I am a freelance writer and history teacher. I was previously a staff writer at The Economist, where I covered British society, culture and politics.

Selected work:

Why country music is booming in Britain

From Taylor Swift to Star Trek, niche cruises are on the rise

Dealers are selling war trophies to buy weapons for Ukraine

Britain has a growing problem with dangerous dogs

Britain’s offshore wind farms attract tourists

British farmers face up to the prospect of drought

Britain’s empty churches are turning into campsites

New trade unions in America are successfully using company brands

A radical group of ramblers roams the British countryside

Discover the charm of Wendell Berry’s rural tales

Americans are testing their dogs’ DNA, with some remarkable results

Why do people love “Peaky Blinders”?

Boris Johnson’s infrastructure schemes will face opposition

Mark Drakeford wants to shake up Welsh politics

How a modernist architect won over traditionalists

Britain’s film industry is booming

A new general secretary at Unite plots a radical overhaul

The battle for north London’s public space

Farmers are being targeted by cyber-criminals

A conservative sport gets a glitzy makeover

Opponents of housebuilding claim to care more about the environment than prices

England is building more homes than it has for many years

Local news is booming

The anti-lockdown movement is still going strong

Dastardly crimes such as dog-napping are on the rise

Why farms are moving into solar energy, campsites and natural burials

London is starting to build more council homes

The fight to define the great British garden

Covid-19 has pushed English lawyers online

Second homes are coming under increasing attack in Wales

Welsh nationalism is stirring

Britain’s boozers are going al fresco

Britain's census form reveals the obsessions of different eras

Why “red wall” Tories want to open a coal mine

Solar power’s NIMBY problem

Many Britons are breaking the rules in many different ways

Killings of sheep by dogs shows a delicate rural balance out of kilter

Grime and UK drill are exporting Multicultural London English

Black Lives Matter in Britain’s top public schools

Britain’s big potholes problem

Protest is spreading to the provinces

Competitive Remembrance Day celebrations

Britain’s stately-home boom

Derby Assembly Rooms and the brutalism battle

Mixed martial arts is on the rise in Britain

Defund the BBC, home for idling Brexiteers

Britain’s treasure-hunting hobbyists get professional

Bringing down the cost of school uniforms

Labour’s left wing is trying a new strategy to gain influence

Inexperienced workers make for a difficult harvest

Britain’s urban explorers worry their playgrounds will be demolished

Britain’s Gypsies and travellers demand justice

Black Lives Matter and the British army’s culture war

How the government may end up with a stake in a sex-party company

What next for Black Lives Matter UK?

Online services swell the Church of England’s congregations

Rising puppy prices

Britain’s palaces and stately homes are empty

The alarming popularity of prehistoric dentistry

Trade unions are back

What will be the new normal for offices?

Covid-19 is killing Londoners at a faster rate than German bombs did

The freemasons want to be known for hand wash, not handshakes

Not enough Britons want to work on farms

How covid-19 is changing funerals

British soldiers struggle to maintain social distance

Coke is out, weed is in

How panic buying is affecting supermarkets

For some Britons, coronavirus means apocalypse soon

Britain’s shooting ranges could be in trouble

Oxford University restores Maasai artefacts

Why aristocrats are flocking to the creative arts

Why Turkish barbers are taking over Britain’s high streets

Grime music, Bradford-style

Rock singer, razor dealer, humanist celebrant: ex-MPs with odd jobs

Meet Parliament’s class of 2019

The way to a soldier’s heart is through his stomach

How the anarchists of Extinction Rebellion got so well organised

Britain’s old-boy networks go online