The Spectator’s Notes
Is Chris Packham finally facing facts on shooting?
Chris Packham is widely seen as the most extreme of well-known animal rights activists. His obsessions against hunting and shooting…
Why poetry matters
Juan Carlos, ex-King of Spain, behaved foolishly in relation to money and sex, and so his decision to leave Spain…
Jesus College’s China problem
Although Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, is committed to openness, it is a struggle to get information out of…
The politics of email sign-offs
I think Anne Applebaum is a friend of mine. I certainly hope so, since I have always admired her writing,…
Why did we not ban Huawei earlier?
‘Just rejoice’, as Mrs Thatcher once said about something else. The government’s decision to debug our national security by getting…
Now Gladstone must fall?
There are far more Chinese students in British universities than there are from the entire Commonwealth. Many universities have been…
Michelangelo’s David must fall
‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ said the plane’s banner as it circled the club’s stadium just after the teams had ‘taken…
The grand names on Huawei’s payroll
Why is it wrong, some ask, for senior British businessmen, former civil servants etc to work for Huawei UK? After…
What is Dominic Raab not telling us about Hong Kong?
The government’s promised ‘pathway to citizenship’ to Hong Kong people is wonderful, but has the Foreign Office arranged a get-out…
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?’…
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