Telegraph Blogs

It’s been my profound honour to have had an early look at the Royal Society’s Science Sees Further series, a set of articles commissioned for the august body’s 350th anniversary year, discussing 12 themes that science is grappling with today.

One of the most frequently asked questions on emails to me – since I began the Ask Judith post on this blog – has been about travel insurance. Just because we have had cancer does not mean that we should be denied the opportunity to travel – but too many people are giving up any hope… Read more

Politicians always claim not to be politicians, but Nigel Farage has a point. His memoirs – if that’s the right word for a book published mid-stream – are quite unlike any you’ve read: artless, breathless, occasionally crude, completely plausible and utterly readable. They describe the transformation of a typical Home Counties boy into the leader of… Read more

House prices may be falling and some students are rioting against raised tuition fees but these young rebels are proving a reliable source of double-digit profits for buy to let landlords. Total returns over the last year hit a national average of 13.5 per cent, according to estate agents Knight Frank. Better still, these can… Read more

I’m a fan of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here and the current series has thrown up its fair share of gems, such as the moment Dom Joly got hit in the face with a stone. But it is not a programme you can watch as it’s being broadcast. You have to… Read more

Slam! That’s the sound of an office door being shut in the face of a young female job applicant. It will grow increasingly familiar over the next few years, as more and more small and medium-sized companies turn such people away. Instead of seeing a 20-something as a bundle of energy, creativity and ambition, employers will… Read more

Long before he became Pope, Joseph Ratzinger had a low opinion of bishops’ conferences and their bureaucracies. I doubt he’d change his mind after reading the press releases on the subject of education emanating from the November plenary session of the Bishops of England and Wales. Recently a priest who works with the Catholic Education Service… Read more

CARTOON BY FENBEAGLE As the latest round of UN-sponsored climate talks opened in Cancun today, ’scientists’ had a stark message on the threat posed by Man Made Global Warming. It is now so severe that only by exterminating ourselves like the vile parasite we are can we hope to leave a planet fit for habitation by… Read more

Film director David Lynch is making a belated bid for pop glory, with the release of his debut single, “A Good Day Today”. The 64-year-old’s interest in music has been growing over the years, inspired by collaborations with his regular soundtrack composer Angelo Badalamenti. He has released an instrumental rock album “Bluebob”, in which he apparently… Read more

Something wasn’t quite right in the Commons chamber for the autumn statement. I walked in expecting the atmosphere we have come to expect from the big set pieces – packed, buzz of excitement, expectation, theatre – only to find it strangely flat, quiet. There were only eight Lib Dem MPs present, including Nick Clegg and… Read more

Lord Young was pushing his luck when he told the Telegraph last week that many people have never had it so good. But the latest forecasts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) confirmed today that we could have had it an awful lot worse, and we don’t have to look very far – just across the Irish… Read more

I have now finished my week with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and am sitting at the airport waiting for a flight to Denver. The HSO are well-known as one of the great American orchestras, but what is less well-known is the magnificent Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in which they play their… Read more

Local Government in Britain isn’t really local – and it isn’t really government either. It isn’t local because most authorities cover pretty big areas, rather than the neighbourhoods people actually relate to. And in recent years they haven’t really been “government” either.  That word implies making decisions for yourself, but under Gordon Brown councils were… Read more

“The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.” Andrew Revkin, Environment Editor, New York Times Nov 20, 2009. “The articles published today and in coming days are based on thousands … Read more

The career of the great Leslie Nielsen had two distinct phases. In the 1950s – sometimes called the golden age of telly – he appeared in dozens of forgettable shows as a deep-voiced leading man and a few films such as Forbidden Planet (1956). Later in the decade he appeared in The Virginian and Alfred… Read more

Who’d have thought that no one had used the word horsiness before July 18, 1864, when someone at The Daily Telegraph wrote it on a piece of paper with a dip-pen and sent it to the compositor for successful inclusion in the next morning’s paper? “There is no keeping clear of ‘horsiness’ and the horsey,”… Read more

The Swiss know how to stand up for themselves. In a referendum yesterday, they voted in favour of the automatic deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes. Needless to say, the latte liberals at Amnesty International are appalled and – revealing their utter contempt for democracy – are calling on Swiss politicians to ignore the… Read more

Ever since I read that he uses Marigolds when washing up, I have had a soft spot for Alan Duncan. I like to think of him fastidiously clearing up messes, ensuring that the world looks a better or at least tidier place in his wake. I also thought the former oil trader was brave to… Read more

The relationship between Ed Miliband and Alan Johnson is getting as frosty as the weather. In the FT this morning, the Shadow Chancellor has another chance to take poke at his boss, and take it he does. First, he is magnificently condescending: “I think they’ll tune into Radio Ed and find something they really like…… Read more

The figures for the Irish bail-out are now available in full. The euro-zone countries are contributing €17.5 billion – which is fair enough, I suppose, if they see the survival of the single currency as being in their own interests. But the EU as a whole, including non-euro states, is contributing a further €22.5 billion. Despite having… Read more

Spare a thought for pet rabbits and guinea pigs in this cold spell of weather. They’re the only small pets that are commonly kept out of doors in the UK. Most others (e.g. gerbils, hamsters and rats), live indoors in small cages). Most dogs (apart from those in John Lewis ads) have access to indoors,… Read more

Is there a bigger self-aggrandising pillock in the world than Julian Assange? I doubt it. Thanks to his naive and reckless championing of freedom of information, Assange’s actions will – in the long term – make information far less free. Although what has been released by Wikileaks will be of benefit to historians, the effect… Read more