Features
Don’t grow a beard
I was looking at a photo of my great-grandfather the other day and admiring his beard. A magnificent spade-shaped affair,…
There’s a logic to Donald Trump’s incendiary diplomacy
On his very first day as Colombia’s new President, Abelardo de la Espriella received a dramatic house-warming gift: a billion…
Class clowns: the triumph of inanity over academia
Daniel Defoe observed that plague victims ‘never perceiv’d that they were infected’ until they discovered the ‘tokens’ on their skin.…
Why Nigel Farage’s ‘Australia-style’ border policy is doomed to fail
When I served as Australia’s High Commissioner in London, I was naturally flattered by how often British politicians and officials…
Who decides if a word is racist?
I swear Rod Liddle was smiling down on me last week, as I found myself tussling with an editor. I’d…
When does killing the enemy become murder?
When is extrajudicial killing just war by other means, and when does it become a state-sponsored act of terror? ‘We…
Do you have Old Money Face?
Recently, I have started to worry about my face. Early in the morning, before the children wake up, I’m sure…
Nothing beats writing by hand
I wrote the first drafts of both of my children’s novels by hand. It’s a great feeling: tactile, calming, a…
Puttshack has ruined crazy golf
It is a great family disappointment that I could never get into golf. My late grandfather would become so engrossed…
I didn’t want to like Rod Liddle
One of the joys of being director of digital at The Spectator, back in 2015, was seeing the magazine proofs…
‘The Middlesbrough Shakespeare’: Why I loved Rod
I met Rod 22 years ago this month. We had been selected as team-mates on a gameshow pilot, and, halfway…
Rod had one great regret
In 2019 I had to explain to Iain Dale – live on LBC – that Rod Liddle’s suggestion in his…
‘I asked for a substitute for the f-word. He suggested the c-word’: the joy of editing Rod
It was in Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where I was sitting waiting for the judge’s verdict, that I decided I needed…
Good riddance, Rod
When a famous right-wing, straight white male dies, if your first instinct isn’t to gloat and trash his reputation then…
Rod’s genius? Driving his enemies nuts
There is a reason the death of Rod Liddle has provoked such a swirling tide of grief among his millions…
To be a Spectator reader was to love Rod
Since becoming Spectator editor there was one observation I heard more often from readers than any other: ‘Rod is the…
The fantastical truth about Jason Arday
The story of Jason Arday is so brilliantly illuminating of the rottenness of our Establishment that it seems – literally…
Love lessons from my grandfather, Alexander Chancellor
After a lovely 25th birthday trip to Vienna, I returned home to face the reality of my quarter-life circumstances. I…
The great hay shortage
For the connoisseur, pushing your nose into a bale of new-season hay is one of life’s small but glorious pleasures.…
Never sue!
Don’t ever sue anyone! That’s what I would have told Prince Harry, Elton John and their fellow claimants, on the…
Schools out: the dissolution of private education
St Joseph’s College in Reading survived two world wars, the Great Depression and a pandemic. But it could not weather…
The curious history of sporting superstitions
My father had been waiting his entire life for that whistle. After 75 years, the curse was over. Mayo were…
‘He’s either the Messiah – or the Antichrist’: on the campaign trail with Nigel Farage
‘We love you, Nigel!’ In Clacton-on-Sea, there is little sign that the Reform leader’s star has waned. Campaigning with Farage…
We have a true book-loving Queen – and she is a marvel
Shepherd Market, W1, has many ghosts, some of whom are literary. In the shadow of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s former digs…
The grim rise of the ‘death positivity’ movement
It was the day after The Spectator’s summer party and I was on my way to something called a death…
