Jimmy Nicholls is a journalist, writer of Poke the Bear, and host of The Right Dishonourable podcast.
From our UK edition
The 1990s were great years. The economy was humming, the West could duff up any Middle Eastern dictator it wanted, and the arrival of Oasis and Blur meant the music press could convince us we were cool again. Parents didn’t think to question the idea that for their kids, things could only get better. 30 years later, I also don’t question it. My countrymen are now poorer
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It’s not often noted that the taboo on discussing racial issues goes both ways. While critics of immigration must often tap-dance around their objections to multiculturalism, all but the most gormless of open borders advocates tend to be reluctant to accuse their opponents of racism in response. It’s therefore refreshing to hear a liberal flatly
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As I tell my more consistently employed friends: many of you simply aren’t man enough for a real stint of unemployment. Of course, it looks easy on paper. Drag yourself out of bed at 11, sit in your pajamas until three, vaguely send off a few job applications, and then play Paradox strategy games until
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Criticising m’learned friends has been a risky undertaking since a certain newspaper described a few beaks as ‘enemies of the people’ during the kerfuffle about Europe a few years back. In the age of populism, you are either a defender of the rule of law or an incipient fascist accusing an honest judge of being
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In politics, as in life, it helps to get your excuses in early. That presumably is why, ahead of tomorrow’s Budget, Keir Starmer has mounted a vanguard action in defence of his chancellor Rachel Reeves. ‘I’m acutely aware that women get much more abuse and criticism than men do and I think it’s about time
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Recent years have not been kind to the politics of George Monbiot. The journalist’s column records growing dismay at the inexorable march of neoliberalism, the growing list of Brexit benefits, and the West’s reluctance to disarm Israel and leave it to the tender mercies of its neighbours. But contra Labour’s favourite party tune, things can
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Of all the industries you’d think would know how to avoid a shakedown, the gambling sector is if anything overqualified. Centuries of experience working with crooks, debt collectors and hapless punters should surely have provided all the training needed to make an offer nobody can refuse. Alas, Rachel Reeves appears to have ensnared even the
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As trigger warnings became fashionable over the last decade, many argued that they were artistically stifling, patronising, and even redundant given the fame of many of the works targeted. But it turns out there is a simpler objection: trigger warnings don’t work. Amazon branded the Bond franchise with a range of cautionary messages That is
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Given that almost 1.7 billion litres of beer were poured in British venues in the past year, you’d think we’d be able to keep the country’s biggest beer festival afloat. It is therefore sad to hear that the Great British Beer Festival will be taken off tap next year, its organisers claiming it can no
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The best pint you’ll ever have is whatever you can find at 5 p.m. on a Friday. But close behind, and available wherever there’s a willing bartender, is whatever your local brewery has a fresh keg of. That, at least, is what I’ll tell anyone who can’t make a speedy exit. I am a craft
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Few things in life are more French than a dispute animée about holidays. While the Spanish enjoy an easy relationship with mañana and the Italians savour il dolce far niente (sweet idleness), the French will incite a riot over any threat to their leisure time faster than you can say faire une pause. It’s therefore little
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At a time when quarterly economic growth in the UK is flatlining at 0.3 per cent, it’s good to learn that not every industry in Britain is in mortal peril. While their customers have seen better days, coffin makers report that the average casket width has grown from 18-20 inches to a girthy 20-24 inches.
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It was a hairy situation. At a drab corporate dinner in a posh hotel basement, one of my fellow diners grew increasingly prickly. My publication had committed some slight against him – perhaps passing him over for one of our phoney awards, more likely misspelling his name. Unassuaged by my non-apologies, the fur was beginning
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City dwellers across Europe will have noticed an ominous and growing presence on our streets, nudging cyclists onto pavements, looming over pedestrians crossing the road, and generally spoiling the view. It is gratifying to learn that we are neither going mad nor shrinking in the wash: cars really are becoming huge. The bonnets of newly-sold
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Almost half of 16 to 21-year-olds wish they had grown up without the internet. A similar portion are even calling for a social media curfew, with a quarter wanting phones banned in schools, according to research from the British Standards Institution. Really? The truth is that Zoomers – those born between 1997 and 2012 –
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‘Cash is king,’ grinned the bartender as he handed me two pints of dry cider at a music festival I attended several summers ago. Since I’d paid in cold, hard cash, he’d agreed to a discount suspiciously in line with VAT. With nearby food vendors struggling to connect their payment terminals to the internet and
