Features
LA lacks London’s Christmas spirit
‘Never again!’ I sigh every 6 January, as I pack away the abundance of Christmas decorations and baubles lovingly collected…
Who is Bonnie Blue?
For me, the past 12 months have been about one man, and that man is Alan Partridge. The veteran broadcaster’s…
How the Queen is spreading the joy of reading
Queen Camilla loves a book. Almost any book will do. ‘There’s something so tactile about a book,’ she says. ‘I…
‘I’ve been allergic to AI for a long time’: an interview with Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel has been described variously as ‘America’s leading public intellectual’, the ‘architect of Silicon Valley’s contemporary ethos’ or as…
‘We must not be the Tory party 2.0’: Nigel Farage on his plans for power
Nigel Farage is signing football shirts when I arrive at Reform’s campaign headquarters in Millbank Tower, the building where New…
My favourite books to give at Christmas
As Christmas approaches and we wrack our brains to find something that suits everyone, there is no present quite like…
Don’t listen to those who tell you America is over
What has gone wrong for Americans? To listen to an increasing number of politicians and pundits on both sides, from…
Santa Pants: a cocktail recipe by Matthew and Camila McConaughey
Our Santa Pants cocktail is one of our go-to holiday pours when hosting at this time of year. Made with…
The scientific case for the existence of intelligent alien life
The foundation of science is based on the humility to learn, not the arrogance of expertise. When comet experts argued…
In a crowded field, who is the most insufferable MP?
The Palace of Westminster, already beset by crumbling finials, has developed a damp problem. Nothing to do with bricks and…
What makes a ghost Catholic or Protestant?
W.H. Auden, in his essay on detective fiction, ‘The Guilty Vicarage’, asked: ‘Is it an accident that the detective story…
Slipshod: a short story by Sarah Perry
It was months before the difficulty with Marnie and Addison was talked about, or even alluded to. The sight of…
From Evelyn Waugh to Elizabeth Day, The Spectator’s enduring place in fiction
There are decades when The Spectator is shorthand for a trait: sex (2000s), young fogeys (1980s), free trade (1900s). But…
I stand with Nigel Farage
I have sweet memories of Christmas. My dad is proper old-school and would set up the video recorder. I don’t…
How Göring almost derailed the Nuremberg Trials
The new movie Nuremberg, starring Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring and Rami Malek as his US Army psychiatrist, has had…
My advice to Ben Stokes
In preparation for the 2005 Ashes series, the late Graham Thorpe, a man I looked up to enormously, turned to…
My lasting friendship with a disgraced MI6 officer
After a stellar career in the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6, an unassuming man with a passion…
Why is the modern Church embarrassed by angels?
One day while walking in Peckham Rye Park, William Blake saw angels sitting in the trees: ‘bright angelic wings bespangled…
Why Charlie Kirk was a modern prophet
Most of us indulge in mild fortune-telling. We think ‘If the light changes before I count to five, I’ll get…
I’ll miss the unintended hilarity of the round robin
‘Dearly beloved friends and family, well, what a year it’s been! Where to start?! The big event for us –…
Jung Chang: ‘Nobody can be as evil as Mao’
No writer has done more than Jung Chang to bring the horrors of Maoist China to the attention of western…
Labour has done more damage to our country than the Luftwaffe
I still hang out with the same two lovable crackheads I sat beside on the first day of primary school.…
The joy of a miserable literary Christmas
A Christmas Carol is pretty well unavoidable around now, with Little Women trailing somewhat behind. There’s no shortage of alternative…
David Deutsch: The Enlightenment, ‘irrational memes’ and how Wikipedia turned woke
The Amazon reviews for David Deutsch’s The Beginning of Infinity don’t alert you to the fact that this is a…
Trump has made D.C. safe again
In August, the President of the United States declared a crime ‘emergency’ in my home town of Washington D.C. Donald…
