Features
Why won’t Hitler conspiracies die?
Eighty years ago, as Red Army shells rained down over Adolf Hitler’s Reich Chancellery garden, a group of his remaining…
My battle to avoid boredom
Four days ago I was so bored that I considered starting a terrorist groupuscule. I had no demands, no ideology,…
How Rome copes with the Conclave
Ordinary Romans, famous for their cheerful working-class familiarity, loved Pope Francis for his common touch. For the first time in…
The extraordinary scale of the crisis facing the next pope
At 9.47 a.m. on Easter Monday we heard the words ‘con profondo dolore’ from a cardinal standing in the chapel…
Pope Francis had his priorities right
After he emerged from the Gemelli hospital in Rome last month, Pope Francis put out a reflection on ‘hospital’. Some…
Middle-class parents are creating a new breed of brat
I recently reconnected with an old friend; I went to his house and met his children for the first time.…
Conservatives all over the Anglosphere are paying the price for Trump
It is the great good fortune of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to be united by a common language,…
Long live the long lunch!
I keep on my bedside table, where others might place religious texts, Keith Waterhouse’s seminal The Theory and Practice of…
We should be excited about signs of alien life
Last week, a team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge professor Nikku Madhusudhan announced that they had found…
How I found Christianity
I wasn’t brought up in the faith. My maternal grandfather was a Methodist lay-preacher, but when my mother left County…
Admit it: Creme Eggs are vile
Every Easter, the Creme Egg dominates supermarket shelves. It is, Cadbury’s marketing department loves to remind us, ‘the nation’s favourite…
Lamb is for life, not just for Easter
Roast lamb is as expected on the Easter table as turkey is at Christmas. But as a nation, we are…
‘We’re going to a more radical place’: Wes Streeting on his plans for the NHS
A copy of a leading article from The Spectator is stuck to the wall of Wes Streeting’s office in the…
The assisted suicide bill should not survive
Until about six months ago, it would have been hard to find a more inoffensive politician than the Labour backbencher…
Would Trump really bomb Iran?
A satellite picture shows six American B-2 Stealth bombers parked on the runway at Diego Garcia. The planes – each…
Where have all the rabbits gone?
It’s spring and in this corner of rural Sussex, the bluetits are at the window, newborn lambs are bleating in…
‘Jordan Peterson is a sad and angry man’: an interview with Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has a new book out, a slim, thoughtful introduction to Christianity. But that’s not…
The world reveres British music
I have just returned from the lovely Italian city of Rimini, where 300 local singers had gathered for a weekend…
In defence of benzos
In the latest series of The White Lotus – a moral fable about the narcissism and toxicity of the privileged…
Why I said no to marrying my cousin
There’s a joke that does the rounds about a Pakistani couple who get a divorce. After their union is dissolved,…
Saviour complex: Jonathan Powell is still trying to change the world
In 2011, the Hampstead theatre put on an autobiographical play about a marriage strained by lies, betrayal and, as the…
Bring back gory book covers!
Looking for a light, breezy read? If you happened to be browsing the bestseller bookshelves this summer your eye might…
How Birmingham became the epicentre of Britain’s opioid crisis
Rats grown fat on refuse prowl the streets of Birmingham. Mounds of rubbish pile up outside houses. Desperate to avoid…
Confessions of a middle-class jobseeker
Having been made redundant from a job in the City, I could have afforded not to sign on at all.…
