Mary Wakefield

Mary Wakefield is commissioning editor of The Spectator.

Why I hate drones

24 June 2023 9:00 am

I have a plan for my old age. Now that we all might live for a century or so, feeling…

The kids aren’t ‘trans’ – they just don’t want to grow up

10 June 2023 9:00 am

If we rule out the notion that people have ‘gendered souls’ at odds with their biological sex – and we…

Dr Jean Twenge: Gen Z aren’t OK

3 June 2023 9:00 am

Dr Jean Twenge on why teenagers are so unhappy

I know how AI will bring us down

27 May 2023 9:00 am

On the smooth marble concourse by the exit doors at Heathrow Airport I met my first cleaning robot. It was…

Here’s why the NHS is broken

29 April 2023 9:00 am

I was having tea with my neighbour in her second-floor flat when a man, a stranger, appeared in the room.…

Lessons in parenting – from the French

15 April 2023 9:00 am

I am actively contributing to the decline of the West and to the collapse of our civilisation. I realised this…

Beware the AI voice thieves

1 April 2023 9:00 am

After years of blissful indifference, finally I’m scared of AI. I’ve been complacent, slept soundly beside my husband as he…

Is your child a cake?

4 March 2023 9:00 am

It was announced last week that another gender has been added to the list: nominalgender. Most news sites reported this…

I know where the Met police are going wrong

4 February 2023 9:00 am

I have a puzzle for the Metropolitan police – a mystery that only they can solve. Why, if the Met…

Don’t medicalise tomboys

18 January 2023 10:00 pm

When the mist lifts and we can see clearly the carnage caused by the trans madness, and we blink and…

Real memories aren’t ‘made’

7 January 2023 9:00 am

If I could make a new year’s resolution for everyone in the English–speaking world, it would be that we all…

How Pope Benedict persuaded me to become a Catholic

29 December 2022 1:23 am

I grew up in a traditional English family, surrounded by cousins, chivvied by aunts, presided over by my grandmother, who…

The greatest threat to Holy Island since the Vikings

17 December 2022 9:00 am

It’s hard to explain how sad it will be if, after Christmas, Defra officials ban fishing on Holy Island, also…

There’s nothing magic about magic mushrooms

19 November 2022 9:00 am

For about six straight hours after taking magic mushrooms – psilocybin – I had visions of a vast, skeletal shark…

In defence of Elon Musk

5 November 2022 9:00 am

I know a man who plans to burn an effigy of Elon Musk on his bonfire on 5 November. Musk…

Why can’t I give blood?

22 October 2022 9:00 am

I read about the national shortage of blood last week with a feeling of gloomy inevitability. The brains of the…

Why are so many young women buying into polygamy?

24 September 2022 9:00 am

The saddest thing I saw this week was a dating advert written by a woman – let’s call her Jane…

Kill badgers to save hedgehogs

10 September 2022 9:00 am

Until last month I hadn’t seen a hedgehog for close to 30 years, though they were part of everyday life…

How kindness became big business

13 August 2022 9:00 am

In those moments when I most fear that the West is on the skids, I find it helps to make…

Remembering Gore Vidal

31 July 2022 10:00 pm

Fourteen years ago, my then boss, Matt d’Ancona sent me off to interview Gore Vidal. I’ll always be grateful to…

The joy of volcano-chasing

23 July 2022 9:00 am

Mary Wakefield on Katia and Maurice Krafft, who loved volcanoes and each other

Parents must resist Stonewall’s gospel

16 July 2022 9:00 am

I think by now it’s becoming horribly apparent to parents of every political persuasion that we can’t sit out the…

If only Tom Cruise would ditch his cult

18 June 2022 9:00 am

I keep reading that Tom Cruise is the Last Great Movie Star, as if he’s some noble but endangered animal.…

The nonsense world of emotional support animals

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Sometimes an event or a phenomenon is so perplexing and so terrible that it’s best not to deal with it…

How did we fall for the junk science of forensics?

7 May 2022 9:00 am

I grew up in the golden age of forensic science, at a time when expert witnesses were becoming celebs, each…