Columnists
The sultans of sulk
Many negative qualities are ascribed to politicians — name-calling, absenteeism, drunkenness — but you rarely hear of my favourite political…
Why we should all start hoarding cash and loo rolls
If there’s anyone in Britain who knows how to keep grocery shelves stacked, it’s former Tesco chief executive Sir Dave…
The pandemic has made cynics of us all
A report by MPs into the spread of the coronavirus has concluded that the government’s approach constituted one of this…
Israel has been spared Sally Rooney
I have not watched the BBC’s new period drama Ridley Road because I knew it would be impossible for the…
Blame it all on the middle-class drug users
We can suffer a lethal pandemic with lockdowns, petrol shortages and supermarket shelves almost entirely denuded of sausages. But when…
E-everything is heading your way
Trends in New York City tend to foretell trends in London, whose fashions in turn set the pace for smaller…
Tory ministers, not business leaders, were drunk on cheap labour
‘Blame it all on business’ was the Tory strategists’ answer to petrol queues and the risk of a no-turkey Christmas…
Boris offers a hostage to fortune
Most prime ministers would be worried about supply chain shortages. But as became increasingly clear at the Tory party conference…
We should never have been in Afghanistan
Two important studies have been published this autumn on the apparent failure of our almost 20-year war in Afghanistan. In…
Business rates reform: for once, a useful Labour idea
A worthwhile policy proposal amid the Labour conference dogfight? Now there’s a surprise. But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves’s scheme to…
Labour has gone back to 1983
One day quite soon someone at a petrol pump is going to get a tyre iron wrapped around their head.…
The tactics of victimhood
Late last week the Labour deputy leader was the subject of a glowing profile in the Times. The piece described…
The Spectator’s Notes
On the one occasion when I spent any time with Angela Rayner, she was funny, direct and friendly. We were…
Don’t mix up murder and hate crime
I’m not sure very many of our politicians, the London Mayor or even the Met can really be said to…
Gas crisis offers hard choices: market mayhem or limitless subsidy
Will my bath water still be hot by Christmas? That’s not a question I’d normally feel a need to share…
Starmer’s last shot
Next week, when Keir Starmer appears on stage at Labour conference in Brighton, it will be the first time he…
The Spectator’s Notes
Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, has begun this academic year by announcing it will be his last in the…
The war against intelligence
Two weeks have passed and somehow James Conway is still in a job. He is the director of the English…
The wife’s story
‘One day,’ she writes, ‘we had the Minister for Northern Ireland for the night. He arrived wearing a kilt, which…
The Covid pantomime at my father’s memorial
This last weekend I attended the memorial service for my father, who died in July. This isn’t a bid for…
Don’t scrap start-up grants for wannabe entrepreneurs
I’m hugely enjoying meeting the finalists for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards. This year’s bumper entry was…
The truth about lies
There were two remarkable things about Emma Raducanu’s wonderful win at the US open last week. The first was the…
What’s the Tory majority for?
One of the things that distinguishes Boris Johnson from the last three Tory prime ministers is that he has a…
Little people, big nightmare
I think it’s for the best if we ban all children’s books containing the word ‘dream’. Dream big, little dreamer,…
Let’s have more diversity at the BBC
I noticed with interest that Gigalum island — off the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll — was up for sale for…
