One of the best things about Britain has always been its people’s healthy disregard for petty bureaucracy. Nothing seems to irk us quite so much as officious officialdom, rules for the sake of rules. We have a kind of innate horror of anyone who applies the letter of the law too obsessively, and a healthy … Read more
Earlier this year, I read – and very much enjoyed – Rachel Johnson’s mischievous political memoir, Rake’s Progress. Ostensibly it’s about her ill-fated efforts to get elected as a pro-Remain MEP for the doomed Change UK party. But there are also some fascinating insights into her family life, and in particular her childhood growing up … Read more
Checking in… Broadcaster and author Jeremy Vine recalls his travel adventures, including going crabbing in Devon and visiting his favourite hotel – in Glasgow By York Membery for the Daily Mail Published: 12:49 BST, 3 October 2020 | Updated: 12:49 BST, 3 October 2020 Broadcaster and author Jeremy Vine This week broadcaster and author Jeremy … Read more
For someone such as myself who has never experienced racism, I think it’s almost impossible to truly comprehend the level of abuse that people of colour endure. I’ve glimpsed it occasionally secondhand, but until it happens to you or someone you love, the depth of damage it causes can never be truly understood. Prejudice in … Read more
Donald Trump is not my favourite person. But I couldn’t help feeling a certain grudging admiration for the old dunderhead last week. Asked what he thought of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to interfere in the US presidential election, he just gave a wry smile and said: ‘I wish a lot of luck … Read more
‘Sideshow Bob wants his shoes back Jeremy!’: BBC presenter Vine posts photo of his ripped jeans but Twitter users can’t stop staring at his outsized FEET Vine was showcasing jeans which he slipped into after his trousers got drenched Social media users said he should be more concerned about his ‘clown shoes’ The size of … Read more
Unlike many of the epidemiologists and statisticians the pandemic has forced into our lives, I make no claim to being a scientist. I don’t for one second pretend to know anything about the virus, and I can’t decipher a graph to save my life. One thing I am, however, is a keen observer of human … Read more
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve met Sasha Swire, the wife of former Tory MP Hugo Swire whose sensational memoir, Diary of an MP’s Wife, was the subject of an interview with her this weekend I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of … Read more
It’s sexist to say I have to think the same as my husband, says Michael Gove’s wife Sarah Vine… after she argued that Britons should get on with their lives during Covid – while he was the driving force behind ‘rule of six’ Michael Gove and his wife Sarah Vine have different views on Covid-19 … Read more
Ebullient broadcaster Jeremy Vine achieved notoriety when it emerged that his BBC pay dwarfed that of his colleagues — £700,000-£750,000 in a single year. But only now has it emerged quite how sensitive the Beeb’s bigwigs were once this became public knowledge. Indeed, I can disclose that they went as far as giving Vine — … Read more