Columnists
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…
What would Dawkins and de Botton do?
Two years ago this week the philosopher Alain de Botton unveiled his proposals for a giant gilded tower in central…
By the book – The perils of snooping
The continuing drip-feed of stories about governments and friendly-seeming internet giants sifting through our data has left some citizens feeling…
Father Paolo’s personal peace process
As Syria’s second peace conference looms, and we prepare ourselves for a lot of hot air drifting over from Geneva,…
When scaremongering stops being funny
My grandmother, Nanny Nancy, is 99 and going strong. But it can’t be denied that while she’s all there mentally,…
If a bank looks dull, it probably isn’t: so what’s new at Standard Chartered?
The cautionary tale of the Co-operative Bank, its black hole and its naughty chairman has recently taught us that if…
When scaremongering stops being funny
My grandmother, Nanny Nancy, is 99 and going strong. But it can’t be denied that while she’s all there mentally,…
Father Paolo’s personal peace process
As Syria’s second peace conference looms, and we prepare ourselves for a lot of hot air drifting over from Geneva,…
By the book – The perils of snooping
The continuing drip-feed of stories about governments and friendly-seeming internet giants sifting through our data has left some citizens feeling…
By the book – The perils of snooping
The continuing drip-feed of stories about governments and friendly-seeming internet giants sifting through our data has left some citizens feeling…
Labour’s immigration nightmares
Victor Spirescu came to Britain last week looking for work washing cars, but seems to have landed himself with a…
The Spectator’s Notes
Who owns Scotland? The people who most commonly ask this question believe that the land has been wrested from ordinary…
Once more, the spectre of Enoch Powell is raised to stop debate about immigration
One of the genuine seasonal pleasures to be enjoyed as 2013 slipped around the U-bend was Enoch Powell making his…
It’s gay men who contribute most to society
A gay friend phones over the New Year break. A lovely chap (let us call him Richard) and long retired,…
The only way to end the war on drugs is to stop fighting it
It’s surprisingly boring, legalising weed. In Colorado, where recreational doobie has been utterly without censure for, ooh, about a week…
Brand loyalty, or lack of it: why I’d rather run Marks & Spencer than Tesco
This first working week of January is apparently the time when we’re most likely to think about a change of…
The only way to end the war on drugs is to stop fighting it
It’s surprisingly boring, legalising weed. In Colorado, where recreational doobie has been utterly without censure for, ooh, about a week…
It’s gay men who contribute most to society
A gay friend phones over the New Year break. A lovely chap (let us call him Richard) and long retired,…
The Lib Dems’ fight to keep facing both ways
This will be the coalition’s last full year, and it is remarkable how few people are talking about how it…
Try my resolution for 2014: ignore the internet
At last, it has been scientifically proved that Jesus Christ is better than Muhammad. We’d always known that our lad…
Those bitcoin weirdos might just be right
Here’s a thought to kindle a lovely warm glow of smugness and schadenfreude as we enter a new year: you…
Why isn’t eating meat as bad as bestiality?
So what I’ve found myself wondering over the festive period, again and again, is whether it would ever be OK…
Making the best of an imperfect world: a vision of the future from my hospital bed
I blamed the pheasant casserole, but I did it an injustice. Its only contribution to the drama behind my disappearance…
