The Spectator’s Notes
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Interior silence’ is not a phrase I associate with Sarah Sands, until recently the editor of the BBC Today programme…
The Spectator’s Notes
As the former editor of a Sunday newspaper, I know their front pages can be rather confected. There is sometimes…
The Spectator’s Notes
The recently departed head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, wants to balance China’s ideological antagonism to the West with the…
The Spectator’s Notes
I have been slow in the uptake. When I saw the Duchess of Sussex complain in her interview clips about…
The Spectator’s Notes
In 2000, this magazine dipped its toe in murky Irish water. Stephen Glover wrote three articles, one provocatively entitled ‘The…
The Spectator’s Notes
There is a ‘pervasive presence of Chinese military-linked conglomerates and universities in the sponsorship of high-technology research centres in many…
The Spectator’s Notes
Sir William Macpherson of Cluny has died. His obituaries praise him for his 1998 inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence case.…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Tencent Wykeham’ has a ring to it. It captures how easily British universities can be bought. It is the new…
The Spectator’s Notes
Some Leavers are perturbed that Lord Frost was suddenly stood down as the next National Security Adviser. This anxiety may…
The Spectator’s Notes
A seemingly obscure battle in an ecclesiastical court could threaten the security of every historic monument in the care of…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Postcode lottery!’ people scream when one area feels less well treated than another in a public service — in this…
The Spectator’s Notes
Even with its 27 amendments, the US Constitution is only 7,591 words. I keep it beside me, and find in…
The Spectator’s Notes
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
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
My inbox is crowded with messages from Old Etonians attacking Simon Henderson, the headmaster of Eton. They are furious that…
The Spectator’s Notes
Last week, I wrote about ‘Frost & Lewis’ (David and Oliver), leaders of our country’s team at the Brexit negotiations,…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘Frost & Lewis’. It sounds like a programme amalgamating two of the most famous TV detectives. The former diplomat, Lord…
The Spectator’s Notes
Having only recently entered the House of Lords, I must tread with caution, but I had always understood that it…
The Spectator’s Notes
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
As time passes, there is — blessedly — ever less need to pay attention to ‘untold’ stories about Diana, Princess…
The Spectator’s Notes
You have to give it to Donald Trump: he never stops trying. In a letter dated 25 September, he wrote…
The Spectator’s Notes
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
The National Trust has brought out its ‘Interim Report’, with the clumsy title ‘Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic…
The Spectator’s Notes
One of the most extraordinary features of the ‘cancel culture’ is how well it works. All decent people hate it,…
The Spectator’s Notes
Large parts of the senior civil service regard Brexit as almost illegal. Some of them regard loyalty to the EU…
