James Tooley’s ordeal is over – but why was he ever suspended?
It’s wonderful to hear that Professor James Tooley, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, has been reinstated after a…
The Trump I (barely) know
I can’t say I know the new President of the United States very well, but during the five years I…
The highs and lows of Dry January
The first week of Dry January was relatively easy. Not falling asleep in front of the television was a pleasant…
Farewell Justin Trudeau, the last of the lockdown tyrants
So farewell then, Justin Trudeau, last of the lockdown tyrants. Or should that be the last of the democratically elected…
Can I be cancelled twice?
One of the biggest regrets of my life was saying yes when Jo Johnson asked if I wanted to be…
Should I become Lord Young of Loftus Road?
When the editor of this magazine called to congratulate me on being given a peerage, he said: ‘It’s QPR’s first…
Could I limit myself to 100 bottles of wine in a year?
Back in January, I wrote about my new year’s resolution to cut down on my drinking. The thought of total…
Why Elon Musk shouldn’t be kicked out of the Royal Society
In a notorious interview in the Sunday Times in 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson said, among other things,…
At 61, it’s official: I’m ‘young old’
I read with some disappointment recently that the Encyclopaedia Britannica considers 61 – the age I am now – to…
Carry on Kafka: this is our Brave New World
An ex-copper who blogs as Dominic Adler – not his real name – came up with a good phrase this…
Must try harder, Education Secretary
The headmaster of one of the best comprehensives in the country was once asked the following question by Tony Blair:…
Did I deny my son a shot at the Premier League?
When my youngest son Charlie was seven he was talent-spotted by a QPR scout who saw him playing football in…
Will Keir Starmer get me banned from football games?
Last Saturday, I made the 400-mile round trip to Burnley with my 16-year-old son Charlie to see Queens Park Rangers…
A British First Amendment wouldn’t save free speech
Does the United Kingdom need a First Amendment? That’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, given the…
Why is Labour axing the Tories’ most successful education policy?
By any measure, the free schools programme has been a resounding success. If you judge schools by how much progress their…
Inside Starmer’s snowflakes’ charter
I almost choked on my cornflakes when I read that the Prime Minister had said he would slash red tape…
Yvette Cooper wants to lock up your sons
In his independent review of the Prevent programme last year, Sir William Shawcross warned that something had gone very wrong…
Did Michael Gove mean what he said?
I thought the Spectator dinner for Michael Gove hosted by Fraser Nelson would be cancelled. To be clear, this wasn’t…
Why play the Saudi anthem before an all-British boxing match?
For only the second time in my life, I went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last weekend. At least,…
The science of voting for Kamala Harris
The latest issue of Scientific American, a popular science monthly published by Springer Nature, contains an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris.…
Help! I’ve got class envy
The summer holidays were a washout as far as my children are concerned, because we had to cancel our trip…
Labour’s backwards steps on free speech
Free speech advocates like me need to stop talking about the meagre gains we made under the last government because…
How to exploit a crisis
The phrase ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ is often attributed to Winston Churchill, but it’s something the…
I was wrong about staycations
I hadn’t intended to go on a ‘staycation’ this summer. Quite the contrary, I’d booked a family holiday to Norway.…
Will Starmer make the Online Safety Act even worse?
Good God, there’s a lot of guff being talked about the Online Safety Act. This was a piece of legislation…
