Will Heaven, Author at Catholic Herald

Will Heaven

Will Heaven: In passive-aggressive Britain, the badge is boss

March 31, 2016

A week or so after Auberon Waugh died in 2001 – I remember it clearly, having just started at Downside, the school he hated so publicly – a critic of his decided to speak ill of him in a memorable letter to The Daily Telegraph. It went something like this: “Haven’t we heard enough sycophantic

Will Heaven: In defence of the nuclear option

March 03, 2016

Although the press’s attention was elsewhere – on the increasingly vicious infighting among top Tories – Jeremy Corbyn managed to pack Trafalgar Square last weekend with thousands of his cheering admirers. They were there for a retro, 1980s-style rally against nuclear weapons. “We live in a world where so many things are possible,” said Corbyn,

Will Heaven: Will Britons ever lose faith in the NHS?

February 11, 2016

Recently I went to see my GP in the busy little surgery that’s about 20 paces from my south London flat. It wasn’t for anything serious, but I was given good advice by a friendly doctor, a prescription, then sent on my way. Walking out, I felt a spring in my step, which I think

Will Heaven: Jeremy Corbyn is wrong about Jesus

January 07, 2016

‘On my bed I remember you; On you I muse through the night,” wrote the Psalmist. It’s a holy example – not one I follow very often. But the other day I did piously read my Bible at bedtime and as I finished the Sermon on the Mount I was sidetracked by the thought: “If

What Churchill knew about prisons

December 01, 2015

Something interesting is going on in the criminal justice system that I suspect we’re going to hear more and more about. As part of what could be a revolution in right-wing thinking about dealing with crime and its causes, the Government is splashing out £1.3 billion on new prisons. The plan is to replace outdated

What Churchill knew about prisons

December 01, 2015

Have posh Catholics had their day?

July 02, 2015

Once these grand, aristocratic families wielded influence in spades; now you’re more likely to see them mucking in at church fetes than bending the ear of the Nuncio