In what possible way was Nick Boles ever a Conservative?
Who is your favourite brave Remainer Conservative MP? Anna Soubry has to be near the top of the list, for…
On the subject of John Bercow
You can buy the latest edition of Thomas Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice for just over three hundred quid, but I…
Why I’ve joined the SDP (and why you should, too)
I was down the pub with my wife last week, out in the tiny smoking section, when a woman with…
Brexit is now dead
And that, my lovely friends, is it for Brexit. You kippers and ERGers who think we’ll leave with no deal,…
In defence of a liberal education
A good decade or so ago I wrote a fairly vituperative article in response to a piece by the writer…
Magnificently incoherent: Royal Trux’s White Stuff reviewed
Grade:A Royal Trux are back — kind of. Singer (if that’s what you want to call what she does) Jennifer…
Women’s sports may one day soon consist entirely of men
Congratulations to Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood for sweeping all before them in the Connecticut girls’ high school track races…
The only way to avoid Ariana Grande’s drivel is to move to Iran
Grade: D Among the many reasons for moving to Iran is this vapid, talentless, derivative, hyperbolically oversexed drivel aimed at…
The Independent Group can’t survive just on anti-Corbyn hatred
I once came up against Mike Gapes in a fraternal game of five-a-side football played at the Elephant and Castle…
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My diversity targets for the BBC
Terrible news for gay broadcasters — the BBC has only one year to meet a diversity target which says that…
However irritating they are, the Dandy Warhols can write songs
Grade: A– I’m here to make you feel old. It’s now nearly 20 years since the pleasing, laconic, Stones pastiche…
Is it society’s job to stop people singing racist jokes?
Where would you rather come from, Pakistan or Liverpool? Assuming you were somehow given a retrospective choice in the matter.…
Even in moderate Malaysia, anti-Semitism is rife
The question I had hoped to pose this week was this: ‘Do people dislike Diane Abbott because she is black…
On Nobel Prize winners and Mastermind losers
I once worked my way through two whole books of IQ tests devised by Hans Eysenck and by the time…
Can the National Trust please forget about ‘heteronormative privilege’ and just look after houses?
There is a satirical website called ‘Guardian headline generator’ which purports to offer a service to aspirant journalists who wish…
The BBC’s quest to make Watership Down woke
For a while, as a 13-year-old, I was obsessed with rabbits — the consequence of having read Watership Down by…
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://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/16729426_low_res_the_little_drummer_girl_1.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
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…
