Columnists
My great-grandfather’s personal remembrance day
The sixth of November 1918 was remembrance day for my great-grandfather, Norman Moore. It was the fourth anniversary of the…
Bring on the next Black Wednesday
At the Brexit-related cabinet last week — as revealed by James Forsyth in these pages — David Lidington made an…
This Budget showed the Tories preparing for defeat, not victory
There’s a spectre haunting the Tories — the spectre of 1997. Tories fear that history could be about to repeat…
How smoking saved my life
I almost got killed this week. I went for a very early morning walk in a New Hampshire forest, in…
In defence of university drinking rituals
When the Fawn saw the selfies Boy had taken in the aftermath of his college football club’s initiation ceremony, first…
What Mills & Boon can teach us in the age of #MeToo
In celebration of its 110th birthday, I downloaded a Mills & Boon — The Greek Tycoon’s Blackmailed Mistress — and…
Has Philip Hammond saved the high street? No – but every little helps
How much did Philip Hammond’s giveaway Budget help dying town centres? Not enough, say campaigners, but let’s give the Chancellor…
George Orwell’s legacy has been monopolised by the left
Mrs May says she is taking her stand on the issue of Northern Ireland and the integrity of the United…
Even ministers don’t understand Brexit
The Brexit negotiations are becoming so complicated that even the cabinet admits that it doesn’t understand what is going on.…
The march of the migrants poses a dilemma for America
Trump has hinted that Democrats may have been secretly funding the ‘caravan’ of more than 7,000 Honduran immigrants trooping towards…
In defence of Nick Clegg
As I write, the sneering at Nick Clegg has started. The first cuckoo I’ve heard in this chorus is calling…
The horror of choosing a Halloween costume
Halloween used to be easy. It was a fancy-dress party: you could wear whatever you liked. The idea was to…
Can Hammond’s Budget make business feel better about Brexit?
‘Uncertainty is draining investment from the UK, with Brexit having a negative impact on eight in ten businesses,’ says Carolyn…
The civil service’s anti-Brexit bias
Can you think of a serious crime which does not involve hate or, at the very least, contempt? You must…
Melania Trump elegantly rises above the media muck
I am not sure that Melania Trump had the introduction of Henry IV Part 2 in mind when she sat…
Hell hath no fury like an irate teenage girl
Something troubling is happening to our girls. I noticed it again most recently at this year’s Battle of Ideas —…
Good news – now everyone can be a victim
We are terribly remiss in our coverage of women’s sport in The Spectator, so I thought I would try to…
Why I’m boycotting ‘Davos in the Desert’
The current stock-market correction has been steaming down the track since August and I claim no wisdom for having predicted…
Will Theresa May risk putting her Brexit rebels on the spot?
Before every Budget, George Osborne would tell his aides to prepare for it as if it were their last. His…
Critics hated Julie Burchill’s Brexit play. What does that say about them?
There is a new book out about the sun — the bright thing in the sky, not the newspaper. It…
What Darcy the demented sheepdog taught me about life
I met the late Darcy ten years ago, and wrote about him. I was 59 and he was 12. I…
In defence of women (and why I ain’t no little bird)
Following Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony about being sexually assaulted by the US Supreme Court nominee when he was 17,…
Unilever’s botched plan to quit London leaves it open to hostile bids
Unilever’s abandonment of plans to scrap its Anglo-Dutch corporate structure and leave London is a huge embarrassment for chief executive…
Why I wanted to be called C.H. Moore
There are, one must admit, things to be said against Boris Johnson, but his leading critics do not understand that…
Wanted: a Tory domestic agenda
Jeremy Corbyn used to be a punchline at the Conservative party conference. Tories believed that his election as Labour leader…
