Columnists
Over Staffordshire hills in search of the beating heart of industrial England
‘If I can’t see a factory from up here,’ I mutter to myself, throwing the car round an uphill bend…
A corner of Australia that is forever Bournemouth
Nations seek their souls in the strangest places. We English, for instance, have illustrated ourselves to the world and to…
How long can the Eds keep it together?
Listen to James Forsyth discuss the tale of two political partnerships: [audioboo url=”http://audioboo.fm/boos/1746142-james-forsyth-on-david-george-and-ed-ed”/] Six and a half years after Gordon…
The Spectator’s Notes
There has naturally been plenty of unfavourable comment on how the Revd Paul Flowers, the ‘crystal Methodist’, was allowed by…
Go on, own up: which of you female TV stars is secretly a godawful novelist?
I am still trying to get some sort of closure. For almost three weeks now I have been tormented by…
Is even Radley not safe from the lentil-eating progressives?
For two blissful days last week I was at Radley College — what you might call the posh person’s Eton — as…
Cameron’s war on porn is a pointless stunt
What people don’t seem to realise is that the geeks are winning. Actually, scratch that. They’ve all but won. The…
The naughty Methodist is a comic sideshow: it was professionals who ruined the Co-op
The naughty Reverend Flowers will be a comic footnote in the history of the financial crisis — but no more…
Cameron’s war on porn is a pointless stunt
What people don’t seem to realise is that the geeks are winning. Actually, scratch that. They’ve all but won. The…
Is even Radley not safe from the lentil-eating progressives?
For two blissful days last week I was at Radley College — what you might call the posh person’s Eton — as…
The Speaker could soon be silenced
John Bercow could go down as a great reforming Speaker of the House of Commons. It’s thanks to him, in…
The Spectator’s Notes
There has not been much good news out of Greece since the eurozone powers decided to crush the country, but…
Is it ever possible to fight a war in full accordance with the Human Rights Act?
The ghost people, the letter people. The ones we hear about in court but never call by their real name;…
An old wound takes its toll at last
This is probably the most self-indulgent column I’ve written. I hope not to make a habit of it. It’s an…
The real luck of the Irish is that they recognised the folly of the boom
My man in Dublin calls with joy in his voice to tell me ‘the Troika’ — the combined powers of…
An old wound takes its toll at last
This is probably the most self-indulgent column I’ve written. I hope not to make a habit of it. It’s an…
Even if the ‘No’ campaign wins in Scotland, the Union will lose
Westminster has been gripped by talk of a referendum this week. But the excitement hasn’t been about the vote in…
The Spectator’s Notes
The most extraordinary thing about the scandal of Unite at Grangemouth and in Falkirk is how long it took the…
The night I fell back in love with Shakespeare
‘Dad, it’s three hours long,’ says Boy, worriedly. ‘Yeah. And whose bloody fault is it we’re going?’ I want to…
Why I’d never be a Tory princeling
Since I was a child, pretty much everybody I have ever met has asked me if I want to be…
The moral of the Co-op Bank’s ruin: good ethics can lead to bad lending
‘Satan seizes control of saintly bank’ would be a fair summary of much of the coverage of the deal that…
Why I’d never be a Tory princeling
Since I was a child, pretty much everybody I have ever met has asked me if I want to be…
The night I fell back in love with Shakespeare
‘Dad, it’s three hours long,’ says Boy, worriedly. ‘Yeah. And whose bloody fault is it we’re going?’ I want to…
The next election will break all the rules
Ed Miliband’s aides used to scurry around the parliamentary estate, their shoulders hunched. A look in their eyes suggested that…
The Spectator’s Notes
As I write, the World Islamic Economic Forum is opening in London, the first time it has been held in…
