Columns

My plan for Prevent

14 June 2025 9:00 am

In the autumn of 1940, British cities were being bombed every night by large aeroplanes whose provenance was apparently of…

How to ruin a city

14 June 2025 9:00 am

Why would you choose to make a city crappy? Plenty of cities don’t have much going for them. But when…

Has deporting illegals become illegal?

14 June 2025 9:00 am

The circus around Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia – whose full name the New York Times likes to trot out as…

Rachel Reeves, the Iron Chancer

14 June 2025 9:00 am

Gordon Brown may not be every teenager’s political pin-up. But as an Oxford student, Rachel Reeves proudly kept a framed…

Richard Hermer’s campaign against Britain

7 June 2025 9:00 am

Five years ago, the man who is now Lord Hermer gave an interview to the Times. The then QC was…

What history doesn’t tell us

7 June 2025 9:00 am

The trouble with history is that it is topiary. History is what’s left after the unwanted foliage has been clipped…

Don’t write off Kemi Badenoch

7 June 2025 9:00 am

In the great game of musical chairs that is British politics, it’s impossible to foresee which contestant will be left…

Kemi’s one chance at recovery? Trussonomics

7 June 2025 9:00 am

You may have noticed that for some while the BBC News people have stopped referring to Reform UK as ‘far…

Leave our period dramas alone!

7 June 2025 9:00 am

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any article about Jane Austen must begin with a mangled, platitudinous variation on…

The derangement of Harvard

31 May 2025 9:00 am

It is 60 years since William F. Buckley said that he would ‘rather be governed by the first 2,000 people…

The rise of the Red Queen

31 May 2025 9:00 am

‘All Labour prime ministers go gaga for the Queen,’ sighed Cherie Blair, played by Helen McCrory, in the 2006 film…

How Covid broke Britain

31 May 2025 9:00 am

It was at about this time, five years ago, that the workers at my (then) local farm shop began wearing…

The war on normality

31 May 2025 9:00 am

Exciting news. To ‘showcase the vibrant diversity of both marine life and the LGBTQ+ community’, the visionary Bristol Aquarium has…

What do ‘Labour values’ actually mean?

24 May 2025 9:00 am

Keir Starmer’s appearance before Labour MPs on Monday was a crowded affair. Such was the level of excitement that organisers…

The death of public discourse

24 May 2025 9:00 am

It is said that since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, it is once again possible to use the…

Reform and the problem with the Overton window

24 May 2025 9:00 am

In the space of about one month a further 9 per cent of the electorate has decided that the views…

The battle over fishing is a sideshow

24 May 2025 9:00 am

So far, so routine. Labour wants to update and if possible upgrade the United Kingdom’s arrangements with our immediate neighbour…

I’ve reached zero tolerance on zero tolerance

24 May 2025 9:00 am

I know an astonishing 89-year-old who climbs mountains, uses a chainsaw and has the muscular, vice-like grip of a gym-built…

In defence of virgins

17 May 2025 9:00 am

If we were really an island of strangers, as Sir Keir Starmer attested this week, then it might be OK.…

Should you be arrested for reading The Spectator?

17 May 2025 9:00 am

Regular readers will know that I have an obsession with home burglaries. Specifically those occasions when a burglar goes into…

Kemi Badenoch now leads the ‘Tinkerbell Tories’

17 May 2025 9:00 am

Market choice has long been an article of faith in the Conservative party. But the Tories are less keen on…

How English are you really?

17 May 2025 9:00 am

I’ve struggled to ascertain from afar the true nature of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland. Progressive media love to quote its…

Kemi shouldn’t play the Trump card

10 May 2025 9:00 am

I doubt I’m alone among Spectator readers in feeling a certain slight but nagging discomfort when I hear those on…

Why don’t men ask questions?

10 May 2025 9:00 am

I’ll bet most women under 50 in relationships with men have found themselves wondering when on earth the man is…

The Reformation is here

10 May 2025 9:00 am

These are dark and bewildering days for Britain’s community of Good People, the ones who – insulated from material discomfort…