The Spectator’s Notes
The Spectator’s proud history of standing up for Hong Kong
This week in 1989, the Chinese authorities massacred protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. I was editing this paper. It struck…
The ferocious bias against Dominic Cummings
At Dominic Cummings’s press conference on Monday, reporters tried two lines of attack. One was to behave like local detectives,…
Cambridge University is kowtowing to China
Last month, writing elsewhere, I quoted the website of the China Centre at Jesus College, Cambridge: ‘Under the leadership of…
Mixed messaging is good for us
A friend, a senior retired mandarin, emails. He complains that rural lockdown means that he and his wife have ‘got…
We have had enough warnings about China
Mathias Döpfner is that still rare thing — an outspoken German. I have known him slightly for many years and…
Good news for the Jewish Chronicle
During the second world war, the collection of the National Gallery had to be hidden in a mountain in Wales…
The secrets of The Spectator’s success
Although I once edited this paper, and have written for it for almost 40 years, I did not know that…
Covid-19 is giving me hyper-focus on the beauty of spring
We know, because of the lack of widespread testing, that incidences of Covid-19 are under-reported. What is less well known…
The problems of a sick prime minister
It is good of President Trump to offer Boris Johnson his best wishes and the best American pharmaceuticals (though no…
Perhaps we are all communists now
‘I am a columnist for the Daily Telegraph,’ I began a text message to an NHS executive last week. Due…
The psychological and economic dangers of enforced idleness
‘Lourdes shrine closes healing pools as precaution against coronavirus,’ says a discouraging headline in the Catholic Herald. Jesus ‘made the…
Coronavirus has even kept the sex-strikers at home
When we left this Britain on Thursday last week, life was almost as usual. Shops and restaurants were open. The…
Coronavirus is a metaphor for our vulnerability over Huawei
Monday night’s Commons rebellion over Huawei was on a surprisingly serious scale for a new government with a big mandate.…
The government’s zero-carbon policies will do harm to Britain’s beautiful landscapes
The government is trying to get onshore windfarms going again, defying the damage they do to unique environments. I am…
Jean Vanier’s sad fall from grace
The fall from grace of Jean Vanier is truly a sad story. The founder of the L’Arche communities did extraordinary…
The perils of owning an erotic Nazi toy
My parents told me that their wartime childhoods were punctuated by the expression: ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’…
Does anyone really think HS2 will be good for the country?
How depressed should one be about the HS2 go-ahead? The cost is stupefying. The offering to the north — considered…
The real reason Glasgow’s UN climate summit will be a nightmare
Regardless of one’s views on climate change, one should welcome the fact that Boris Johnson removed Claire Perry O’Neill from…
Philip Pullman is right about the Oxford comma
It was with regret that I read that Albert, retired King of the Belgians, has finally had to admit, following…
I won’t be applying to be director-general of the BBC
Despite huge public pressure, I shall not be applying to be director-general of the BBC. It was kind of Tony…
Anyone for a Sussex Royal potato?
Earlier this week, we accompanied our daughter-in-law, Hannah, to her British citizenship ceremony, she having passed the necessary tests. (Hannah…
Why bother joining the Labour party?
Now that there is yet another chance to vote for a leader of the Labour party, if you are prepared…
The mysteries of the Corbyn world-view
It is worth fixing for posterity the feelings which, on polling day, swirled in the breasts of many who wanted…
My run-in with Westminster’s TV news circus
Leaving an evening meeting in Westminster on Monday night, I walked to Charing Cross. Approaching the public path which runs across…
Six weeks is too long for an election campaign
The number of parties represented in national election debate multiplies. There are now seven crowding on to television podiums and…
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