We’re making a spectacle of shame
When I was about ten, on return home from church I ate a peach, the juice of which dribbled down…
Political pandering won’t prevent Covid deaths
When the media have gone large on the conclusions of an overpoweringly tedious report, one of the biggest favours a…
Marching against racism is too easy
When I first saw the footage of George Floyd being asphyxiated by a policeman’s knee on his throat, my reaction…
Marching against racism is too easy
When I first saw the footage of George Floyd being asphyxiated by a policeman’s knee on his throat, my reaction…
Is living without risk really living at all?
Taking my life in my hands — as we all do when getting out of bed — I walked along…
This is not a natural disaster, but a manmade one
Should our future permit an occupation so frivolous, historians years from now will make a big mistake if they blame…
If this is a war, let’s fight it like one
Under the cloud of conformity that has settled over the land as a replacement for air pollution, heretics who doubt…
Real problems erase fake ones
Last week, a friend quoted a two-year-old email of mine: ‘I’m starting to root for a plague or world war…
The British have bought the lockdown hook, line and sinker
I am a type. I don’t like groups. I maintain few memberships. I question and resist authority, especially enforcement of…
The longer lockdown continues, the more imperilled we become
Comically, Chinese Communist party officials have speculated that Covid-19 was planted by the US army. Yet a respectable conspiracy theorist…
Why Hachette were wrong to drop Woody Allen’s memoir
Even amid plague, economic apocalypse, and the cancellation of 2020, dumb stuff keeps happening. Besides, loads of us will now…
An open letter to the friend who dropped me after Question Time
I’ve put off sending a private email that’s been ready to go for weeks. Then last Sunday, I read Julie…
Cyclists have become an easy police target
Most Britons assume at the outset that any misfortune involving a cyclist is the cyclist’s fault. After all, many a…
I won’t read American Dirt – but not because the author has the wrong skin colour
Readers of The Spectator who keep up with the latest literary hissy fits could have predicted (perhaps with a groan)…
Is ‘Mini Mike’ a growing threat to Trump?
Should Bernie Sanders become the Democratic presidential nominee, expect the media to overuse these sprightly English expressions: ‘between a rock…
Is ‘Mini Mike’ a growing threat to Trump?
Should Bernie Sanders become the Democratic presidential nominee, expect the media to overuse these sprightly English expressions: ‘between a rock…
For cod’s sake, don’t sacrifice the fish
One of the more dispiriting experiences of the British supermarket is a visit to the fish counter. On a historically…
The persecution (and vindication) of Kevin Myers is a parable of our times
It seems seasonably suitable to celebrate good news. Unfortunately, as in most serviceable stories, for something good to happen, something…
We don’t owe Waspi women tea and biscuits
The pressure group Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) is oddly named. What their campaign opposes is pension equality. Now,…
Labour’s real 2019 manifesto
In 2019, Labour’s strategy is about delivering a fairer, more prosperous society, in adherence to our motto: for the zany,…
Dear Nigel: Don’t become the man who reversed the referendum result
Dear Nigel Believe it or not, I’ve been your defender. I’ve often told Americans, ‘Sure, he comes across as a…
Dear Nigel: Don’t become the man who reversed the referendum result
Dear Nigel Believe it or not, I’ve been your defender. I’ve often told Americans, ‘Sure, he comes across as a…
For Remainers, Brexit is really about power
At the New Yorker Festival party in mid-October, my astute colleague hardly needed the caution. But you know how at…
Even in New York they’re going nuts over Brexit
At the New Yorker Festival party in mid-October, my astute colleague hardly needed the caution. But you know how at…
Asians are doing too well – they must be stopped
Riddle: when is discrimination against a historically disadvantaged racial minority perfectly legal? Answer: when they do too well. The first…