Sir Simon David Jenkins FLSW (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

from 2008 to 2014. He currently writes columns for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''.

Early life

Jenkins was born , in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. His father, Daniel Thomas Jenkins, was a Welsh professor of systematic theology at

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

and a Minister in the Congregational and then

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

. He was educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where he earned a degree in

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

Career

Journalism

After graduating from the University of Oxford, Jenkins initially worked at '' Country Life'' magazine, before joining the '' Times Educational Supplement.'' He was then features editor and columnist on the ''

'' before editing the

Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...

pages of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. From 1976 to 1978 he was editor of the ''Evening Standard'', before becoming political editor of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' from 1979 to 1986. He edited ''

'' from 1990 to 1992, and since then has been a columnist for ''The Times'' and ''

''. In 1998 he received the '' What the Papers Say'' Journalist of the Year award. In January 2005, he announced he was ending his 15-year association with ''The Times'' to write a book, before joining ''The Guardian'' as a columnist. He retained a column at ''The Sunday Times'' and was a contributing blogger at ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. He gave up both on becoming chairman of the

in 2008, when he also resumed an occasional column for the ''Evening Standard''.

Opinions

In April 2009, ''The Guardian'' withdrew one of Jenkins's articles from its website after

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

leader and South African president-elect

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

sued the paper for defamation. ''The Guardian'' issued an apology, and settled the libel case for an undisclosed sum. In February 2010, Jenkins argued in a ''Guardian'' article that British control over the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

was an "expensive legacy of empire" and should be handed over to the Argentinian government. He argued that they could be leased back under the supervision of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and that the 2,500 or so Falkland Islanders should not have "an unqualified veto on British government policy". In a piece in ''The Guardian'' in June 2010 he wrote that the government should "cut efence all £45 billion of it. ... With the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

in the 1990s that threat f global communismvanished." In August 2016 he wrote in ''The Guardian'' in support of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

membership, saying: "It is a real deterrent, and its plausibility rests on the assurance of collective response". Jenkins claims to have voted for the UK to remain within the European Union in the

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions o ...

, arguing in ''The Guardian'' that leaving would provide Germany with dominance over the remainder of the union: "It would leave Germany effectively alone at the head of Europe, alternately hesitant and bullying". Soon after

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

became Prime Minister, Jenkins wrote that his aides were "young, sneakered, tieless image-makers, and fiercely loyal to him." They were "special advisers, thinktanks and lobby groups isolated from the world outside." Jenkins has consistently argued against Western military intervention in and support for Ukraine in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. Before the outbreak of the Russian invasion in January 2022, amid heightened tensions, Jenkins wrote a pair of columns arguing that the United Kingdom should stay out of the "border dispute", one he argues is a direct result of '

expansionism'. In 2023, he wrote a column discouraging the supplying of jets as military aid. In early 2024, he wrote that NATO was growing reckless in the conflict, as the war reached a "predictable stalemate". Jenkins has been criticized for his opinions on Ukraine by many journalists and commentators, examples including Mark Laity and Oz Katerji. In May 2024, following the local elections, he wrote calling metro mayors a "farce of local democracy" advocating their abolition.

Books

Jenkins has written several books on the

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and architecture of England, including ''England's Thousand Best Churches'' and ''England's Thousand Best Houses''. In his 2011 book ''A Short History of England'', he argued that the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

"was a remarkable institution that dismantled itself in good order". In 2022, Jenkins's book, ''The Celts: A Sceptical History'', stoked some controversy on account of his incredulous view of the

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

as a distinct cultural entity. The release of the work was met with a number of hostile reviews from specialists in Celtic studies, with these critics of the book alleging factual errors in the work as well as of the misrepresentation of sources.

Public appointments

Jenkins served on the boards of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

1979–1990 and London Transport 1984–1986. He was a member of the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

from February 1994 to December 2000, and has also sat on the board of trustees of The Architecture Foundation. From 1985 to 1990, he was deputy chairman of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. In July 2008, it was announced that he had been chosen as the new chairman of the

; he took over the three-year post from William Proby in November of that year. He remained in the post until November 2014.

Personal life and honours

Jenkins married the American actress Gayle Hunnicutt in 1978; the couple had one son. They separated in 2008 and divorced in 2009. He married Hannah Kaye, events producer at Intelligence Squared, in 2014. Jenkins was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

for services to

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

in the 2004 New Year Honours. In 2022, Jenkins was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

Selected works

*Simon Jenkins (1969) ''Education and Labour's Axe'', Bow Publications, *Simon Jenkins (1971) ''Here to Live: Study of Race Relations in an English Town'', Runnymede Trust, *Simon Jenkins (1975) ''Landlords to London: Story of a Capital and Its Growth'', Constable, *Simon Jenkins (1979) ''Newspapers: The Power and the Money'', Faber, *Simon Jenkins (1981) ''Newspapers Through the Looking-glass'', Manchester Statistical Society, *

Sir Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...

and Simon Jenkins (1984) ''Battle for the Falklands'', M Joseph, *Simon Jenkins and Anne Sloman (1985) ''With Respect, Ambassador: Enquiry into the Foreign Office'', BBC, *Simon Jenkins (1986) ''The Market for Glory: Fleet Street Ownership in the Twentieth Century'', Faber and Faber, *Simon Jenkins and Robert Ilson (1992) ''"The Times" English Style and Usage Guide'', Times Books, *Simon Jenkins (1993) ''The Selling of Mary Davies and Other Writings'', John Murray, *Simon Jenkins (1994) ''Against the Grain'', John Murray, *Simon Jenkins (1995) ''Accountable to None: Tory Nationalization of Britain'', Hamish Hamilton, *Simon Jenkins (1999) ''England's Thousand Best Churches'', Allen Lane, *Simon Jenkins (2003) ''England's Thousand Best Houses'', Allen Lane, *Simon Jenkins (2006) ''Thatcher & Sons – A Revolution in Three Acts'', Penguin, *Simon Jenkins (2008) ''Wales: Churches, Houses, Castles'', Allen Lane, *Simon Jenkins (2011) ''A Short History of England'', Profile Books, *Simon Jenkins (2013) ''England's Hundred Best Views'', Profile Books, *Simon Jenkins (2016), ''England's Cathedrals'', Little Brown, *Simon Jenkins (2017) ''Britain's Hundred Best Railway Stations'', Penguin Books, *Simon Jenkins (2018) ''A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin'', Penguin Books, *Simon Jenkins (2022) ''Cathedrals: Masterpieces of Architecture, Feats of Engineering, Icons of Faith'', Rizzoli, *Simon Jenkins (2022) ''The Celts: A Sceptical History'', Profile Books,

References

External links

Simon Jenkins columns
at ''

''
Simon Jenkins columns
at ''

''
Simon Jenkins columns
at the ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

''
Simon Jenkins columns
at ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' *
''Debrett's People of Today''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Simon 1943 births Living people Alumni of St John's College, Oxford British Rail people English male bloggers English male journalists English newspaper editors Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London The Guardian journalists HuffPost writers and columnists Knights Bachelor London Evening Standard people Members of the Bow Group National Trust people People associated with the University of Wales, Lampeter People educated at City of Bath Boys' School People educated at Mill Hill School The Sunday Times people The Times people Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands Journalists from Birmingham, West Midlands Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales