All articles

A chronological archive of everything I’ve published…


French Jews are being killed just because of who they are

It has been, I think we are all agreed, a terrible week. As a Jew and as a journalist, I have been consumed by the news of the tragic shootings in Paris, first the 12 deaths at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, that of a policewoman the next day, and then the killings of four […]

  • 15 January, 2015

Charedi demands make as much sense as an Argentinian teenwolf

THIS WEEK, o’best beloveds, we are going to examine stories that make no sense. Example One: the president of Argentina has adopted a young Jewish man as her godson to stop him turning into a werewolf. Yes, you read that right. President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner had a fun-packed meeting with the Tawil family of […]

  • 31 December, 2014

How do we live Jewishly in an ever-more non-Jewish world?

AS THE Christmas adverts close in on television, and one wonders vaguely if John Lewis’ Monty the Penguin might be Jewish, we celebrate Chanukah 2014 in a certain sort of denial – of remaining Jewish in a non-Jewish world. Every year, I read plucky little articles wherein the writer tries hard to cling on to […]

  • 18 December, 2014

Hooray for Rivlin, a voice of sense to counter conniving Bibi

Buried deep within a Cabinet communiqué from the Israeli prime minister’s press office lies the startling information that Israel has decided to unify two ministries in order to create the Intelligence Ministry. Double-take, jaw-dropping news. They HAVE one? If its latest clod-hopping machinations are anything to go by, it’s not just an Intelligence Ministry that Israel […]

  • 2 December, 2014

The Ched Evans rape case and Jewish concepts of forgiveness

If there is anything that might be said to be embedded in Jewish DNA, it is the spirit of forgiveness, the possibility of giving others a second chance. I’m not talking about Christian concepts such as turning the other cheek: our own cheeks have been turned so often we can practically see ourselves coming back. […]

  • 20 November, 2014

Danon’s big ideas? Draft Arabs and reject two states

Likud Knesset member Danny Danon is nothing if not bullish. His political opinions are, to put it mildly, at odds even with his own party leader. in the last Knesset he was deputy speaker but he has managed to disagree with the political establishment on almost every important issue, from vehemently opposing the disengagement from […]

  • 22 February, 2013

Mandelson on Judaism, Lord Levy and his JC dad

Tony Blair’s closest ally reveals the inside story on the cash-for-peerages scandal and his pro-Israel sentiments Lord Mandelson’s book, The Third Man, Life At The Heart of New Labour has enjoyed a heady reception in the week since its publication. He has the relieved look of someone who has run a marathon without keel- ing […]

  • 23 July, 2010

‘Foreign Office has changed’ says UK’s new Jewish envoy to Israel

One of the FCO’s young stars takes up the Tel Aviv posting late next year. Britain has appointed its first Jewish ambassador to Israel. And Matthew Gould, a high-flying Foreign Office diplomat, is optimistic that his posting — to begin in autumn 2010 — will send out a significant message, both to his hosts and […]

  • 11 December, 2009

Hallelujah! Leonard Cohen’s Israeli triumph

WHen Leonard Cohen drew back from the stage slightly at the end of his marathon three- and-a-half-hour set in Ramat Gan, and recited the Birkat Cohanim — the blessing of the priests — complete with outstretched arms of benediction, there was a collective sigh from the enraptured crowd. It was a sign that Israel’s often […]

  • 2 October, 2009

Peter James – Research? I’m dead serious

Peter James is a bestselling crime writer who takes his preparatory fieldwork to alarming limits. By Jenni Frazer. As benefits a crime writer, Peter James’s London flat is a mystery. try as you might, you will not see a regulation front door, hall or porter. Instead, there is a gate, which gives out mixed signals: […]

  • 27 June, 2008