Roger Scruton: A man who seemed bigger than the age
Sir Roger Scruton has died. Diagnosed with cancer last summer, he passed away peacefully on Sunday surrounded by his family.…
‘I aspire to write for posterity’: An interview with Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard is Britain’s — perhaps the world’s — leading playwright. Born Tomas Straussler in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, in 1937,…
The failed lessons of the London Bridge attack
Some readers have been asking me to comment on the latest London Bridge terrorism incident. And if I have some…
The carnage inside Charlie Hebdo: an eyewitness’s account of the attack
It is almost five years since two trained jihadists went into the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris and killed…
Who’s listening? Civilized debate is dead
This article is in The Spectator’s November 2019 US edition. Subscribe here. Today nearly all real public discussion has become impossible. Which…
![A couple stage a ‘kiss-in’ in front of a Chick-fil-A in Hollywood in protest at the fast-food chain’s opposition to same-sex marriage [Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/10/Douglas_Murray_1.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
Don’t be such a chicken about Chick-fil-A
While never having felt any previous urge to dine in Reading, I now find myself trying to secure a table…
On black privilege
Discussions of ‘privilege’ have become one of the themes of this age. In a short space of time, the obsession…
The death of civilised debate
Today nearly all real public discussion has become impossible. Which is why nearly all public thinking has become impossible. Which…
An uncanny gift for prophecy — the genius of Michel Houellebecq
The backdrop of Michel Houellebecq’s novel is by now well established. In this — his eighth — the bleak, essentially…
Who’ll be the next jihadi-jackpot winner?
Reading the news this week of Jihadi Jack (née Letts, of Oxfordshire) having his UK passport withdrawn, my mind went…
Right from wrong: a guide to the new European politics
Italy is preparing to go back to the polls and this time Matteo Salvini looks set to return as the…
Does Kim Jong-un deliberately emulate a Bond villain?
North Korea watchers are good book-buyers, rarely able to resist scratching that itch of interest caused by the world’s worst…
No type of Brexit is worse than no Brexit at all
It’s a strange beast, the internet. On Monday night, I was slightly reluctantly dragged onto Newsnight to discuss Brexit. Attentive…
Society cannot be run by Twitter mobs
Two considerable injustices were undone this week. The first was the reinstatement of Sir Roger Scruton to the government’s ‘Building…
Roger Scruton gets his job back
Roger Scruton has been reappointed as head of a government housing body after he was sacked in April following a magazine interview…
Is Boris wrong to claim Islam set the Muslim world back?
I do love the Guardian. As the years go by almost no publication continues to give me such constant amusement.…
Billy Connolly and the death of free speech
I hope readers will forgive me for returning to a subject I addressed here recently. It was a reflection on the…
The confusing modern rules of telling a ‘joke’
The pace of outrage is such these days that before anybody has thought through any one outrage we are all…
Why this year’s al-Quds Day march could be different
This weekend might provide an interesting spectacle. On Sunday the annual al-Quds Day march sets off in London from outside…
The Scruton tapes: an anatomy of a modern hit job
Sometimes a scandal is not just a scandal, but a biopsy of a society. So it is with the assault…
Matteo Salvini: the man reinventing populist politics
While Britain continues to try to struggle its way out of the EU, perhaps it is wise to consider what…
Is now a good time to talk about Jews and money?
Is now a good time to talk about Jews and money? The Jewish Museum in London thinks so, and perhaps…
Douglas Murray: will we have a country left after Brexit?
It isn’t easy getting around the Gulf these days. The blockade on Qatar means no direct flights from most of…
The case for prosecuting Bloody Sunday ‘Soldier F’
It is more than 15 years since the Bloody Sunday soldiers last appeared in public. For months I sat in…
The Iolaire was packed with island men who could have sailed her home with ease
The centenaries of the Great War came to a close in November with commemorations of the 1918 Armistice. But one…
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