Simon Heffer

HMS Agamemnon lays the first Atlantic telegraph cable between Trinity Bay and Valentia Island

Going global

26 March 2016 9:00 am

We can all identify decades in which the world moved forward. Wars are not entirely negative experiences: the social and…

A Horrible History of English Hymns

12 December 2015 9:00 am

Given that for much of English history the country’s main musical tradition was that connected with the church, it is…

Robin Hood v. the toffs

13 June 2015 9:00 am

The publicity blurb about the two unpleasant criminals whom this dismal book romanticises says that they are ‘continuing their ancestors’…

Punch and Judy politics

21 March 2015 9:00 am

With the odd exception — I think principally of Charles Moore’s life of Margaret Thatcher — the genre of political…

From ‘The Temptation of Eve’: detail of glass from Ely Cathedral designed by Pugin, 1858

A hymn to ancient and modern

13 December 2014 9:00 am

The Pevsner architectural guides are around halfway through their revisions — though it is like the Forth Bridge, and soon…

Whose side are they on?

4 October 2014 9:00 am

Qatari money has flooded into London – but also into much less savoury places

Who’s afraid of Vladimir Putin?

Stand up to a bully

26 July 2014 9:00 am

If only European leaders were more like Tony Abbott

England unchained

5 July 2014 9:00 am

Scottish independence would indeed be a disaster – but only for the Scots

Rolf Harris CBE, child abuser

Be grateful this criminal left your lucky country

5 July 2014 9:00 am

On the list of trusted Australians, ‘Rolfie’ would be several thousand rungs below Ned Kelly

Little Scotlanders

7 June 2014 9:00 am

If  Scotland votes for independence on 18 September, it will be the end of Great Britain. And thanks to Pommie cynicism, selfishness and comic incompetence, it could happen

Why we love the Cambridges

26 April 2014 9:00 am

The visiting Royals are more like film stars than royalty, following the template set by the Duke’s late mother

More British than Britain

8 March 2014 9:00 am

In the interests of a more civilised world, let the Commonwealth leaders trump democratic values

Tony is soft on crime

18 January 2014 9:00 am

The only way to stop aggressive drunks is for the state to become even more aggressive with them

Psychological victory: Mitchell Johnson and team-mates

Hubris and humiliation

11 January 2014 9:00 am

How to account for the collapse of the English cricket team? Hint: it has little to do with Aussie brilliance

Grand delusions?

16 November 2013 9:00 am

So what is the point of the Commonwealth in this day and age?

In praise of our future King

9 November 2013 9:00 am

Far from being agitated, restless and frustrated, the 65-year-old heir to the throne is ready for prime time

Pass the torch

5 October 2013 9:00 am

If only Britain had sound conservatives such as John Howard and Tony Abbott

If only Tories had a Tony

14 September 2013 9:00 am

The new PM is a role model for British conservatives

Don’t listen to this foreigner

31 August 2013 9:00 am

The British anti-Murdoch Labour MP has no right to interfere in Australia’s election on Labor’s behalf

Kevin Rudd is just like Tony Blair

17 August 2013 9:00 am

And that is no compliment

Falling wickets

27 July 2013 9:00 am

Cricket’s slow trudge back to the pavilion