The Spectator’s Notes
Aintree is doing Rose Paterson proud
On Grand National Day at Aintree this Saturday, the Rose Paterson Trust will be launched. This time last year, Rose…
By banning what we dislike, we create a secular shariah
‘Interior silence’ is not a phrase I associate with Sarah Sands, until recently the editor of the BBC Today programme…
In defence of hereditary peers
As the former editor of a Sunday newspaper, I know their front pages can be rather confected. There is sometimes…
What happens when Facebook pays for news?
The recently departed head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, wants to balance China’s ideological antagonism to the West with the…
Are Harry and Meghan legally married at all?
I have been slow in the uptake. When I saw the Duchess of Sussex complain in her interview clips about…
Emmanuel Macron’s vaccine muddle
In 2000, this magazine dipped its toe in murky Irish water. Stephen Glover wrote three articles, one provocatively entitled ‘The…
Will social kisses survive Covid?
There is a ‘pervasive presence of Chinese military-linked conglomerates and universities in the sponsorship of high-technology research centres in many…
The unintended consequences of the Macpherson report
Sir William Macpherson of Cluny has died. His obituaries praise him for his 1998 inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence case.…
Where would politics be without fighting talk?
‘Tencent Wykeham’ has a ring to it. It captures how easily British universities can be bought. It is the new…
Lockdowns can destroy the lives they’re intended to protect
Some Leavers are perturbed that Lord Frost was suddenly stood down as the next National Security Adviser. This anxiety may…
Will Samuel Pepys be cancelled next?
A seemingly obscure battle in an ecclesiastical court could threaten the security of every historic monument in the care of…
The truth about the vaccine ‘postcode lottery’
‘Postcode lottery!’ people scream when one area feels less well treated than another in a public service — in this…
My memories of Sir David Barclay
Even with its 27 amendments, the US Constitution is only 7,591 words. I keep it beside me, and find in…
Covid, like war, brings less obvious shocks
Domenica Lawson, daughter of Rosa and Dominic, the former editor of this paper, has Down’s syndrome. She is classified as…
The Darvell marvel has brought joy to a Covid Christmas
Many ingenious ways of evading Covid-19 have been devised to assist commerce, fewer to assist worship. In our next-door village,…
In defence of Eton’s headmaster
My inbox is crowded with messages from Old Etonians attacking Simon Henderson, the headmaster of Eton. They are furious that…
China has a friend in Jesus
Last week, I wrote about ‘Frost & Lewis’ (David and Oliver), leaders of our country’s team at the Brexit negotiations,…
Are our churches safe from Justin Welby?
‘Frost & Lewis’. It sounds like a programme amalgamating two of the most famous TV detectives. The former diplomat, Lord…
The strangeness of voting in the Lords from my bed
Having only recently entered the House of Lords, I must tread with caution, but I had always understood that it…
Churches are more Covid-secure than trains or takeaways
Monday night’s murderous gunman in Vienna is officially described as ‘Islamist’. Brahim Aioussaoi, the man accused of murdering worshippers in…
Did Panorama use tabloid methods to lure Diana?
As time passes, there is — blessedly — ever less need to pay attention to ‘untold’ stories about Diana, Princess…
Trump tried to bribe my daughter-in-law
You have to give it to Donald Trump: he never stops trying. In a letter dated 25 September, he wrote…
The BBC can’t resist speculating on the science
In this column (26 September), I pointed out that the National Trust’s new ‘Gazetteer’ of its 93 properties linked with…
The National Trust’s shameful manifesto
The National Trust has brought out its ‘Interim Report’, with the clumsy title ‘Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic…
How to beat cancel culture
One of the most extraordinary features of the ‘cancel culture’ is how well it works. All decent people hate it,…
