Charles Moore

Charles Moore was editor of The Spectator 1984 - 1990. He continues to write a weekly column, The Spectator's Notes. You can read extracts of his column here.

Michelangelo’s David must fall

27 June 2020 9:00 am

‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ said the plane’s banner as it circled the club’s stadium just after the teams had ‘taken…

The grand names on Huawei’s payroll

20 June 2020 9:00 am

Why is it wrong, some ask, for senior British businessmen, former civil servants etc to work for Huawei UK? After…

What is Dominic Raab not telling us about Hong Kong?

13 June 2020 9:00 am

The government’s promised ‘pathway to citizenship’ to Hong Kong people is wonderful, but has the Foreign Office arranged a get-out…

What is it about Chinese totalitarianism that makes clever people so silly?

7 June 2020 6:00 pm

There is something about Chinese totalitarianism which brings out the silliness of many clever people. I suspect it is to…

The Spectator’s proud history of standing up for Hong Kong

6 June 2020 9:00 am

This week in 1989, the Chinese authorities massacred protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. I was editing this paper. It struck…

The ferocious bias against Dominic Cummings

30 May 2020 9:00 am

At Dominic Cummings’s press conference on Monday, reporters tried two lines of attack. One was to behave like local detectives,…

Cambridge University is kowtowing to China

23 May 2020 9:00 am

Last month, writing elsewhere, I quoted the website of the China Centre at Jesus College, Cambridge: ‘Under the leadership of…

Mixed messaging is good for us

16 May 2020 9:00 am

A friend, a senior retired mandarin, emails. He complains that rural lockdown means that he and his wife have ‘got…

We should heed the world's warnings about China

10 May 2020 6:00 pm

Mathias Döpfner is that still rare thing — an outspoken German. I have known him slightly for many years and…

We have had enough warnings about China

9 May 2020 9:00 am

Mathias Döpfner is that still rare thing — an outspoken German. I have known him slightly for many years and…

Good news for the Jewish Chronicle

2 May 2020 9:00 am

During the second world war, the collection of the National Gallery had to be hidden in a mountain in Wales…

The secrets of The Spectator’s success

24 April 2020 11:00 pm

Although I once edited this paper, and have written for it for almost 40 years, I did not know that…

Should medics be hassling old people with 'do not resuscitate' forms?

19 April 2020 3:01 pm

A neighbour of ours, self-isolating and with poor lung function, has twice been telephoned recently by the medical authorities. After pleasant…

Covid-19 is giving me hyper-focus on the beauty of spring

18 April 2020 9:00 am

We know, because of the lack of widespread testing, that incidences of Covid-19 are under-reported. What is less well known…

The problems of a sick prime minister

11 April 2020 9:00 am

It is good of President Trump to offer Boris Johnson his best wishes and the best American pharmaceuticals (though no…

Perhaps we are all communists now

4 April 2020 9:00 am

‘I am a columnist for the Daily Telegraph,’ I began a text message to an NHS executive last week. Due…

The psychological and economic dangers of enforced idleness

28 March 2020 9:00 am

‘Lourdes shrine closes healing pools as precaution against coronavirus,’ says a discouraging headline in the Catholic Herald. Jesus ‘made the…

Coronavirus has even kept the sex-strikers at home

21 March 2020 9:00 am

When we left this Britain on Thursday last week, life was almost as usual. Shops and restaurants were open. The…

Coronavirus might not be all bad news for the stock market

15 March 2020 6:30 pm

There cannot be many positive aspects to the coronavirus outbreak, but I wonder if it carries one for stock markets.…

Coronavirus is a metaphor for our vulnerability over Huawei

14 March 2020 9:00 am

Monday night’s Commons rebellion over Huawei was on a surprisingly serious scale for a new government with a big mandate.…

The ugliness of carbon zero

8 March 2020 6:27 pm

The government is trying to get onshore windfarms going again, defying the damage they do to unique environments. I am…

The government’s zero-carbon policies will do harm to Britain’s beautiful landscapes

7 March 2020 9:00 am

The government is trying to get onshore windfarms going again, defying the damage they do to unique environments. I am…

Jean Vanier’s sad fall from grace

29 February 2020 9:00 am

The fall from grace of Jean Vanier is truly a sad story. The founder of the L’Arche communities did extraordinary…

The perils of owning an erotic Nazi toy

21 February 2020 10:00 pm

My parents told me that their wartime childhoods were punctuated by the expression: ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’…

The BBC’s big problem is its obsession with itself

16 February 2020 7:00 pm

One reason people are disillusioned with the BBC is its obsession with itself. Here is the text of a question…