William Dove

What does it take to be leader of the Labour Party? A passion for social justice? The ability to connect with middle Britain? Steadfastness? Intellectual rigour? Low cunning? Perhaps all of those things and many more.

Poor old Nigel Lawson. It must be a terrible burden for him to have been proven so completely right when he said that the NHS is the closest thing Britain has to a religion. If only he could also be proven correct on "global warming" (now rebranded "climate change" thanks to the freezing weather) then we could all celebrate a drop in energy bills.

What on earth has happened to the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan? Since the departure of George W. Bush the party seems to have become the preserve of mediocrity at best and crankery at worst.

When are politicians going to learn that nothing good ever comes from their being on Twitter?

Where is Richard Dawkins when you need him?

What other historical events is the nation of liberty, equality and fraternity going to outlaw denying?

Actress Elizabeth Chan complained that Chinese Britons such as herself are "virtually invisible in public life" and that in her life she had to endure people making strange kung-fu noises at her

At this time of year its common to read in the papers stories of "political correctness gone mad" as fanatical atheist local councils take to banning Nativity plays, rebranding Christmas as "Winterval" or some other meaningless nonsense all in the name of avoiding offense to those of other religions.

The death of Christopher Hitchens is a cause of great sadness not only to his family but to a great many people, myself included, who have enjoyed and admired his writing and, perhaps even more so, his speaking.

As the Eurozone crisis continues to run its course many eurosceptics have taken to print and the airwaves to point out that what they have been saying for decades about the flaws in the European Project is finally coming to pass.

The eurozone crisis has already led to the toppling of two elected governments and their replacement with EU approved technocrats with a democratic mandate somewhat below that enjoyed by Robert Mugabe. With Barack Obama up for re-election next year, could the euro crisis even lead to the toppling of the so-called leader of the free world?

Sepp Blatter, the absurd head of FIFA has apologised for making remarks which, as far as one can see, where not in fact racist.