Dear Santa: My 14 requests for the new year
It is always a pleasure to watch Paris burning. On the surface a civilised country, but scrape a little deeper…
![The Little Drummer Girl [Photo: BBC]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2018/12/16729426_low_res_the_little_drummer_girl_1.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
John le Carré is like Shakespeare – his plots are improbable beyond comprehension
Thank the blessed Lord it’s over. Not Brexit, or Theresa May’s flailing and spastic governance. I’m talking about John le…
Sex in church is fine – just keep the Christians out
Nic Roeg’s art-house thriller from 1973 Don’t Look Now was most famous, or infamous, for its lengthy and explicit sex…
1975 was a great year for pop – worthy of a better band than The 1975
Grade: C A derided year in pop music, 1975 — and yet a great one. The mainstream was horrible, but…
The only thing you’re allowed to hate is hate itself
If we are to ban states of mind, my vote would be for self-righteousness first, followed by sententiousness, with maybe…
They. Cannot. Write. Songs: Mumford & Sons reviewed
Grade: D+ I promise you this isn’t simply class loathing. Yer toffs have contributed to British rock and pop and…
The elites will never let us peasants fully revolt
Peasants’ Revolts tend not to work out too well in this country, for the peasants. I suppose that is why…
The ideal album for getting rid of guests over Christmas: Yoko Ono’s Warzone reviewed
Grade: A+ Ooh, you can have some fun with this when the unwanted guests swing by this Christmastide. These are…
How smoking saved my life
I almost got killed this week. I went for a very early morning walk in a New Hampshire forest, in…
Good news – now everyone can be a victim
We are terribly remiss in our coverage of women’s sport in The Spectator, so I thought I would try to…
Laudably perverse – maybe album of the year: Cypress Hill’s Elephants on Acid reviewed
Grade: A+ Easily album title of the year, maybe album of the year. A true bravura offering from these supposedly…
Critics hated Julie Burchill’s Brexit play. What does that say about them?
There is a new book out about the sun — the bright thing in the sky, not the newspaper. It…
What’s not to like about Christine and the Queens? Her music
Grade: B– Ooh goody — a parade to rain on! You wouldn’t believe the hyperbole expended by the rock critics…
The truth is we prefer to lie
There are no necessary truths any more. Everything is contingent. And those contingencies are the consequence not of what happens…
Rod Liddle: In defence of marriage
I took part in a debate organised by the Times this week about reform of our divorce laws. Well, I…
Men and women are born equal but different. Deal with it
I was delighted to see Claire Foy win an Emmy award for her portrayal of the Queen in the fine…
Is it possible to draw Serena Williams without being racist?
I have spent the morning trying to draw a cartoon of a black person without it being racist. It’s bloody…
It’s not just the moon landings. Everywhere, the PC brigade is rewriting history
I remember the moon landing very well. I was nine years old. I can remember too my sense of outrage…
The people vs Brexit: a very elite insurgency
The very best impressionists do not simply mimic the mannerisms, speech patterns and facial expressions of their targets — they…
Pretentious jowly mumrock: Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night III reviewed
Grade: C+ Mumrock. A lucrative genre, dating from the beginning of the 1970s, when Mums suddenly wanted something a little…
And I think to myself, not a wonderful world…
The story of Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan is an interesting one, I think, for what it tells us about…
Teenage Fanclub reissues
Still got your record player? Dig it out. The crunchier the music, the better it sounds on vinyl: a broader…
Jeremy Corbyn is either deeply sinister – or a total idiot
The crowd were singing ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ again, at a festival in Cornwall, the words appended to a riff by…
Why Boris is wrong about burkas
Were you aware that men who transition into women can suffer period pains, despite not having a uterus? Oh, they…
Bigots of the world, unite!
If Jews would get out of Israel and also stop drinking the blood of gentile children, perhaps the rest of…
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