The Spectator’s Notes
Harry shouldn’t be invited to the coronation
The Duke of Sussex says that he and his wife can never return to live in the United Kingdom. They…
The error of involving Gordon Brown
Sir Keir Starmer says the House of Lords is ‘indefensible’. It is an odd thing to say about an institution…
It is harder to run a dictatorship than a democracy
Things are currently so bad in the western democracies that we tend to ignore how much worse they are in…
MPs won’t ditch the House of Lords
The Supreme Court decided rightly on Wednesday, rejecting the Scottish government’s claim that a second referendum on independence was not…
Cop and the League of Nations
In order to understand why all Cops (Conference of the Parties), including the one which began this week, are so…
Greta’s right about Cop being useless
Greta Thunberg said, in a newspaper interview, that Cop27 is a ‘scam’ for ‘greenwashing, lying and cheating’. Then she said…
The personal faith of PMs
I have seen it suggested that because Rishi Sunak is a Hindu, it would be wrong for him to have…
Has a Conservative government got any power at all?
In the House of Commons on Monday, someone accused Liz Truss’s government of being ‘in office but not in power’.…
Why should Tom Watson be given a peerage and not Paul Dacre?
Much of this is not Liz Truss’s fault. The great big adjustment all over the West is that the era…
The trouble with Nick Robinson’s Thoughts for the Day
Thought for the Day appears every morning on BBC Radio 4. This preachy slot is hallowed by longevity, if not…
The genius of Hilary Mantel
Yes, but why did the IMF put out its Tuesday night statement? Even if all its criticisms of the government’s…
Should Queen Elizabeth II be made a saint?
If this were a Catholic country, up would go the cry for canonisation. When Pope John Paul II died, the…
The night the Queen refused to read my book
‘So it is come at last, the distinguished thing!’ exclaimed Henry James on his deathbed. Such a thought is reflected…
Why Liz Truss’s political journey matters
As is now well known, Liz Truss has travelled politically. Her parents are left-wing, and there is a photograph of her…
Trimble may prove to be Unionism's last statesman
David Trimble, who has just died, has rightly been praised for his courage. History may prove him to have been…
Who can read Penny Mordaunt?
Whitehall is telling ministers that this is a ‘caretaker’ government and so, by convention, cannot take decisions. This is not…
The triumph of ethnic-minority Tories
If you had said, even ten years ago, that there was no chance of a white male cabinet minister becoming…
Thatcher and Boris: the problems of downfall
Few leaders could be as different in character as Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson, but one can compare their predicaments…
