Dominic Lawson

Former editor of The Specator magazine and the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Dominic Lawson who is noted for his robust and iconoclastic opinions on political and social issue, has been writing a column for The Independent since 2006.

Dominic Lawson: How to squeeze the Russians

'Can we suggest, Prime Minister, that you announce a public inquest into the murder of Mr Litvinenko?'

Recently by Dominic Lawson

Dominic Lawson: Why Palin is a natural born winner

Tuesday, 2 September 2008

"What is it, exactly, that the Vice President does every day? I'm used to working real hard." With these words, uttered with an upwards inflexion of disbelief, Sarah Palin responded to CNBC's political interviewer a few weeks back, when he asked her if she would like to be John McCain's running mate.

Dominic Lawson: Don't believe obesity figures – they're spun for a purpose

Friday, 29 August 2008

You can run, but you can't hide: a wave of contagious obesity is, apparently, sweeping the country from top to (ever-expanding) bottom. Yesterday's Guardian declared that "Obesity epidemic spreads to new areas in the south", while simultaneously pointing out that "the worst obesity hotspot is Shetland". Meanwhile the Financial Times warned, rather in the style of a Meteorological Office alert, of "a belt of obesity stretching across Wales, the north Midlands and northern England".

The Prince is entitled to his views – but not his ignorance

Friday, 15 August 2008

Dominic Lawson: It's shocking to hear this millionaire Gloucestershire farmer denounce the 'Green Revolution' in India

Dominic Lawson: Can Obama hope to win if he lacks the common touch?

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

If fear had a smell, the westerly breezes would be bearing a rank odour from the other side of the Atlantic: it would be emanating from the pores of the Democratic Party establishment as it contemplates the dwindling of Barack Obama's previously impressive opinion poll lead over John McCain.

Dominic Lawson: If you think China is a police state, just look at us in Britain

Friday, 8 August 2008

Beijing seems to have been turned into one giant Potemkin village. Everybody smiling, everybody happy. The universally joyful welcome has already drawn gasps of admiration and astonishment from visiting British sports journalists. The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, who speaks Mandarin, took the trouble to roam further afield, to a village near Guangzhou, where farmers three years ago had protested about the seizure of their land by local Communist Party officials. He was speedily surrounded by what he described as "a phalanx of young men with cropped hair, who followed me wherever I went".

Dominic Lawson: Was it fear that drove The Don?

Tuesday, 5 August 2008

Bradman appeared to suffer a nervous collapse before the first Test when it became clear what was in store

Dominic Lawson: The clash of civilisations at Beijing

Friday, 1 August 2008

It was inevitable that the more the Games drew near, the more difficult it would be to make a fuss

Dominic Lawson: These MPs only really care about one thing... their jobs

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

The public could be forgiven for seeing the fight as having nothing at all to do with their own lives

Dominic Lawson: We should have no reason to be surprised when a doctor turns out to be a murderer

Friday, 25 July 2008

What should a genocidal mass-murderer look like? And what professional qualifications should he have? Of the two men indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal as masterminds of the planned massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim adults and children, Ratko Mladic fits all our preconceptions.