Columnists
Here we go again
Comparing Saturday’s Downing Street press conference to Groundhog Day would insult one of my favourite films. The hilarious, multifarious strategies…
No wonder Omicron’s debut made the FTSE 100 wobble
‘So you think it’s all over? Ho ho ho!’ That’s the message from Satan’s dark laboratory (twinned with Wuhan’s) where…
The Spectator’s Notes
As this paper has argued since the time of the Tiananmen Square massacres, this country should offer Hong Kong people…
Infected with doubt
Up until a few days ago, ministers could see how the government might regain its footing in the polls after…
The type of person who makes the world work
I’m not sure how many readers know the name of Anthony Smith, who died on Sunday aged 83, but a…
The Spectator’s Notes
I like to think that Boris Johnson’s rambling performance at the CBI this week was a satire against the organisation…
Keeping up appearances
A Church of England primary school in Richmond, London, has junked Sir Winston Churchill and J.K. Rowling as names for…
Will we ever go out again?
If there’s one thing I misjudged completely, it’s how creepy and long-lasting the effects of lockdown on all of us…
Black Friday warning: beware of buying now and paying later
Are you logged on to Klarna, Clearpay, Laybuy or Zilch for your Black Friday shopping binge — or are you…
America’s identity crisis
There was no reason for the world ever to hear the name Kyle Rittenhouse. Except that in the summer of…
The Tories at sea
Ever since Boris Johnson’s disastrous decision to try to stay the standards committee’s guilty verdict against Owen Paterson, things have…
In praise of stigma
Exciting news from Durham University, which is helping its students to become ‘sex workers’. This noble institution is offering two…
A rail plan that levels up by disappointing everyone
The scrapping of most of the eastern leg of HS2, originally planned from Birmingham to Leeds, is a news item…
When memory lane becomes a cul-de-sac
I begin this column on a train from Paris to London. Opposite me are a mother and baby. I don’t…
Angela Rayner’s moment
Almost no MP has emerged with dignity from the sleaze debacle of the past three weeks. Boris Johnson’s botched attempt…
Inoculated against the facts
When a column highlighting under-appreciated breaking news has had absolutely no impact on the course of events (per usual), the…
Can Johnson weather this new storm?
The row over MPs’ outside interests has landed Boris Johnson in one of the most uncomfortable positions a prime minister…
The dangerous pleasure of hating men
I have Netflix, and in particular the series Maid, to thank for the startling discovery of how easy it is…
The root of the problem
I was intrigued to learn that Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the US, is worried about racist trees. I…
Bankers are more likely to save the planet than Obama or Greta
I have observed before how useful really big numbers can be in response to crises: when US treasury secretary Hank…
Why parliament is in such bad order
I see that the most boring conversation in the nation is back. The one even worse than people in the…
A re-gift to Donald Trump
For Democrats, like the ‘insurrection’ of January 6th, the Trump policy of separating illegal-immigrant parents from their children in 2018…
The Spectator’s Notes
At the National Trust’s annual general meeting last week, the voting was much more unusual than the public will have…
Don’t let China’s climate sins cloak its crushing of Hong Kong
China’s failure to bring anything new to COP26 surprised no one. The world’s worst carbon emitter offered no advance on…
The Tories’ health battle
Boris Johnson knows the value of three-word slogans. ‘Take back control’ and ‘get Brexit done’ helped propel him to his…
