The dangerous pleasure of hating men
I have Netflix, and in particular the series Maid, to thank for the startling discovery of how easy it is…
‘A change of mind and heart’
Michael Nazir-Ali on his decision to join the Catholic church
Don’t mix up murder and hate crime
I’m not sure very many of our politicians, the London Mayor or even the Met can really be said to…
Little people, big nightmare
I think it’s for the best if we ban all children’s books containing the word ‘dream’. Dream big, little dreamer,…
The doors of St Aidan’s were locked
The end of summer 2021, the end of the great British staycation. I sat on the grass outside the post…
Is burglary on the rise again?
Long before the official numbers began to rise, back in 2014, it was clear that knife crime was on the…
The bogus business of stigma-busting
Our society is bristling with social stigmas, we’re told, even in the progressive West, even in London. Life is so…
Won’t the Catholic church stand up for mothers?
I’m used to waiting for the Catholic church to make sense. I’m a convert to Catholicism, and Catholic ideas sometimes…
Bay Area Woman needs to man up
A few weeks ago, more than 2,000 employees of Apple Inc. signed a petition that led to the sacking of…
The writing’s on the wall
Towards the end of April, my mum sent me a letter. She doesn’t write as a rule — we speak…
‘A worse pandemic will be next’
Michael Lewis on the scientists who saw Covid coming – and were ignored
The islanders who met their god – Prince Philip
Some time around 2006 my then flatmate, a filmmaker, had a good idea: why not make a programme of reverse…
Our mental health is going up in smoke
As we creep back into the open, as the Covid wards empty and the mental health clinics fill up, how…
The redemption of Flannery O’Connor
I have a thought for the students of Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland: this Easter, why not resurrect Flannery O’Connor?…
Inspector Spector
Britain’s leading epidemiologist on the ticking time bomb of long Covid
Reinventing the wheel
For most London-based politicians, there’s a threat that’s worse than Covid. You’ll begin to notice it as we ease out…
Bring on the vaccine passports
For more than 20 years, I’ve been raging away at pointless rules. When my blood’s up, there’s not a foam-flecked…
Daydream believer
I miss daydreaming. It’s a small problem to have in a pandemic, but it nags at me. Laptop, cooker, home-school,…
How to spot a cultist
There’s something creepy about the way we call Donald Trump fans a cult, then watch them hungrily, hoping they’ll do…
Why Merlina, the Tower of London raven, was so remarkable
Merlin (or Merlina), the cleverest and most sociable of the Tower of London ravens is missing. It’s a bad omen…
I know why Welby is so worn out
Justin Welby is having a holiday and people are unhappy about it. He plans, in May, to take a three-month…
Will the Abbey ring for Remembrance Day?
It took me several weeks, after returning to the Spectator office, to work out what was missing. It wasn’t the…
Cute rots the brain
I have become allergic to ‘cute’, bad-tempered biddy that I am. Cuteness and the requirement to be cute have spread…
There’s nothing ‘wild’ about elopement
I didn’t realise how attached I was to the traditional British wedding — the whole messy, pricey, drunken business —…
The Catholic church’s cowardly betrayal
Of all the sad and surreal things to happen in the past few months, the Catholic church’s decision to abandon…
