Tech Overload

A Question of Intelligence

Were it not for my age, I’d be worried, but at this stage of the game I couldn’t give a flying you-know-what. Mind you, I have two children—a daughter and a son—both in their early 30s, and four grandchildren—two boys and two girls—some still in diapers, and that does keep me up at night. And it should also worry anyone whose brain ...


Navaho Nation, Monument Valley

The Untold Story

Six Feet Undergroundhog Day

Well, so much for last week’s experiment with a race-and-politics-free column about the entertainment industry; it landed with a thud so loud I checked my roof for Eric Clapton’s son (I did that joke years ago and it provoked a ...

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand

Diversity Training

Please Don’t Carry On, Cleo

Netflix’s new pseudo-documentary Queen Cleopatra has now finally been released, having drummed up loads of free publicity via the simple expedient of misleadingly casting a black actress in the role of Cleo herself, thereby implying ...

Jim Brown

The Untold Story

Jim Not-So-Dandy

His death was front-page news in every newspaper in America, starting with The New York Times, and his demise also led the news on television. Long glowing tributes poured in, starting with Barack Obama confirming the man’s greatness. ...

Commerce

The Buck’s to Blame

The ability of governments to get everything the wrong way round is so commonplace that it should no longer surprise us. It is as if they feared to solve a problem lest they should have nothing to do. The Iraqi government is the latest ...

11th hole, Bandon Dunes, Oregon

Sports

Tee Time

The 2020s have been a lousy decade in many ways. For example, tomorrow is the third anniversary of the “racial reckoning”: How’s that working out anyway? But at least the Covid years have been good for the game of golf, a sociable ...

Hollywood

Writers Gulled

My friends (and one or two foes) have informed me that my past few columns have been downers. “Can’t you do something a little lighter?” they ask. “Also, what’s your take on the WGA strike?” Happy to oblige, friends and ...

Adjoa Andoh

Diversity Training

The Balcony Scene

I didn’t watch King Charles III’s coronation because, with its much-trailed emphasis on “diversity,” I knew it wasn’t really aimed at me but at the likes of Adjoa Andoh, the black actress best known for anachronistically ...

Bitch, Please!

Open Letter From a Closed Mind

For the moment—though for how long, one does not know—the Oxford University Press is sticking to its guns. Good for it! In these days of moral cowardice that is both profound and widespread, even a cartilaginous backbone seems like ...

All About Me

Brown Shirts ’n’ Skins

Last week a clip from something called “Timcast” went viral. Some round-faced, beady-eyed stoner (I think that’s “Tim”) was debating a manic Robert Downey Jr. look-alike (I guess that’s “cast”) about trannies. Robert ...


Sign Up to Receive Our Latest Updates!