Columnists
An unhealthy app-etite
As I begin, I’m tortured by the doo-do-doo-do of The Twilight Zone’s theme music. I’ve hurtled back in time. Suddenly…
Is it too cruel to throw Lynch into the jaws of US justice?
Be glad you’re not in Dr Mike Lynch’s shoes. A London judge has ruled that the founder of the Cambridge-based…
The Spectator’s Notes
On Tuesday, I chaired a session at Policy Exchange addressed by Tony Abbott, the eloquent former prime minister of Australia,…
Boris’s last shot
Last week there was acute concern in government about the country’s re-opening. Would restrictions need to be reimposed when schools…
The sorry state of the modern apology
I think I would like to apologise for this article in case someone who reads it takes offence. I will…
The Spectator’s Notes
Anyone who thinks Boris Johnson lacks statecraft should pay attention to Dominic Cummings’s attacks on him. They often to seem…
World gone lazy
‘Where’s the car?’ said my wife Alice, interrupting my Zoom meeting on Saturday morning. ‘It’s where you left it,’ I…
The clever radical who led the City’s transformation
It’s a vivid example of unintended consequences that the swimming-pool builders of southern England should owe so much to Sir…
Will England pull out of the World Cup?
I wonder if the moral guardians of our country — the England football team — intend to participate in the…
The tax-and-spend Tories
When you ask a government minister why something hasn’t happened, you get a one-word answer: ‘Covid’. It has become the…
Get ready for the Boring Twenties
Earlier this year, I noted the suggestion (made by an American academic and run with by a swathe of the…
Better to back clean aviation than to punish frequent flyers
Have you been scanning airline websites for exotic destinations to which your double-jabbed status might allow you to slip away…
What did the Romans ever do for us?
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is planning to install a statue of John Chilembwe in Trafalgar Square. Mr Chilembwe…
Don’t count on America’s immigration figures
Having indulged an unhealthy interest in human migration for decades, I’ve been intrigued by how the number of illegal immigrants…
The Spectator’s Notes
A special animus is aimed at Priti Patel, perhaps because the combination of being Indian, female and firmly Tory is…
The march of the unwhippables
‘Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won,’ wrote the Duke of Wellington after…
The death of a dream
Before plunging into a vexed question, it’s sometimes wise to point out that one is aware how vexed it is.…
What price freedom?
The long-awaited easing of restrictions will not be the triumphant moment that many expected back in May. The Delta variant…
Why shouldn’t the City pick an Irish Lord Mayor?
The Financial Times carried a curious story at the weekend about ‘the secretive process to elect the Lord Mayor of…
The Spectator’s Notes
In deciding whether or not to wear a mask after 19 July, I am sure Boris Johnson is right that…
Me, myself and I
I thought that this week I would share with you a bunch of words and phrases which are currently overused…
The bogus business of stigma-busting
Our society is bristling with social stigmas, we’re told, even in the progressive West, even in London. Life is so…
The confusing case of Oli London
Not everyone will have heard of Oli London, a British social media influencer who made news for two reasons last…
The political baggage of moving house
We are currently house-hunting — please let me know if you have one going spare. We are looking for a…
Will surging house prices send the English young to save Scotland?
Nicola Sturgeon depresses me and seems to be having the same effect on Scottish house prices. In a housing market…
