Mark Steel

  • With only a few weeks to go before the Olympics, we're at the point where we're told it's almost illegal to not be excited. May 24, 2012

  • The logic applied to the privatization of Britain's National Health Service should be extended to other areas of life. May 1, 2012

  • Now we know why Britain's public-sector unions held a general strike on November 29--because they hate mothers. December 13, 2011

  • The mistake population pessimists make is seeing people solely as consumers, while forgetting most of us can also produce. November 21, 2011

  • Every few months, just when you think the ex-prime minister has slid into history, he gets paid a million pounds for something. October 10, 2011

  • What if we applied the same rules for punishing bankers that the courts are using on those arrested during Britain's riots? September 19, 2011

  • All the people calling for crackdowns following the riots in Britain thought that all along--but they're getting a hearing now. August 29, 2011

  • Britain's politicians are all disgusted about "mindless criminality"--but the truth is they don't understand the first thing about the rebellion. August 17, 2011

  • Cuts have to be made, the politicians say. So, let's start by cutting firms whose only purpose seems to be using tax dollars to persecute the disabled. August 3, 2011

  • As the News of the World scandal unfolds, more crooks are being exposed--from media moguls to government officials. July 26, 2011

  • Suddenly, politicians who spent their careers prostrate before media baron Rupert Murdoch are "shocked" at how dreadful the revelations are. July 18, 2011

  • When British public-sector workers announced their June 30 strike, parents were asked to do the teaching themselves. July 11, 2011

  • You might as well say we can't enjoy the luxury of a sewage system since we're flushing 35 percent more than in 1996. July 6, 2011

  • When the International Monetary Fund says a policy will "work," they mean work for their sort--bankers and bosses. June 15, 2011

  • With many people now living longer, British insurers think it's high time that workers start paying toward their old age. June 8, 2011

  • Almost every paper and magazine is covered in it, the pubs are full of flags, and every news report has to mention it. April 19, 2011

  • Hundreds of columns have been written condemning the "violence" of a London demonstration that caused children to cry. April 13, 2011

  • In any mass revolt, huge numbers of people who gave little indication that they had any interest in "politics" are transformed. February 14, 2011

  • Finally, someone has come to the defense of one of the most oppressed sections of society--the banking community. January 20, 2011

  • Prime Minister David Cameron said during the campaign that he wouldn't increase the value-added tax--which is precisely what he's just done. January 11, 2011

  • Students taking part in the London protests say they've learned as much in the last month as in the rest of their course in school. December 16, 2010

  • You can tell the British students protesting fee increases are having an impact because everyone dismisses them as "middle class." December 8, 2010

  • The Tea Partiers accuse Obama of anything they think of, no matter how illogical or disgusting. But that's only part of Obama's problems. November 9, 2010

  • The Liberal Democrats--junior partners to the Tories in Britain's government--are abandoning all their election promises. October 26, 2010

  • Despite a strike vote with 79 percent in favor, the mayor of London wants to block a transport strike by declaring the vote unfair. October 12, 2010