Why vegans must not own cats
Is it ethical for vegans to own cats? It’s an interesting question because vegans look set to take over —…
Natural England is overwhelmed – and farmers are paying the price
Last week, on the first day of the government’s ban on farmers shooting pest birds, I walked across St James’s…
My friend’s death taught me what Easter really means
The bravest thing I’ve ever seen was 93-year-old Albert’s decision to die and the days after in which he stuck…
There’s an arms race underway – between headphones and musak
I live with a ghost, or rather, I share an address with a man who’s been dead for many years.…
‘If I get an adrenaline rush, something’s gone wrong’: An interview with Free Solo’s Alex Honnold
My husband, usually a cool customer, watched Free Solo from behind his fingers, sometimes jumping up from the sofa and…
The scent of London has changed: all I can smell now is cannabis
Fewer people are smoking cannabis these days, down to 1.4 million from two million, they say. I say, if you…
Benedict Cumberbatch on playing my husband, Dominic Cummings
Imagine looking at a photo of a stranger and feeling in response, quite naturally, the sort of happy affection you…
Neil MacGregor: belief is what holds a society together
‘But what must it be like for the fish?’ We’re talking about cormorants, Neil MacGregor and I, and the spectacular…
I admit it – I’m a smartphone addict
I am often extremely dismissive of people immersed in their smartphones. I tut at the mole-ish pedestrians who step out…
What Mills & Boon can teach us in the age of #MeToo
In celebration of its 110th birthday, I downloaded a Mills & Boon — The Greek Tycoon’s Blackmailed Mistress — and…
The objects that sound witchiest on paper just look sad: Spellbound reviewed
Just in front of me, visiting Spellbound at the Ashmolean last week, was a very rational boy of about seven…
Yes, we London cyclists really are a nasty lot
One morning a long time ago, when the Spectator offices were still in Bloomsbury, I hopped my bike up onto…
It’s time to take on the paedophiles
Abusing children is one of the most terrible things men do. We all agree about that. And I think we’re…
Why dismiss a Catholic priest for being Catholic?
They’re just kids! What’s your problem? This has become the default reaction of a whole raft of clever people to…
Why do so many women feel such a strong urge to paint?
Why do so many women feel such a strong urge to paint? It has been troubling me for years now.…
Antony Gormley’s art works better in theory than in practice
Antony Gormley has replicated again. Every year or so a new army of his other selves — cast, or these…
Is it ok for Muslim parents to stop their kids having non-Muslim pals?
Is it all right for the Muslim parents of children at British state schools to prevent their sons and daughters…
After decades in London, I still long for home. Is that too Brexity?
As I get older, and particularly after having a child, I feel myself unexpectedly drawn back to the countryside I…
An odd new feeling has crept up on me – sympathy for the police
Spring has come to my local park in its usual way. First the magnolias, then the cherry blossom, then the…
Has Virgin trains lost the plot?
Twelve minutes till the train. That had seemed like quite enough time as I approached the Virgin ticket machine. Two…
Commitment-phobic men are the real reason women are having children later
We are becoming a nation of older mothers. The average age at which a woman has her first child is…
Why we keep ignoring NGO sex scandals
One of the oddest things about the Oxfam sex scandal is how little we all seem to care. Even now,…
UN ‘Peace-keepers’ abuse the girls in their care, yet no one is ever punished
Last week, women working for the UN became the latest to join the #MeToo gang, and for all the eye-rolling…
For some girls, therapy does more harm than good
In the churchyard by the church near my grandmother’s house, there’s a tombstone with an inscription that’s haunted me since…
How can any intelligent person have faith?
Ten years ago, I had a strange debate about faith with a famous Jesuit and an agnostic psychoanalyst in a…
