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Evening Standard column

Anne McElvoy

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We must not let the Leveson Inquiry kill the press

One thing I can attest from spending as much time watching the Leveson Inquiry as at sundry inquiries into the Iraq war: never has such a vast amount of legal time been poured into dissecting the workings of the British press

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My blueprint for being BBC director-general

Oh, all right then. My colleague Quentin Letts has thrown his trilby in the ring to run the BBC. Not so fast, Quentin

Private school or state school - the angst of a parent

The American author William Faulkner wrote that the past is never dead: it is not even past. The same is true of our schooldays, as I have just had reason to recall, having published a magazine piece on my own years at a comprehensive school

Parking tyrants who make our lives a misery

A shock outbreak of common sense at Westminster council: its mulish leader, having alienated theatres, restaurateurs, No 10, the Mayor, the Evening Standard and just about everyone who wants to spend time in the borough in the evenings, has departed

Sex plus brains - British TV is on a roll at last

I made a terrible social faux pas on Sunday and phoned a contact to discuss NHS reform at the worst possible moment. "I'm watching Sherlock," she snapped. So, it turns out, were a lot of other people - just under nine million for the series launch, a record number catching up on iPlayer and the fabulously strange Mr Cumberbatch grasped firmly to the nation's bosom as a time-travelled but eternally awkward Sherlock.

MPs who play the glamour game tend to come unstuck

She's very odd, Louise Mensch. Sharp, gifted, uncommonly pretty and prone to putting her elegantly shod foot in it. Having graced Tatler magazine, she has now moved on to a GQ poster shoot, attired like a sexed-up Holly Golightly in leather-fronted skirt, while complaining that discussion about her appearance had "obscured" her political statements.

We all need some democratic luxury at Christmas

Really, what is Jemima Khan on about? Small luxuries matter

The fine art of tackling the frenemies within

After their little local difficulty over Europe, Nick didn't turn up to sit next to Dave in the Commons. Which was reckless but at least better than the memories of Gordon slumped in a pasty sulk next to Tony when they were at loggerheads

Cut to the real arguments about press freedom

It's groundhog day in the great battle of the British newspapers. No sooner have we become accustomed to the extraordinary length of submissions to Lord Leveson's committee (does Hugh Grant hold the record for complaining without notes?), than the whole business starts all over again in Parliament

Steve Jobs, Philip Gould and Gary Speed were great men, we should honour them with dignity not shrines

Football shirts daubed with "RIP", candles outside Apple stores ... We must put an end to this 'Dianafication' of mourning

Life is strange and different in celebrity world

Celebs are different from us, and not just in the old-fashioned way of having more money. Homo Celebus is on display at the Leveson Inquiry this week, the best free ticket in town

Forget bathtime: working parents can't have it all

We are all enlightened about childcare nowadays - especially our own. Gone are the days when we used to pretend we were leaving early because the carburettor needed fixing

I'm keeping faith with London's beauty gurus

Ladies, the man you may not wish to talk to about your beauty routine and accompanying expenditure is right here in London. David Colquhoun is a professor of pharmacology at University College and, frankly, a liability to any woman's dreams of transformation by skin cream

Take care, children: China's tiger cubs are on your tail

If you have tiger mother tendencies, the very worst thing you can do is visit China. It will only increase your determination to squeeze some achievement out of your young. And you know how popular that makes us

My working woman's guide to surviving family life

The head of St Paul's Girls' School has decided that London's brightest and best females need parenting classes - a privilege previously reserved for the Vicky Pollards, now to be extended to the Sophies and Ambers

How 'customer service' left a bad taste in my mouth

I was standing contemplating £12's worth of black, rotting avocado salad, purchased in the foodie temple at Selfridges, fit only for the bin. My two freshly baked soda breads from Whole Foods had turned out to be a horrible mulch of uncooked dough.

Successful authors don't need the Booker Prize

Tin hats on for the Man Booker wars. It is one of the delights of London life that a prize with the elevated task of picking the Commonwealth's best read should end up with the sort of backstage sniping last seen when Cheryl Cole left the XFactor

Battle of Russia's have-yachts is an ugly spectacle

The trouble with the Berezovsky-Abramovich court case is that it leaves satire for dead

The adoring crowds swoon for the robo-Mayor

The semi-groomed haystack who is our Mayor rose with a perfectly calibrated, pretend-shy gaze and then let rip. Boris Johnson's speech is the early climax of this gathering and the Tory tribe regards him with moon-calf adoration

The rich are being hit in the pocket too

Are the rich getting away with low taxes? Warren Buffett heads the club of very rich men who are now saying they would be willing to pay more. He might well not have been so generous when he was still making his wealth: extreme net-worthers can afford to be a bit more relaxed about these things.

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