Patrick Vallance and the politicisation of Covid science
Throughout the Covid meetings, Sir Patrick Vallance was scribbling almost as much as Michael Gove, leading Boris Johnson to assume…
‘Childhood has been rewired’: Professor Jonathan Haidt on how smartphones are damaging a generation
Something strange is happening with teenagers’ mental health. In Britain, the US, Australia and beyond, the same trend can be…
Boris Johnson was right to say the NHS was not overwhelmed
The trivia-obsessed Covid Inquiry has today been having fun with Dominic Cummings’s emails and finding rude words he used about…
Why Angela McLean’s ‘Dr Death’ jibe matters
Does it matter if the chief scientific adviser referred to Rishi Sunak as ‘Dr Death’ In a private message to…
In defence of Steve Bell
One of Britain’s best-known cartoonists, Steve Bell, says he has been ‘effectively sacked’ by the Guardian after drawing Benjamin Netanyahu.…
Why did Australia vote No in the Voice referendum?
I’m in Sydney for the Voice referendum result and was ready to settle in and watch the declarations for each…
Can Sunak really cast himself as the enemy of the status quo?
Rishi Sunak today revealed a new enemy that he’s defining himself against: ‘the 30-year status quo’. Why this period? Because…
Is a path to victory opening up for Rishi Sunak?
A new Rishi Sunak is being launched at Tory conference and one I saw first hand being interviewed by Laura…
The Spectator – an update
The Spectator’s financial accounts are released today. We normally don’t make a fuss about them but these are unusual times,…
Can Dr Jenny Harries accept her lockdown mistake?
Next time there’s a pandemic, the advice of Dr Jenny Harries will be crucial. She runs the UK Health Security…
Was Liz Truss wrong – or wronged?
A year ago, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng had just announced that they would hold a mini-Budget. It turned out…
Why Sunak’s prayers in Delhi matter
Ever since Alastair Campbell’s declaration that ‘we don’t do God’, no prime minister – and almost no politician – has…
Why Birmingham council went bust
There’s a bit too much schadenfreude from Tories over the effective bankruptcy of Birmingham Council. Its ‘Section 114 notice’ is…
Nadine Dorries is vindicating Sunak’s refusal to ennoble her
After waiting for months, Nadine Dorries has today served her resignation – as several MPs have done recently. But, enraged by…
Starmer will have cash to spend, thanks to the Tories
It’s great to see Philip Collins back in the Times: you may agree or disagree with him as a columnist but his writing…
The drop in language students has nothing to do with Brexit
The number of students studying modern languages is plummeting, The Sunday Times says today. ‘The number of pupils studying German…
Rishi Sunak’s trade-off ideology
In his interview with the Sunday Telegraph proclaiming himself to be pro-car, Rishi Sunak made an interesting point: that this…
The Clarkson ruling puts Ipso in violation of its own charter
At 10pm last night, the BBC sent out a ‘breaking news’ notification informing millions that a joke made by Jeremy…
Albanian small boat arrivals fall 99 per cent
With the return of Tory psychodrama and the leak of CCHQ lockdown party videos, Rishi Sunak needs something to go…
Did Eat Out to Help Out rekindle Covid? A look at the data
John Edmunds was, with Neil Ferguson, one of the main advocates of lockdown but has been remarkably silent about how…
Why Erdogan won
This was supposed to be the year when Recep Erdogan would finally come to grief. Instead, he has defied the…
Jeremy Clarke, 1957-2023
Jeremy Clarke, one of the most loved columnists in the history of The Spectator, died this morning at his home…
When will the Tories face up to Britain’s benefits scandal?
When researching The Spectator cover story last week, we came across a figure so shocking that I felt it had…
Migration nation: Brexit has meant more immigration than ever
Brexit has led to more immigration than ever
In defence of Martin Rowson
Being a cartoonist is a high-risk job nowadays. Your job is to satirise and caricature, to exaggerate bodily features. Every…
