Robin Ashenden

Kemi Badenoch has a secret weapon in the fight against Nigel Farage

8 February 2025 5:30 pm

Things are currently looking choppy for Kemi Badenoch. Polls last weekend were bad enough, seven of them showing Reform leading…

Holocaust Remembrance Day isn’t enough

27 January 2025 4:30 pm

As Holocaust Remembrance Day comes round again, actual remembrance of the Holocaust seems fainter than ever. The arson attacks on…

Britain’s unending fascination with the Cambridge spies

18 January 2025 4:15 pm

Will we ever tire of the Cambridge spies? Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Burgess and Maclean – and to a lesser…

Vodka and the Beatles on a New Year’s Eve in Narva

31 December 2024 4:30 pm

Narva, the northern Estonian city right on the border with Russia, has been much in the news of late. Not…

The triumph of When Harry Met Sally

28 December 2024 9:01 pm

Look at any list of the ‘greatest ever romcoms’ and you’ll find When Harry Met Sally near the top of…

Keir Starmer, the Christmas Grinch

23 December 2024 11:00 am

If someone were to read the runes, this first Labour Christmas would not augur well. Not only have we had…

Democrats are desperate for a new Bill Clinton

17 December 2024 2:14 am

In the weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, Democrat supporters, amidst much gnashing of teeth, have offered up…

The attack on Ben Judah is nothing to celebrate

16 December 2024 5:31 pm

Readers of The Spectator may remember the 2021 defenestration of author and teacher Kate Clanchy, which saw her part company…

Only another Bill Clinton can save the Democrats now

15 December 2024 5:14 pm

In the weeks since Donald Trump won the US election, Democrat supporters, amidst much gnashing of teeth, have offered up…

The pundits’ attacks on farmers would make Alan Partridge blush

5 December 2024 11:43 pm

In the weeks since Rachel Reeves’s Budget and its shock attack on agricultural property relief, we’ve seen various armchair pundits…

Things can only get worse for Keir Starmer

3 December 2024 4:30 pm

Finally a date has been set – 29 January 2025 – for the government to debate points posed by the…

What’s the best film about US politics?

2 December 2024 3:59 pm

After Donald Trump’s election-win, many junkies of US politics will be needing another fix. But if you’ve already overdosed on…

Is it time to ban boxing?

16 November 2024 7:19 pm

This year, as almost every year, there have been calls for a complete ban on boxing. Two fighters, Ardi Ndembo…

Kemi Badenoch’s early troubles are no reason to despair

15 November 2024 4:30 pm

A consensus seems to be forming, with unreasonable speed, that Kemi Badenoch isn’t exactly smashing it at Prime Minister’s Questions.…

Is Kemi Badenoch the new Mrs Thatcher?

4 November 2024 6:16 pm

Prior to her election as Conservative Leader at the weekend, Kemi Badenoch was, on numerous occasions, compared to Margaret Thatcher.…

What Gen Z need to know about the 1990s

3 November 2024 5:00 pm

‘Nothing,’ said Vladimir Nabokov, ‘revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it’. If smell…

I fear for Georgia’s future

28 October 2024 7:30 pm

Following this weekend’s fraughtly awaited election ‘results’ in Georgia – as important for the country’s direction as any since the…

The endless allure of the Shipping Forecast

27 October 2024 5:00 pm

The Shipping Forecast on Radio 4, 100 years old this October, seems to have achieved the impossible. Few people know the places…

John le Carré and the perils of resurrecting Smiley

20 October 2024 5:00 pm

Next week, a new novel comes out featuring George Smiley, John le Carré’s meek, mild, fiercely intelligent Cold War spymaster.…

Only Ed Miliband would want to live next to an electricity pylon

13 October 2024 6:15 pm

Some find happiness through love, some through religion, others through their work or hobbies. But Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has…

Kemi Badenoch is a gamble the Tories must take

8 October 2024 8:49 pm

No, please no. Not again. Not again! As the Conservatives gear up to choose their final two candidates, and bookmakers…

The 1990s were Britain’s sunset years

6 October 2024 5:00 pm

A myth seems to be developing about the 1990s. In a recent programme on Disney Plus called In Vogue: The…

James Bond is past his best

28 September 2024 3:02 pm

Is James Bond looking knackered, or is it just me? At 54, I’m at an age where I’ve given up…

Why isn’t Gary Oldman playing Smiley again?

21 September 2024 4:00 pm

Following the huge success of the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – from the book of the same name…

Oasis obsessives should broaden their horizons

15 September 2024 3:30 pm

For those of us not into Oasis in the 90s, the past month’s mania over their reunion has been baffling.…