Columnists
This deal with Japan is little more than cheese and biscuits
A small cheer for Liz Truss’s treaty with Japan. It is, says the official press release, ‘the UK’s first major…
The age of camp is over
Last week we broadcast my BBC radio Great Lives episode on Kenneth Williams. The effervescent comedian and presenter Tom Allen…
The Spectator’s Notes
One of the most extraordinary features of the ‘cancel culture’ is how well it works. All decent people hate it,…
Wrecking final Brexit talks won’t help our fishermen
‘Every country has a political problem with its fishermen,’ wrote Peter Walker, the Conservative minister who negotiated the first effective…
The Spectator’s Notes
Large parts of the senior civil service regard Brexit as almost illegal. Some of them regard loyalty to the EU…
Cute rots the brain
I have become allergic to ‘cute’, bad-tempered biddy that I am. Cuteness and the requirement to be cute have spread…
Falsehoods are running amok
I don’t know how much of a shock this will come to you as — perhaps none, because you are…
The no-deal dilemma
Backbenchers are discussing when to give Downing Street a bloody nose, a former prime minister is on the warpath and…
Who would risk being a government adviser?
Poor Tony Abbott. It would seem being prime minister of Australia doesn’t bring you to the attention of the British…
Are the wheels coming off Rolls-Royce?
Along, cold weekend brought a haul of business news more bad than good. The worst was from aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce,…
How a lie becomes truth
Teachers were told to exclude children who made ‘inappropriate’ jokes about Covid when they returned to school this week. These…
To save the Union, negotiate independence
The first cabinet meeting of the new term and Boris Johnson’s summer holiday were both dominated by one concern: how…
The trouble with ‘taking back control’
I sympathised with Leave voters who yearned to ‘take back control’ of British borders. After all, if being a country…
Are liberal conservatives now history?
It was a luminous late August sunset, and we were in France, dining outdoors with some friends who have a…
The looming planning battle
The government will pass the test it has set itself: schools in England will return next week. Pupils may well…
Our Belarusian blind spot
I’d always rather liked the Finns, until I came across the conductor Dalia Stasevska. When I asked my mother what…
A bid battle for BT won’t bring better broadband
A takeover battle for BT would bring much-needed excitement to the City — as well as a major political row.…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘The British Museum stands in solidarity with the British Black community, with the African American community, with the Black community…
How progressive misogyny works
It happens a lot lately. Not just in a Twitter DM or an email but in real life. Someone tells…
US protestors are clearing the way for Trump
‘This city is not going to stop burning itself down until they [the protestors] know that this officer has been…
The true cost of the 14-day quarantine
Doing the math, as the Americans say, became this column’s theme after I abandoned another planned trip to France. Seven…
Brits aren’t idiotic – but our institutions are
Two headlines from the same news-paper, less than three weeks apart. So, the Guardian on 31 July: ‘The Guardian view…
The importance of Gavin Williamson
When Boris Johnson tried to call a general election in September last year, everyone around him assumed that Jeremy Corbyn…
Oxford circus
If you’re looking for a sign of the academic times, you could do worse than consider the image, published in…
What really makes people fat
In the UK’s capital city, where do the fewest obese people live? North London. The most? East London. The weight…
