Richard Ingrams

Richard Ingrams has written a column for The Independent since 2005. A key figures in the satire boom of the 1960s, he helped found Private Eye and edited it for 23 years. In 1992 he founded The Oldie, which he has edited since. Vintage humorist, scourge of the pompous and the power-hungry, Ingrams brings a unique perspective to bear on the political foibles of the age and on a culture in thrall to celebrity.

Richard Ingrams's Week: No one knows how to educate our children

Would Boris claim that his knowledge of Latin helps him in any way when it comes to dealing with the congestion charge?

Recently by Richard Ingrams

Richard Ingrams’s Week: Am I the only person who doesn't hate junk mail?

Saturday, 13 March 2010

Like drink-driving and paedophilia, junk mail is one of those things that everyone has agreed is 100 per cent bad. But for those who like writing letters to the newspapers it is a godsend.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: The nation's booksellers lose a valued customer

Saturday, 6 March 2010

One of the many good things about Michael Foot, who died this week aged 96, was his refusal to accept honours. With his many achievements as a politician and a writer he could have had anything he chose – Sir Michael, Lord Foot of Hampstead Heath, the Companion of Honour, even the Order of Merit. But he went to his grave as plain Michael Foot, an example to us all.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: Even the most hard-bitten hack can get deeply upset

Saturday, 27 February 2010

They don't give many honours to journalists these days, which is probably a very good thing. For it is a sad fact that so far from being the hard-bitten, cynical old hacks that the public supposes them to be, many journalists have a pathetic craving for honours and awards despite the fact that they have been so devalued as to mean almost nothing by now.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: Desperate Dave tries to avoid the dinosaurs

Saturday, 20 February 2010

Is there such a thing as a gay dinosaur? I only ask because of a distinct lack of logic in some of the arguments being advanced by David Cameron in the hope of becoming the next prime minister.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: All this advance publicity has killed the suspense

Saturday, 13 February 2010

I shall not be tuning into Gordon Brown's TV interview tomorrow. And it has nothing to do with the lateness of the hour or my strong aversion to the interviewer, former Mirror editor Piers Morgan.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: Let him who is without sin put in an expenses claim

Saturday, 6 February 2010

It was Dr Johnson, who, when one of his young aristocratic friends was thinking of going into politics, urged him to go ahead, observing that he would "make a very pretty rascal".

Richard Ingrams’s Week: Get the inquisitor to answer a few questions

Saturday, 30 January 2010

A strange situation developed at an early stage of Tony Blair's inquisition at the Chilcot inquiry yesterday. He was being questioned at some length by Sir Roderic Lyne about a speech he made in Chicago in 1999 making the case for military intervention in foreign states where nasty things were going on.

Richard Ingrams's Week: Was Cook sacked on the orders of George Bush?

Saturday, 23 January 2010

When he appeared before the Chilcot inquiry on Wednesday, Jack Straw, they said, became the first serving cabinet minister to express "deep regret" about the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the thousands of deaths that resulted.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: No wonder the public has so little faith in politicians

Saturday, 16 January 2010

The British are a lot of softies nowadays, unable to cope with even a few inches of snow. Scarcely had that particular cry died down than the armed forces minister, Bill Rammell, was suggesting that the country might get "so risk-averse, cynical and introverted" that we would never again be prepared to countenance military action against a foreign power.

Richard Ingrams’s Week: Confusing musings from Carey the columnist

Saturday, 9 January 2010

Are we still a Christian country? The question was raised by an article in The Times this week by the former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey who along with the likes of David Blunkett is worried by the influx of Muslims but doesn't feel quite able to say so in so many words.

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