Columnists
Ukip is missing an amazing chance
There was a comedy programme about Nigel Farage on the BBC this week, entitled Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back.…
The Spectator’s Notes
It is a great relief that there will be no inquiry into the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ in 1984. The weirdness…
It’s time for Hammond to send a ruthless hit squad into RBS
The new series of The Missing is surely the gloomiest television of the year. But it has nothing on the…
Hell is other people’s dogs
I’ve now just about reached that delightful stage in life where you’re no longer exposed to the horrors of other…
What’s wrong with early voting
Washington The outcome of America’s elections might become clear in the first minutes of vote-counting next Tuesday night. That is…
The Spectator’s Notes
It is a great relief that there will be no inquiry into the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ in 1984. The weirdness…
Ukip is missing an amazing chance
There was a comedy programme about Nigel Farage on the BBC this week, entitled Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back.…
Despite what Big Bang destroyed, there’s still nowhere quite like the City
As the 30th anniversary of Big Bang loomed, I found myself back at the scene of my City demise. Ebbgate…
Free speech and the right not to bake a cake
Let us consider the case of the Ashers family bakery in Belfast which, in 2014, refused to make a cake.…
Why didn’t I celebrate Oscar Wilde’s birthday?
On Wednesday 19 October at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London, a reception was held to celebrate…
The absent opposition
Oppositions don’t win elections — governments lose them. This has long been the Westminster wisdom. But the truth is that…
How Pete Burns helped to create our fatuous modern world
So RIP Pete Burns, transgendered Scouse popstar. His indescribably awful song ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’ — clever…
The Spectator’s Notes
World leaders are preoccupied nowadays with what is known as their ‘legacy’. In practice, this means being linked with moral-sounding…
Despite what Big Bang destroyed, there’s still nowhere quite like the City
As the 30th anniversary of Big Bang loomed, I found myself back at the scene of my City demise. Ebbgate…
Free speech and the right not to bake a cake
Let us consider the case of the Ashers family bakery in Belfast which, in 2014, refused to make a cake.…
The absent opposition
Oppositions don’t win elections — governments lose them. This has long been the Westminster wisdom. But the truth is that…
The Spectator’s Notes
World leaders are preoccupied nowadays with what is known as their ‘legacy’. In practice, this means being linked with moral-sounding…
How Pete Burns helped to create our fatuous modern world
So RIP Pete Burns, transgendered Scouse popstar. His indescribably awful song ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’ — clever…
Stop the sabre-rattling
I have been wondering these last few weeks whether it would be cheaper to excavate a basement and buy a…
Order, order! It’s up to May to stop this ministerial bickering
Even by the accelerated standards of modern politics, this is fast. Three months after the Chancellor was appointed, the Treasury…
The Spectator’s notes
Vote Leave was the most successful electoral campaign in British history. Against the opposition of all three political parties, it…
How clever are ravens? I asked at the Tower
On Tower Hill, by the east wall of Beauchamp Tower where Robert Dudley was imprisoned for a year, a raven…
The Nissan test: can we really negotiate Brexit sector by sector?
I wrote last month that a key test of Brexit success will be whether Nissan is still making cars here…
The most persecuted minority at universities
A few columns ago, I told the mortifying story of how I totally died at the Oxford Union. Today I’m…
The most persecuted minority at universities
A few columns ago, I told the mortifying story of how I totally died at the Oxford Union. Today I’m…
