Matthew Parris

Old tortoise that I am, my head usually yanks back into my shell when people start talking about artificial intelligence. One reason for this is laziness in the face of the challenge of learning to understand a deep and complex subject. I’m not proud of that. But of another reason I’m unashamed. Societies standing at

(iStock) Old tortoise that I am, my head usually yanks back into my shell when people start talking about artificial intelligence.

Let me ease you gently into a big and boring-sounding word for a small dishonesty that today corrupts the language of politics. Doubtless we shall be encountering it (though never by name) in Rachel Reeves’s looming Budget. If you step away from levying the new taxes you must then cut the goodies they were to

Jenrick would poison the Conservatives; Badenoch is original, carries the hint of a risk, but Cleverly could help her

On pages of The Times for 30-odd years I’ve been raising the alarm on the Chagos archipelago. My concerns were, first, the fate of its original inhabitants, whom we treated disgracefully; second, our

What has this government got against the poor? Who will stick up for them if Labour won’t? A small (to you or me) but really positive bit of help for bus passengers who don’t own cars looks likely to

Years ago Lord Patten of Barnes – Chris – was our guest for my Great Lives programme on BBC Radio 4. He championed the life of Pope John XXIII, a mid-20th-century pope from humble origins who (his admirers would say) did much to bring the Roman Catholic Church into the 20th century. He had his

[Getty Images] Years ago Lord Patten of Barnes – Chris – was our guest for my Great Lives programme on BBC Radio 4.

And so to the budget. Breathless at the news, The Sunday Times tells us that “a striking 56 per cent [of the public] said they believe Reeves can avoid both tax rises and spending cuts this week

I listened with admiration to Rupert Soames, Churchill’s grandson, interviewed by the BBC’s Nick Robinson on his Political Thinking podcast. Soames has this year become chairman of the Confederation