Columnists
Mum, Dad and the migrant question
A friend, a Cambridge professor, passing my old college last week, was startled to encounter a young lady standing outside…
Wishing for a merry Christmas
How well-behaved have you been in the second year of Covid? I wouldn’t say I’ve been perfect but I haven’t…
No man’s land
Despite the political misery for Boris Johnson as he ends the year, he has a big hope: that salaries will…
Arthur’s death and the problem of evil
Since I first read about the torture and murder of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, I’ve had what feels like an A-level…
Hark, the heretical angels sing
A few years back, a hackneyed journalistic come-hither led me to a sober reckoning: would I write about someone alive…
Gastro-nomics: a foodie’s guide to a changing world
Twice recently I’ve been asked my opinion of ‘Doughnut Economics’. The first time, I was tempted to cover my ignorance…
The Spectator’s Notes
The interregnum between incumbents is a well-known and often elongated process in the Church of England. I have recently witnessed…
Meeting the mob
My abiding memory of this fairly appalling year is of the face of the young student at Durham University who…
America’s vice
Is it rude to refer to the Vice President of the USA as the world’s most famous diversity hire? Possibly.…
My plan for young people
I have been reading 39 Ways To Save The Planet by the BBC journalist Tom Heap, which includes such ingenious…
Don’t strand Cambo until our energy future is secure
If the phrase ‘stranded asset’ hasn’t yet entered your vocabulary, here’s a useful example of what it means. The 178…
How to spin a storm
If, in the days after Storm Arwen, the north of England began to suspect that the south didn’t much care…
The Spectator’s Notes
One midnight last month, Jon Wiltshire, who lives in a cottage just outside our Sussex village, was woken by a…
The border terriers
One of this government’s favourite tactics is to act as if the beginning of its time in office was the…
Life online is about to get even worse
No sooner had an inch or two of snow fallen on our upland areas last week than the climate-change Morlocks…
Anticolonialists have their myths too
Much is now being made of the evils of empire. As a child of empire I bridle. I acknowledge the…
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…
