Francis Harris
Francis Harris was the Daily Telegraph correspondent in Prague, Central Europe, at the United Nations and in Washington. He was the paper’s Deputy Foreign Editor from 2000-2005 and is now an editor and freelance writer
What would Václav Havel have made of gender wars?
The former Czech president and playwright would have invited JK Rowling over for a beer
Brooding blokes
Russian writers loved a pouting, picturesquely pained protagonist
Twitter has always been toxic
Bluesky is a reminder of an earlier form of smug spitefulness
People of Colour television
How to unpick the progressive contradictions of colour-blind casting
Free speech is fascist
Words must be controlled to ensure that Starmer’s subjects behave themselves
Three decades of broken promises on immigration
Time and time again, Labour and the Conservatives have failed to deliver on their pledges
Cultural appropriation is here to stay
So-called cultural appropriation is an American obsession, cheerfully ignored by a fast globalising world
Living the good life
The rising middle classes were decisive in shaping the late 19th century English town
When the music stopped
A reflection on the inexorable decline of arts education and the rise of knee-jerk politics and managerialism
Tory Utopias
1940s Conservatism was seething with creativity and optimism