Columnists
The struggle to contain China
The theory that the pandemic began with a leak from a research laboratory in Wuhan is rapidly gaining currency. Since…
What the Prime Misfit got right
Should the name of Dominic Cummings ever make it into the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, there’s one Cummings phrase…
Bay Area Woman needs to man up
A few weeks ago, more than 2,000 employees of Apple Inc. signed a petition that led to the sacking of…
Tales of the mild West
A terrible thing, to be torn. Last Sunday was International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, a very painful condition affecting…
The Dom bomb
The more anticipated a parliamentary appearance, the less it tends to live up to its billing. But Dominic Cummings’s testimony…
How harpsichords became racist
It’s a dangerous thing when you import the worst aspects of another culture. And an even worse thing when you…
Who cares if rail is public or private? Just make the trains run on time
The long-awaited review of the railways by former British Airways executive Keith Williams chugged past the platform of public debate…
The Spectator’s Notes
It is poetically fitting that the resignation of the chairman of the National Trust, Tim Parker, was announced on the…
My fears about an Irish border poll
Last week, Edwin Poots was elected leader of the DUP. You will have read all about him. I have. You…
Will the 21 June easing go ahead?
The roadmap out of lockdown is the signature document of Boris Johnson’s new team in No. 10. It’s intended to…
The Spectator’s Notes
We are being urged — and, in some cases, paid — by the government to plant more trees. Actually, this…
It’s time to face the truth about masks
However surreal and dystopian the pandemic landscape seemed at first, no enduring vista feels ‘surreal’ and ‘dystopian’ indefinitely. Citizenries uniformly…
Clinging to optimism as revival collides with fear
The happiest thing that happens in May is the coming into leaf of my long beech hedge. The shift from…
The Spectator’s Notes
This week, the Church of England issued its document ‘Contested Heritage in Cathedrals and Churches’. It is guidance for what…
The writing’s on the wall
Towards the end of April, my mum sent me a letter. She doesn’t write as a rule — we speak…
Top pay restraint may persist over here – but not in the US
‘Consider a temporary cut in executive salaries’ was the Confederation of British Industry’s advice to members at the start of…
Why I spoilt my ballot paper
The headline ‘Government to allow people to hug’ one might have expected to hear on early evening news bulletins in…
Keir Starmer isn’t Labour’s biggest problem
Keir Starmer has turned a drama into a crisis. The local elections were always going to be difficult for Labour.…
The wrath of Nicola Sturgeon
I can’t seem to find the Oracle of Delphi’s complete works. The libraries remain shut and when I go to…
The inflation scare is overdone but watch out for the price spike
‘We are seeing very substantial inflation,’ the great investor Warren Buffett told shareholders in his master company Berkshire Hathaway at…
Who regulates the regulators?
This isn’t about David Cameron and Greensillgate; it isn’t about Boris Johnson and wallpapergate or Jennifer-Arcurigate. It isn’t about Westferrygate…
What’s next for the Union?
The Union faces two simultaneous challenges in Northern Ireland and Scotland that both look set to worsen in the coming…
Britain’s mental health problem
Experts tell us that we are facing a mental health ‘time bomb’ in the UK, partly as a consequence of…
The Spectator’s Notes
There should be more ‘religious literacy’. So says the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Religion in the Media, chaired by Yasmin…
The true cost of make-believe money
I like Bill Maher. He’s a rare practising left-wing comic who’s actually funny. But last week, his routine on cryptocurrency…
