Columnists
The Spectator’s Notes
The accusation that the Tories have been installing their people in public appointments should evoke only a hollow laugh. They…
Won’t some other quango come to the rescue of poor Sally Morgan?
Can someone please explain to me why the BBC newsreaders were not wearing black armbands last weekend when reporting the…
Warning: ‘no’ won’t be Scotland’s final answer
From a kind of torpor about this year’s Scottish referendum, Lord Lang of Monkton has roused me. You may remember…
If Philip Seymour Hoffman wasn’t happy, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Celebrity deaths have no decorum. From Elvis on his toilet to Whitney face down in her bathtub, their last moments…
A man who creates 1,000 rewarding jobs out of a £1 bet deserves to win a fortune
At a charity lunch in Manchester, I meet a cheerful ‘engagement manager’ from AO.com, formerly Appliances Online, a fast-growing internet…
If Philip Seymour Hoffman wasn’t happy, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Celebrity deaths have no decorum. From Elvis on his toilet to Whitney face down in her bathtub, their last moments…
Warning: ‘no’ won’t be Scotland’s final answer
Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_6_February_2014_v4.mp3 From a kind of torpor about this year’s Scottish referendum, Lord Lang of Monkton has roused me. You…
The coalition is now an open marriage
Without any fanfare or formal announcement, the government has moved into a new phase. ‘We’re not in a coalition now.…
The Spectator’s Notes
Our neighbour Philip Merricks is a farmer on Romney Marsh, 90 per cent of whose land is below sea level.…
Why I’m on board for the homophobic bus
London has long since lost its allure for me — altogether too many cars, foreigners, cyclists, middle-class liberals and people…
Unravelling the mysteries of the printed heart
I have seen the future — your future if you’re rich enough or brave enough to embrace it — and…
How the MPs’ expenses scandal proves the wisdom of Alain de Botton
Whenever I’m tempted to pretend to be nicer so that fewer people hate me, I remember my old friend Alain…
Ed Balls doesn’t care what you and I think: he’s just tweeting at Labour’s floaters
There were a million people who voted Labour in the 2005 general election but not in 2010, when the party…
How the MPs’ expenses scandal proves the wisdom of Alain de Botton
Whenever I’m tempted to pretend to be nicer so that fewer people hate me, I remember my old friend Alain…
Unravelling the mysteries of the printed heart
I have seen the future — your future if you’re rich enough or brave enough to embrace it — and…
Transparency is the Tories’ greatest legacy to the NHS
Pinned to the wall of Jeremy Hunt’s office in the Department of Health is an A1 piece of paper detailing…
The Spectator’s Notes
Now that the economic statistics are looking better, people are beginning to rediscover the once-fashionable thought that George Osborne is…
If Lord Rennard looked more like Orlando Bloom, none of this would have happened
When I was promoted to being editor of a programme at the BBC, back in the late 1990s, my line…
Is a new art form being born on Woman’s Hour?
In a comic-strip cartoon, beads of water apparently radiating outward from the head of one of the characters indicate embarrassment.…
How being assaulted nearly put me on trial
Way back in the late 1990s, I spent a lot of time in court. What happened, see, was that in…
The hapless stationmaster watches France’s future prosperity depart
I’ve always respected stationmasters, but that sentiment is not universally shared. A distinguished friend of mine across the Channel described…
How being assaulted nearly put me on trial
Way back in the late 1990s, I spent a lot of time in court. What happened, see, was that in…
Is a new art form being born on Woman’s Hour?
In a comic-strip cartoon, beads of water apparently radiating outward from the head of one of the characters indicate embarrassment.…
Cameron’s mission for 2014: stay out of third place
European elections are normally an afterthought in British politics. As even David Cameron admits, most of us struggle to remember…
The Spectator’s Notes
When I interviewed Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former president of France, for my biography of Margaret Thatcher, I asked him…
