Columnists
Why flee France?
Pitching your tent for weeks on end in the cold and mud, with no power or plumbing. Running in a…
A seven-year winter or a pleasant 2019? Your guess is as good as mine
A friend reminds me that she sold her house last summer because I warned her 18 months ago that Brexit…
Brexit is a fight for the very sovereignty of our nation
Who should govern Britain? This has always been the most contentious question in British politics. Magna Carta, the Reformation, the…
When it comes to champagne, the English are on the French’s coattails
Earlier this month, the Quorn and Cottesmore hunts took separate votes on merging. The Quorn voted for, the Cottesmore against.…
Dear Santa: My 14 requests for the new year
It is always a pleasure to watch Paris burning. On the surface a civilised country, but scrape a little deeper…
Should we all write ‘feminist’ stocking fillers?
I arrived at Waterloo, half an hour before my train departed. Needing to buy a birthday card, I popped into…
You can’t possibly hate cyclists more than they hate each other
I’ve cycled for primary transportation for 53 years. Accordingly, I’m not naive about the degree of resentment — nay, loathing…
Why I don’t, never have, and never will trust the people
It was late, and a friend and I were left to talk Brexit. He’s a keen and convinced Tory Brexiteer…
Life is about so much more than Theresa May’s crappy Brexit deal
It’s that time of year again when I put aside my wonted snark and share with you a few of…
All I want for Christmas is a City time machine
Are smartphones fuelling a pandemic of youthful anxiety and depression? That’s the question parents will wrestle with this Christmas as…
If May’s deal falls, there may be enough Labour MPs to gain a majority for ‘Norway plus’
Inside the Dominic Grieve amendment carried on Tuesday is the embryo of a new political party. Any parliamentary majority for what…
![The Little Drummer Girl [Photo: BBC]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/16729426_low_res_the_little_drummer_girl_1.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
John le Carré is like Shakespeare – his plots are improbable beyond comprehension
Thank the blessed Lord it’s over. Not Brexit, or Theresa May’s flailing and spastic governance. I’m talking about John le…
Why are children so fearful about the future?
For any bosses from the Singapore education department reading this, I have a message. It comes from (I’d guess) most…
Will racial blending undermine identity politics? Let’s hope so
Behold, the most incendiary statistic in America: the Census Bureau’s projection of when whites will become a minority in what…
Who’s really to blame for the Crossrail fiasco?
There’s been a strong sense of pre-Christmas turkeys coming home to roost in this week’s news, as stories I’ve written…
What if the Brexit vote fails?
We are heading into uncharted waters. The great hope of No. 10 and cabinet loyalists was that once Theresa May’s…
Britain is making the same mistake it always does in negotiations with Europe
Theresa May, William Hague and others say that the EU will not want to trap Britain in the backstop because…
Sex in church is fine – just keep the Christians out
Nic Roeg’s art-house thriller from 1973 Don’t Look Now was most famous, or infamous, for its lengthy and explicit sex…
Will no one ever take on the Green Blob?
Gosh it hurts when your little corner of paradise is destroyed by a few idiots’ ignorance and greed. This is…
I admit it – I’m a smartphone addict
I am often extremely dismissive of people immersed in their smartphones. I tut at the mole-ish pedestrians who step out…
How a betting business saved Stoke-on-Trent
I wrote last week of my fear that we’ll never ‘take back control of our fish’, as Brexiteers ardently wish,…
Will the Daily Mail’s volte-face on Brexit make the slightest difference?
It will be interesting to see whether the about-face of the Daily Mail on Brexit makes the slightest difference to…
The only thing you’re allowed to hate is hate itself
If we are to ban states of mind, my vote would be for self-righteousness first, followed by sententiousness, with maybe…
What does it mean to be ‘moved’ by something?
Catching a train last week at London’s St Pancras I encountered a man playing a piano. You can do this…
Jazz is dominated by men. So what?
I’d recommend any aspiring writer to marry a jazz drummer. It’s done wonders for my powers of concentration. If I…
