Columnists
Not even Turing deserves a posthumous pardon
Ross Clark is a columnist I try to read because he is never trite. So I was sorry to miss…
The Spectator’s notes
Peter Clarke’s powerful report on the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham schools is confirmation of the weakness of David Cameron…
The freedom of the heat
Those of us who have been struggling to endure the recent heat should turn to L.P. Hartley’s classic coming-of-age novel The…
The freedom of the heat
Those of us who have been struggling to endure the recent heat should turn to L.P. Hartley’s classic coming-of-age novel The…
Gove, gone
‘There’s no shame in a cabinet to win the next election,’ declared an exasperated senior No. 10 figure on Tuesday…
The NHS ‘wellbeing’ monkey deserves to die
My young daughter has a furry beaver — lifelike in all but its eyes, which to me seem cold and dead.…
The ambulance service is in a state of emergency
Tom leant back against the bathroom wall, his face streaked with blood from the nosebleed, eyes half shut like an…
Fear and libertarianism in Las Vegas
Great God, Vegas is an awful place. I realised this the moment I arrived. My cab driver — who’d been…
Any other business: trouble spots in European banking
‘1914: Day by Day’, the Radio 4 series by the historian Margaret MacMillan, is a gripping reminder that significant global…
Fear and libertarianism in Las Vegas
Great God, Vegas is an awful place. I realised this the moment I arrived. My cab driver — who’d been…
The ambulance service is in a state of emergency
Tom leant back against the bathroom wall, his face streaked with blood from the nosebleed, eyes half shut like an…
The Spectator’s Notes
Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_17_July_2014_v4.mp3 This must be the worst reshuffle since Mrs Thatcher demoted Geoffrey Howe in 1989. Unlike that one, its…
Could Michael Howard be the next EU Commissioner?
In recent weeks British government visitors to Berlin have been confronted with a persistent question: when will David Cameron make…
The real scandal is that government files are 'lost' all the time
Like almost everyone else, I have no idea whether the accusations about paedophilia in Parliament in the 1980s are true.…
What kind of idiot tries to stand in the way of a national child abuse panic? I do
As essay titles go, ‘On losing an argument with Tim Loughton MP’ may fail to catch the imagination; but there…
Israel is drifting away from the West – but condemnation won’t help
Glaring, the ennui over Israel. The way we drag our eyes to the page, and sigh, and want to read…
Gold-fixing is the last ghost of the old City. It won't be around much longer
In a season obsessed with sport and personal misbehaviour — separately or in combination — the word ‘fixing’ immediately brings…
When did Israel start to seem so bafflingly foreign?
Glaring, the ennui over Israel. The way we drag our eyes to the page, and sigh, and want to read…
There’s no fighting paedophile panic. But I’ll try
Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_10_July_2014_v4.mp3 As essay titles go, ‘On losing an argument with Tim Loughton MP’ may fail to catch the imagination;…
The Spectator's Notes: Hunting down dirty old men is not a challenge to the current culture
‘A culture changes by example and a licentious old man being found guilty will help do that,’ says a leader…
I like the look of this exciting new Islamic State. But why don’t they want Belgium?
There is something attractive about almost the whole of southern Europe being part of an immense and somewhat rigorous caliphate,…
The voice of Big Mother does more for women than any Twitter feminist
Feminism in modern Britain is not for the faint-hearted. Only the smartest, mouthiest girls on the social media scene dare…
Imperialism is back – and this time it’s politically correct
‘Why did you leave us?’ said the old Sudanese man in Omdurman market. ‘Things were so much better when you…