Matthew Steeples argues the case for scrapping the Charity Commission
The Charity Commission recently appointed a new chairman, William Shawcross CVO. The author and journalist is to be paid an astonishing £50,000 for just two...
Extremists should be ignored
The majority of people in Britain are tolerant and decent. A minority aren’t. Yesterday’s demonstrations by the English Defence League and those who scrawled “Islam” on the Bomber Command and Animals...
Is it right that Amanda Platell faces a police investigation for looking at child porn?
Amanda Platell, the former press secretary to William Hague, wrote an article in yesterday’s Daily Mail in which she examined...
A Conservative MP sensibly suggests that this week's killing in Woolwich was not terrorism
In the days since the terrible murder of Lee Rigby, 25, in Woolwich, the BNP, the EDL and other racists have...
Proof that Prince Harry is Prince Charles’ son
It’s done the rounds for years. It’s a rumour that has failed to have been quashed and newspaper reporters have even tried to snatch pieces of his...
A tribute to Robbie Curtis (1965 – 2012)
The property tycoon Robbie Curtis was a man often confused with Robbie Williams. His black Bentley, which bore the number plate “ROB BIE”, was often seen in...
Why do the press continue to refer to the Duchess of Cambridge as ‘Kate Middleton’?
Two years ago yesterday, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton married Prince William. Euphoria reigned throughout the land and 26 million are said...
The overuse of the word “pop-up”
On Radio 4 this morning, a presenter commented: “I refuse to call it a ‘pop-up’. If we have any more of them, I’ll pop”. At a lunch yesterday I...
The funeral of Margaret Thatcher
As her coffin headed to St Paul’s Cathedral, I stood in Parliament Square to watch Margaret Thatcher leave Westminster for the last time.
Though many predicted riots and drama, the mood...
The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG, OM, PC, FRS; Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013)
She cleared our rat-infested streets and she beat the unions. She taught people that “anything was possible” and...
Kevin Waldrum and his mobile: a pair who should be parted
Our picture of the week comes from today’s Mail Online. Featured in it is a former security guard named Kevin Waldrum, along with a...
Matthew Steeples bemoans an overused word
They’re everywhere: you’ll find them on magazine covers, on the television and at events. They stalk out the cameras, they behave badly and make utter fools of themselves. In...
The future for red telephone boxes
The red telephone box is something that tourists often cite as being symbolic of Britain. Just like the red London bus and the red pillar box, though, these Sir...
Matthew Steeples offers offers a tribute to the late Robert Troyan
I first met the larger than life Bostonian character Robert Troyan (1950 – 2013) with his partner Anthony Feldman in the early 2000s at...
Is it time for “Keep Calm And…” to “Sod Off And Get Lost”?
Since 2001, whatever the situation and whatever the context, three words, “Keep Calm And…”, can and often have been applied. The rediscovery...
HMRC publish a list of tax evaders but neglect to mention any large corporations
The hotelier and real estate heiress Leona Helmsley stated: “Taxes are only for the little people” before being convicted of income...
A review of Channel 4’s Millionaire Playboy Races by Matthew Steeples
I watched last night’s Millionaire Playboy Racers expecting to find myself in agreement with Knightsbridge residents complaining about the noise generated by Arabs and...
Our view on the Christmas episode of Downton Abbey
Christmas Day is meant to be a time for celebration and joy. After feasting likes kings, many of us sat down to a cheery cartoon or...
Matthew Steeples shares his views on the untimely death of a hospital receptionist
Suicide is sadly something that is at the forefront of my mind this week. My friend Andrew Embiricos sadly died exactly...
Matthew Steeples highlights the peril of “reaching out”
“Reaching out” is a phrase that can be compared to Starbucks and their taxes.
This toxic platitude has sadly become common in both Britain and America and is...
Matthew Steeples responds to the recommendations of Leveson
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” was one of Edmund Burke’s most famous observations.
Today, David Cameron's former spin...
Matthew Steeples takes a look at the farcical results of the PCC elections
A former ambassador to the US undiplomatically Tweeted the following an hour or two ago: “Prezza beaten. Humberside policing saved.” His dovetailed...
Philip Schofield and the protection of powerful paedophiles
Yesterday, when Phillip Schofield showed the Prime Minister a note containing the names of alleged politician paeodophiles who have been named on Twitter, little did he realise...
Why does the Savile story really keep running?
We’re all Saviled out. It’s been more than eight weeks since revelations about Jimmy, formerly Sir Jimmy, Savile came to public attention. Yes, the horrors of his...
Pam Ayres makes a poem of Matthew Steeples
Yesterday, I found myself listening to a self-proclaimed “writer, broadcaster and entertainer” named Pam Ayres on BBC Radio 4.
An example of her style numbers:
“I am sittin’ on...
Matthew Steeples reacts to the BBC quietly dropping the “Sir”
This morning when I turned on Radio 4’s Today programme, as has become customary in the last weeks, the first item on the news was...
A pair of pillocks piddling about in a puddle
All of us who drive have made stupid mistakes but most of us, at worst, have knocked over a gatepost or pranged a door in a...
Matthew Steeples shares his somewhat mixed thoughts on the allegations against Sir Jimmy Savile
When Sir Jimmy Savile’s 2002 Rolls-Royce Corniche went to auction in July with a guide price of £60,000 to £90,000, he...
“Ladette”: A word and culture that should be consigned to history
Last week, in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast, the former Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox complained about the word “ladette.” Barely able even to...
George W. does a mean Dr. Evil impression
George W. Bush is a man who most of our readership no doubt loathe. Most people know that I take an utterly different view and like the...
The phrase “chit-chat”
This morning, as I walked through the streets of Chelsea, I heard a lady blabbering into her mobile telephone about how she’d had a “chit-chat” with her friend. I cringed. I don’t...
The misuse of the word “lounge”
“Lounge,” to my mind is a word that conjures laziness. “Lounging around” is something one did as a teenager and in the process annoyed one’s parents and school teachers.
“Lounge”...
