The mainstreaming of leftist violence
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Democratic lawmakers and commentators found themselves in a quandary. On the one hand,…
The Murray Test for TV drama
It is almost a century since Ronald Knox wrote his ‘Ten Commandments’ for detective fiction. Most of them still hold…
First they came for the Jews…
It was moving to watch Keir Starmer announce this week, from a corridor in Downing Street, that his government has…
The political resurrection of Christianity
There is a passage in Milan Kundera’s novelisitic essay ‘Testaments Betrayed’ where he writes about the nature of history. Man…
Beware the restless, shifty liars
I have only been to Alexandria once, some years ago, when Hosni Mubarak was still in power, but it struck…
Can anyone save Britain from self-destruction?
Tens of thousands of people turned out on the streets last week to protest against mass immigration. The protestors were…
The wrong kind of flag-raising
At the end of Sky News’s coverage of last year’s Notting Hill Carnival, its correspondent recited the usual list of…
The oppression of Sally Rooney
Almost a decade ago the Irish academic Liam Kennedy published a tremendous book with the title Unhappy the Land: the…
Clive of India must not fall
The only MP I have ever really wanted to marry is Thangam Debbonaire. The former Labour MP for Bristol West…
My victory over Mohammed Hijab
One of the occupational hazards of being a journalist is being hounded by litigants. Indeed, one of the reasons why…
How to handle the Wagner problem
There are deep ructions across Europe, as in Britain. All come down to the same thing. The societies in question…
MAGA, Epstein and the paedo files
Bill Clinton published another memoir last year, entitled Citizen, and I take it that everyone read the book the minute…
The pointlessness of ‘smashing the gangs’
‘Smash the gangs’ is the fascinating slogan that Keir Starmer’s government has settled on for tackling illegal migration. What is…
My tips to avoid arrest by the Met
An interesting event occurred in London at the weekend. A young man who goes by the name of Montgomery Toms…
Who really built this country?
Anyone who has visited Canada or Australia in recent years might have noticed an interesting new tradition. This is the…
The dangers of toxic femininity
The American critic and classicist Daniel Mendelsohn has just published a new translation of The Odyssey. In his superb introduction,…
What else could Israel do?
Over the past few days British readers have been able to enjoy a number of hot takes on the situation…
How to ruin a city
Why would you choose to make a city crappy? Plenty of cities don’t have much going for them. But when…
Richard Hermer’s campaign against Britain
Five years ago, the man who is now Lord Hermer gave an interview to the Times. The then QC was…
The derangement of Harvard
It is 60 years since William F. Buckley said that he would ‘rather be governed by the first 2,000 people…
The death of public discourse
It is said that since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, it is once again possible to use the…
Should you be arrested for reading The Spectator?
Regular readers will know that I have an obsession with home burglaries. Specifically those occasions when a burglar goes into…
Our politicians find truth more painful than fiction
Do you remember the great Adolescence debate? It may feel like an age ago, but way back in March Netflix…
The unbearable smugness of American journalists
Polls occasionally appear which reveal the extent to which people trust – or rather don’t trust – journalists. In one…
The unbearable smugness of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
A poll from last year found that just 31 percent of the British public said they trust the media, a…
