulators, Ofgem , are pretty useless. I now know this for sure.