The Spectator’s Notes

The Spectator’s Notes

9 January 2021 9:00 am

Domenica Lawson, daughter of Rosa and Dominic, the former editor of this paper, has Down’s syndrome. She is classified as…

The Spectator’s Notes

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Many ingenious ways of evading Covid-19 have been devised to assist commerce, fewer to assist worship. In our next-door village,…

The Spectator’s Notes

5 December 2020 9:00 am

My inbox is crowded with messages from Old Etonians attacking Simon Henderson, the headmaster of Eton. They are furious that…

The Spectator’s Notes

28 November 2020 9:00 am

Last week, I wrote about ‘Frost & Lewis’ (David and Oliver), leaders of our country’s team at the Brexit negotiations,…

The Spectator’s Notes

21 November 2020 9:00 am

‘Frost & Lewis’. It sounds like a programme amalgamating two of the most famous TV detectives. The former diplomat, Lord…

The Spectator’s Notes

14 November 2020 9:00 am

Having only recently entered the House of Lords, I must tread with caution, but I had always understood that it…

The Spectator’s Notes

7 November 2020 9:00 am

Monday night’s murderous gunman in Vienna is officially described as ‘Islamist’. Brahim Aioussaoi, the man accused of murdering worshippers in…

The Spectator’s Notes

31 October 2020 9:00 am

As time passes, there is — blessedly — ever less need to pay attention to ‘untold’ stories about Diana, Princess…

The Spectator’s Notes

24 October 2020 9:00 am

You have to give it to Donald Trump: he never stops trying. In a letter dated 25 September, he wrote…

The Spectator’s Notes

17 October 2020 9:00 am

In this column (26 September), I pointed out that the National Trust’s new ‘Gazetteer’ of its 93 properties linked with…

The Spectator’s Notes

26 September 2020 9:00 am

The National Trust has brought out its ‘Interim Report’, with the clumsy title ‘Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic…

The Spectator’s Notes

19 September 2020 9:00 am

One of the most extraordinary features of the ‘cancel culture’ is how well it works. All decent people hate it,…

The Spectator’s Notes

12 September 2020 9:00 am

Large parts of the senior civil service regard Brexit as almost illegal. Some of them regard loyalty to the EU…

The Spectator’s Notes

29 August 2020 9:00 am

‘The British Museum stands in solidarity with the British Black community, with the African American community, with the Black community…

The Spectator’s Notes

22 August 2020 9:00 am

Amid all the puzzlement and recrimination about why the government got into this mess about A-level and GCSE results, one…

The Spectator’s notes

15 August 2020 9:00 am

Chris Packham is widely seen as the most extreme of well-known animal rights activists. His obsessions against hunting and shooting…

The Spectator’s Notes

8 August 2020 9:00 am

Juan Carlos, ex-King of Spain, behaved foolishly in relation to money and sex, and so his decision to leave Spain…

The Spectator’s Notes

1 August 2020 9:00 am

Although Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, is committed to openness, it is a struggle to get information out of…

The Spectator’s notes

25 July 2020 9:00 am

I think Anne Applebaum is a friend of mine. I certainly hope so, since I have always admired her writing,…

The Spectator’s Notes

18 July 2020 9:00 am

‘Just rejoice’, as Mrs Thatcher once said about something else. The government’s decision to debug our national security by getting…

The Spectator’s Notes

11 July 2020 9:00 am

There are far more Chinese students in British universities than there are from the entire Commonwealth. Many universities have been…

The Spectator’s Notes

27 June 2020 9:00 am

‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ said the plane’s banner as it circled the club’s stadium just after the teams had ‘taken…

The Spectator’s Notes

20 June 2020 9:00 am

Why is it wrong, some ask, for senior British businessmen, former civil servants etc to work for Huawei UK? After…

The Spectator’s Notes

13 June 2020 9:00 am

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 notes

6 June 2020 9:00 am

This week in 1989, the Chinese authorities massacred protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. I was editing this paper. It struck…