Boris Johnson, Editor, Spectator

“Who do I read ? If Noel Malcolm were still writing I’d read him. I open the pages to see what shot everyone has played but I don’t necessarily read them all the way through.”

Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph

“I’m never sure how much influence we actually have on shifting opinion. I suspect most commentators are read most avidly by people who already agree with them, and who read them just to get that sense that they are not alone; or by people who disagree with them violently but persist with reading them on the know-thine-enemy principle. I daresay that most newspaper readers look at the news at the breakfast table, the features while soaking in the bath, and the comment while on the lavatory: which seems to me singularly appropriate.”

Dominic Fry, former Corporate Affairs Director, Scottish Power

“Columns, I like the following: ‘Thought for the Day’ – provocative and unlikely; Boris Johnson – totally Buckeridge yet an antidote to PC nonsense; Martin Dickson (Lombard) – Fresh and original; Martin Lukes – spectacularly pricks the pomposity of business people; Matthew Parris – honest, wise and informative; Wheatcroft – interesting obsession with the place where business and politics meet; India Knight – forthright and opinionated; A.A. Gill – suspicious and critical.”

Jessica Morris, Chair, Sheila McKechnie Foundation

“A combination of the FT and Guardian comment pages gives me enough opinions to get through the day, with a weekly supplement of the New Statesman and the Spectator. Plus regular hits of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Suzanne Moore. And the list goes on and on. Commentators are great, but people are still too hesitant about contacting them and just having a dialogue. That’s where e.i comes in.”

John Kampfner, Editor, New Statesman

"No single British newspaper meets all my needs, so my preferences range across the board. The best political analysis comes from Steve Richards in the Independent and Matthew d’Ancona in the Sunday Telegraph. the Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland is a rare breed who writes knowledgeably about our small island and the world beyond, while Bronwen Maddox provides the best instant analysis of global affairs in the Times. My favourite zany columnist is Zoe Williams."

Suzanne Moore, Mail on Sunday

“I love Simon Jenkins for his range, Vicki Woods for her good sense, Julie Burchill for her fantastic instinct , A.N. Wilson because I never know which way he is going to go and and am weirdly compelled and repelled by Tracey Emin’s attempts at being a columnist!”

Lesley Smith, Group Corporate Affairs Director, Cable & Wireless

“Love reading John Rentoul, Tracey Emin, Peter Riddell, Martin Kettle, Danny Finkelstein, Deborah Orr, Alex Brummer and used to enjoy that woman who wrote short pieces about being at home all day, and Patience Wheatcroft (last is must read rather than love to read). Rarely read: everyone else. Who has the time?”

Mary Riddell, Observer and Daily Mail

“The Guardian op-ed pages, my colleagues at the Observer: you’re looking for some illumination, foresight and wit, not necessarily a reflection of your own views. I can’t remember a time when there were as many incisive women columnists – Polly Toynbee, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Deborah Orr among them. I always read Simon Jenkins in the Sunday Times, Richard Stott in the Sunday Mirror and Stephen Glover in the Mail.”

Toby Mundy, Publisher, Atlantic Books

“My commentators are Anatole Kaletsky, whose crisp, incisive commentary is really a must-read; Martin Wolf, whose brilliant rebarbative opinions always add something to the debate; and Polly Toynbee whose clear-headed progressivism is an antidote to so much muddled thinking on the liberal-left. For politics, I’m a fan of Matthew d’Ancona and Steve Richards.”

Ed Pilkington, National News Editor, Guardian

"It’s invidious to mention other members of the advisory board, but Matthew d’Ancona is a must. I never feel ready to face the week ahead until I’ve read his Sunday Telegraph column and found out what, or who, he’s got his sights on. Sticking with politics, Jackie Ashley in the Guardian is always insightful, and I think Martin Bright is building up a head of steam at the Statesman.



“On the media, I always used to look forward to Stephen Glover making me angry in the Spectator, but I feel he doesn’t have the same power to rile in the Independent. Now why is that? For two quite different takes on media ethics, I like to watch John Lloyd’s thesis on the rights and wrongs of the press and broadcasting unfold in his FT magazine column, with a bit of Peter Wilby in the Statesman as counterpoint. Matthew Parris in the Times can warm the cockles of the heart. And for jokes? You can’t beat a good sketch by Simon Hoggart in the Guardian. But then I would say that.”

Andreas Whittam Smith, founding editor, Independent

“There hasn’t been a commentator to whom I would turn with total respect since the death of Hugo Young. My problem with today’s political commentators is that they have been so bewitched by the Prime Minister’s fluency and PR skills that they have ignored his consistently poor judgement.”

Deborah Orr. Independent

“I like so many! My Indie colleagues, each and every one except abysmal, odious, vile Bruce Anderson. Julie Burchill is first among columnists for sheer elemental verve. Suzanne Moore for intelligence and wit, India Knight for waspish hilarity, Gary Younge, Nick Cohen, David Aaronovitch, Catherine Bennett, Peter Wilby, Simon Jenkins, Allison Pearson, Polly Toynbee, Madeleine Bunting, AN Wilson, Jonathan Freedland, Will Self, of course – he’s my husband, after all, and most of all – totally unmissable above all others – Liz Jones. There are, I’m afraid, loads of others too. I do like a strong opinion, bracingly proffered …”

Martin Kettle, Guardian

“Most of us columnists are not nearly as worth reading as we should be and as we think we are. We don’t know as much as we pretend, we have too few insights and we are over-indulged. Leader columns are generally much wiser. Still, if the acid test of a good columnist is that they make you think – and I can’t think of a better one – then my top three in this country are Anatole Kaletsky, Matthew D’Ancona and Philip Stephens.



“I always enjoy reading Matthew Parris and Peter Oborne even if I don’t always agree with them. I think David Aaronovitch is hors concours for standing up to the lazy consensus and I greatly regret his departure from the Guardian. Among my own colleagues, since the death of the irreplaceable Hugo Young, I regard Polly Toynbee as the closest thing to a journalistic paragon and I confess an enduring weakness for Catherine Bennett.”

Charlie Burgess, Managing Editor, Independent

“Hamish McRae, the Independent’s economics commentator, has the ability to explain the difficulties of his subject with a light touch that makes it understandable to ordinary people like me. Importantly he has gained my trust. I believe what he says.



“Comment pages have to have the right mix. There is no point in ramming the party line down the readers’ throats all the time – which is why the Independent has the likes of right winger Bruce Anderson on their pages and the Guardian uses Max Hastings. Most people will have forgotten that Enoch Powell had a column in the Guardian.”

Derek Wyatt MP

“Start my day with lovelacemedia’s online newsletter about Media and IT; go to FT and then Guardian usually to editorial in FT and op-ed in the Guardian; later in the day receive Washington Post and Cnet online and that gives me a view across the industry in both countries. Follow anything else via the web and other later delivered online newsletters.”

Rufus Olins, Editor-in-Chief, Management Today

”My favourite commentators are: Jonathan Freedland, Simon Jenkins and Philip

Stephens. Each has a reliable moral compass and the ability to shed light on complex situations – as opposed to the minutiae of their own daily lives – through their humanity, intelligence and above all command of the facts.”

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