Columnists
The age of de-enlightenment
Depictions of Thomas Carlyle and David Hume in the Scottish Portrait Gallery will be altered to make it clear they…
I know why Welby is so worn out
Justin Welby is having a holiday and people are unhappy about it. He plans, in May, to take a three-month…
The real Tory opposition leader
A few months ago, Tory aides spotted a suspicious pattern. If they agreed on a new Covid policy to be…
The Brexit deal has left the City to fight for its own future
‘This Article shall not apply with respect to financial services.’ That’s what it says on page 92 of the EU-UK…
History shouldn’t be used against us
Can you feel the fascism yet? You ought to by now, more than a week after Britain leaving the EU.…
The year of living obediently
I wonder if British universities will follow Cornell’s innovative approach to ensuring students are protected from wretched viruses? The American…
My cure for the common cold
You really don’t want to know about my coughs and sneezes, particularly during the festive season, but bear with me…
The Spectator’s Notes
Many ingenious ways of evading Covid-19 have been devised to assist commerce, fewer to assist worship. In our next-door village,…
For many of us charity begins in shops
When everything re-opened after the first lockdown, I didn’t immediately head to a restaurant, bar or hairdresser. I went to…
The female disadvantage
I’ve always been perplexed why anyone lucky enough to be born male would want to swap sexes. But it seems…
What Covid revealed
The most significant and lasting change brought about by Covid is that it has woken the West up to the…
Avoiding the punch at the Governor’s Christmas party
Tidings of comfort as the vaccination programme advances, but shortage of joy. That’s my summary of a season in which…
The importance of giving offence
As dons at Cambridge vote on a new protocol on constraints to free speech, we mark this month the 500th…
The business world has many shades between hero and villain
Separating heroes from villains in the great retail survival struggle is like spotting bent coppers in Line of Duty —…
In defence of Millwall fans
It is an enormous shame that the Millwall fans who booed their players for ‘taking a knee’ in support of…
No one wins in the race race
After the explosion of international self-abasement over George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, much theatrical soul-searching ensued. So your basic man…
Deal or no deal?
When a deadline is missed for Brexit negotiations, it is tempting to think there will be another chance to keep…
Biden’s speech impediment
Does Joe Biden write his own speeches? Surely not. Yet his campaign says Biden was his own speechwriter for the address he made…
The Tavistock is a national scandal
How noble of the British Library to have apologised to the family of the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes for…
Green will be remembered only as a nasty stain on capitalism
There really isn’t much left to be said about Sir Philip Green as his Arcadia fashion empire collapses into administration,…
The Spectator’s Notes
My inbox is crowded with messages from Old Etonians attacking Simon Henderson, the headmaster of Eton. They are furious that…
Goodbye to all that
On Saturday night we sat around the kitchen table, my family and I, and had a takeaway from the Turkish…
China needs to make reparations
It is time we started to talk about reparations. I am not of course referring to the demands made by…
Can Boris win round his rebel MPs?
The beginning of the end for Theresa May was when she tried to see if she could pass her Brexit…
Pension funds need a push to invest in the green revolution
We’ve heard a lot this week about infrastructure spending, and how much more will be needed if the UK is…
