When comedian Ken Dodd was put in the dock for stashing in excess of three hundred thousand pounds in shoeboxes and suitcases, and placing more untaxed money in twenty offshore accounts, he claimed: “the money was the savings from my taxed income.” Dodd’s hapless losing prosecutor was Brian Leveson QC. So what to make of the Jimmy Carr affair? Read on ›

The British General Election barely registers on the street. It’s the mainstream media which is writing the narrative, creating overnight superstars, capturing the public’s attention, and driving opinion polls in all directions. What’s to learn? Read on ›

Social media is looking less glossy after bruising encounters with business, personal and political reality. Here’s three glimpses of how it’s no longer so hip, cool or influential. Read on ›

It’s Sunday morning. It’s snowing on my side of Zurich lake. All’s well with the world. So I’ll read the Blue Blog on Conservatives.com, I thought. What I discovered was some loud gobs talking offensive nonsense, and that under David Cameron’s nose. Does he really want this, I ask myself. Read on ›

BBC Newsnight recently claimed that UK government plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to fill the energy gap by 2020 are hopelessly optimistic. The industry responded by claiming it will be on time and on budget. It’s a phoney debate on both sides. Read on ›

I’m thinking of pitching for the PR business of restoring trust in British politics, its MPs and its Parliament. Somebody’s got to do it. In the spirit of transparency, here’s my first draft of a pitch. Read on ›

There’s no doubt that Joanna Lumley is a great PR campaigner for the Gurkhas. However last week’s farcical impromptu negotiations with Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, outside a TV studio turned me against her almost as vehemently as I’m against New Labour.  Read on ›

Message to Damian McBride and the remaining Labour Party spin-machine: Barack Obama, arguably the most respected politician on earth, said of himself: “Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind.” Read on ›

The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein says there is no benefit to be had from being strident, tough and arrogant when communicating the harsh decisions that governments and firms are going to make over the next few years. He’s right. But is that all there is to this debate? Read on ›

Going by the media outrage over shadow immigration minister Damien Green’s arrest, the entire Tory front bench should seek to get its collar felt. The right is discovering what the left long ago learned. There’s nothing so chic as a policeman’s truncheon. Read on ›