Columnists
Guess who set the most dangerous precedent for windfall taxes?
Annual profits of £9.5 billion at BP this week followed a £20 billion jackpot at Shell last week, thanks to…
The Spectator’s Notes
In a lecture I recently gave to mark the approaching 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, one of the questions…
Crisis? What crisis?
When a political party is hit by a crisis, the tendency these days is for both the politicians and their…
Rishi has a horrible task ahead
Whether Rishi Sunak is prime minister or still chancellor this spring, fate is handing him a poisoned chalice. Looking back,…
Oh ambassador, you’re spoiling us
I know the following sentence is going to get me into trouble. Still, there are times when you wonder whether…
Biden’s obnoxious promise
In lauding Joe Biden’s promise to fill the upcoming vacancy on the US Supreme Court with a black woman, last…
Boris’s existential drift
Tory MPs only have one topic of conversation: the fate of Boris Johnson. They huddle together in offices in Portcullis…
The Spectator’s Notes
In answers to questions following his statement in the Commons on Monday, Boris Johnson let drop an interesting statistic. He…
Two reasons not to let Sir Tony rest on his Garter laurels
I’m picturing Sir Tony Blair enjoying a fitting of his Garter robes after watching Boris Johnson stagger through PMQs. ‘I’m…
Crypto crash explained: what goes up must come down
‘Market turmoil’ looks set as the theme of the week, so let’s take a close look at a trading arena…
Get out of my way, Lycra warriors
I know that all must have prizes in the Victimisation Olympics these days, but when I heard a bicycle-rider on…
The blame games are about to begin
‘The main job of a government is to ensure that the economics don’t go wrong.’ So argued an economist friend…
The freedom to be wrong
I must offer my support to Luke Main and Dr Joanna Brunker, who as a consequence of their fervent Christian…
The Spectator’s Notes
Justin Webb is normally one of the least self-righteous BBC presenters, but he was out-Maitlising rivals on the Today programme…
Mutiny on the Bounty
‘I can’t put into words how awful this is’ remarks one Tory MP. The party is split not on the…
The Spectator’s Notes
In May 2020, in the wake of the Barnard Castle story, Emily Maitlis delivered her famous Newsnight address to the…
Meat of the matter
Are you ready for ‘Operation Red Meat’? If not, then you should brace yourself. For it looks set to be…
Looking back in anger
What Keir Starmer should have said, but didn’t, was that he had indeed drunk some beer in a frowsy Labour…
The good side of guilt
I do not know anyone in the Sackler family. I wouldn’t even have heard of them were it not for…
Someone should tell Biden it’s not 1965
We can’t blame American progressives for yearning to relive the civil rights movement. Those were heady days. Opposition to segregation…
Scorn at Unilever’s GSK bid highlights the perils of ‘purpose’
‘Tell me we’re winning the media battle!’ I imagine Unilever boss Alan Jope barking at his team on Tuesday, following…
The Spectator’s Notes
According to the new Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Russians wish to ‘put at risk…
Why I don’t walk under ladders
Well, I did warn you. As I typed my column last week on the imminent end of Covid I said…
The truth about that No. 10 party
People seem surprised and a little doubting that the Prime Minister is incapable of remembering if he attended a party…
Work in progress
If I could lift one thing from younger generations, unpeel one idea from their anxious minds, it would be the…
