The Spectator’s Notes
Has the Assisted Dying Bill been killed off?
The reported decision to postpone the implementation of the Assisted Dying Bill until 2029 might, one must pray, turn out…
Putin is outwitting Trump
In the incessant conflicts of life and politics, people who know what they want tend to win. That is why…
Trump has breathed new life into Davos Man
So bad was the debut of this Labour government that many think it has already failed. But now, I suggest,…
The bully-boy tactics of Trump and J.D. Vance
Just before Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping announced a ‘friendship without limits’. The phrase seems…
What will Zelensky’s fate be?
Kyiv We resemble pilgrims. Because of the war, no one can fly to Ukraine, and so we travel, romantically, by…
My Valentine’s Day car crash
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, is not a MAGA groupie, but a believer in the Nato alliance. He…
Channel 4 shouldn’t get to decide the next Archbishop
Obviously, it is difficult to defend the leadership of the Church of England, and I am inexperienced in that art;…
Trump is like Shakespeare’s Fool
President Trump’s role in relation to other countries resembles that of the Fool in Shakespeare. He provides a sort of…
My message to the Trumpists
Social media benefit from creating continuous belligerence in politics. For them, Donald Trump is the perfect politician. As I wrote…
Will Trump remember his allies?
I had thought that having to be inaugurated indoors would have cramped Donald Trump’s style. Not so. The rhetoric with…
The National Trust took the knee
In a recent interview, Hilary McGrady, the director-general of the National Trust, complains that ‘The culture wars we’re trying to…
We need safeguarding from safeguarders
What does it mean, in practice, to say that reporting child abuse should be mandatory? It sounds appropriately severe, but…
The joy of our village Christmas play
We are just recovering from the village play. This annual Christmas event was taken over last year by our son…
The origin of The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year Awards
Forty years ago, a whisky company, Highland Park, which advertised its Famous Grouse in The Spectator, approached us with a…
Farmers aren’t miners
A parallel is being drawn between the Tories and the miners in the 1980s and Labour and the farmers today.…
Justin Welby shouldn’t have resigned
There is no proper reason for the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. No iniquity was proved against…
The fascinating life of Sir Henry Keswick
Sir Henry Keswick died on Tuesday, aged 86. Under his proprietorship, from 1975 to 1981, The Spectator recovered, and began…
Has the assisted dying lobby considered the guillotine?
My young friend Dr Cajetan Skowkronski has helped me resolve a question that has been worrying me. Why do supporters…
The 38 candidates to be Oxford’s chancellor
Being Cambridge, I thank God that we have no nonsense about electing our chancellor. We have had a blameless, unchallenged…
Why won’t David Lammy help Jimmy Lai?
As I write, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, is flying to China. So I am only guessing when I say…
Who will dress Keir Starmer now?
It is worth upholding the stuffy point which should have prevailed at the start. It was always improper and unethical…
The Tories’ Greek tragedy has reached its catharsis
I write this as I leave the Tory conference in Birmingham. I have covered most of these events (and many…
Who’d be an MP now?
Sir Keir Starmer offered a sausage to fortune when he let Lord Alli bankroll half the cabinet. One’s heart does…
Do you have a ‘story’?
As someone who worked full time in the office for 24 years and has now worked full time from home…
Rachel Reeves is right to cut the winter fuel payment
Gordon Brown introduced the winter fuel payment shortly after becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1997, following his party’s landslide…
