Columnists
Osborne’s northern ‘super-city’ looks like a cynical vote-grab – but I’m all for it
When John Prescott used to wax garrulous about a ‘superhighway’ from Hull to Liverpool, everyone assumed it was a wheeze…
I may not know much about khat, but I know banning it is crazy
Khat is a leafy stimulant chewed mainly, I gather, by Somalis. This week the government banned its possession and sale.…
A bacon bap isn’t Miliband’s problem. We are
Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_26_June_2014_v4.mp3 That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was…
How the Westminster hawk became an endangered species
There is a slight whiff of the summer of 1914 to Westminster at the moment. The garden party season is…
À la recherche du tea perdu
Every summer this magazine invites some of its (randomly selected) subscribers to tea in the garden. Every Englishman loves tea…
This oil price rise is a blip, not a spike – but it’s still a timely reminder to get fracking
‘Iraq turmoil sends crude oil prices to nine-month high’ is the sort of headline that used to send shivers down…
The Spectator’s Notes
On Friday night, I went to Althorp, childhood home of Diana, Princess of Wales, to speak at its literary festival.…
How long can our MPs ignore what’s in their backyard?
It is surely only a matter of time before someone with a mischievous glint in their eye invites the Labour…
Good luck finding goodies and baddies in Iraq
If there’s a bright spot in the murky mess of Iraq, it’s that finally we have a war that it…
The big fat lie about cholesterol
Though I’m not generally big on banning stuff, there’s one substance I would prohibit without a moment’s hesitation — probably on…
The big fat lie about cholesterol
Though I’m not generally big on banning stuff, there’s one substance I would prohibit without a moment’s hesitation — probably on…
Good luck finding goodies and baddies in Iraq
If there’s a bright spot in the murky mess of Iraq, it’s that finally we have a war that it…
À la recherche du tea perdu
Every summer this magazine invites some of its (randomly selected) subscribers to tea in the garden. Every Englishman loves tea…
À la recherche du tea perdu
Every summer this magazine invites some of its (randomly selected) subscribers to tea in the garden. Every Englishman loves tea…
This ‘Islamist conspiracy’ is WMD all over again
I can remember where I was when Colin Powell presented to the United Nations his evidence for the existence of…
It’s time to address the English question
Before David Cameron heads off for his summer holiday, he’ll be presented with a first draft of the Tory manifesto…
Now even Fifa’s dinosaurs have learned to cry racism
Are all white women really prostitutes who should be avoided, as some children at those schools in Birmingham were apparently…
The web’s petty restrictions make anarchists of us all
I wouldn’t wish to deny that all drug dealers and crime lords read the Guardian. Indeed, check the circulation figures,…
It’ll be game over for all of us if the cyber crimewave continues to advance
‘The internet is broken,’ a corporate chieftain told me last week. It was an arresting remark, but he did not…
The web’s petty restrictions make anarchists of us all
I wouldn’t wish to deny that all drug dealers and crime lords read the Guardian. Indeed, check the circulation figures,…
This ‘Islamist conspiracy’ is WMD all over again
Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_12_June_2014_v4.mp3 I can remember where I was when Colin Powell presented to the United Nations his evidence for the…
Farage the moderniser
There are many words that you might associate with Nigel Farage, but moderniser probably isn’t one. Yet the Ukip leader…
Did anyone really think that Qatar won the World Cup fairly?
I suppose the appalling shock to the soul that was occasioned by the allegation that Qatar bribed its way to…
The Spectator’s Notes
David Cameron is surely right to think that Jean-Claude Juncker is not the man to relieve the European Union’s woes,…
Confessions of a thirtysomething patriot
In my late thirties, I have become patriotic. It’s one of those things that’s happened with age, like cooking to…
