Features
Joan Collins: I’m an actress, not an actor. And yes, it matters
I recently tried to put my profession down as ‘actress’ on Instagram, but the only option available from the drop-down…
The best Christmas gift you can give yourself is to learn some poetry by heart
Every Christmas I find I am living in the past. I blame my father. He was born in 1910 —…
Comedy in the era of Twitter outrage: An interview with Ricky Gervais
There’s a moment in Ricky Gervais’s 2018 Netflix stand-up show Humanity when he talks about buying a first-class air ticket,…
Andrew Marr: Twitter fooled everyone during this election
It’s an unfashionable thought, but having spent many hours in the university sports hall where constituency votes for Boris Johnson…
Islam’s reformation: an Arab-Israeli alliance is taking shape in the Middle East
When Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman in 2018 in a gesture of goodwill to Israel’s neighbours, the welcome was not universal.…
‘I aspire to write for posterity’: An interview with Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard is Britain’s — perhaps the world’s — leading playwright. Born Tomas Straussler in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, in 1937,…
Corbyn’s problem was not that the media hated him – but that he hated the media
On the morning of the election, we buried my lovely mum. I write this 24 hours later, now on a…
This year, I’m performing all 32 of Beethoven’s sonatas. Here’s why
For the past several decades, little in my life as a professional pianist has been as constant as my relationship…
Words to live by from Saint John Henry Newman
On 13 October, John Henry Newman, a distinguished and distinctive Englishman, was officially declared a Saint. A well-known saying of…
‘I’ve had two totally successful marriages’: Stanley Johnson interviewed
If anything could make me feel sorry for Boris Johnson, it’s meeting his father, Stanley. Before we met, he sent…
What have you changed your mind about? A Spectator Christmas survey
Grayson Perry In 1992 I created a graphic novel called Cycle of Violence. Reading it now, the initially striking thing…
Lady Hale’s Christmas diary (as told to Quentin Letts)
They say I must retire next month when I turn 75. Irritating. I have been a member of the Supreme…
We’ve just had the best decade in human history. Seriously
Let nobody tell you that the second decade of the 21st century has been a bad time. We are living…
Roger Scruton: A year in which much was lost – but more gained
January My 2018 ended with a hate storm, in response to my appointment as chair of the government’s Building…
‘I was a tortured, obviously brilliant child’: James Ellroy interviewed
James Ellroy is occasionally quoted as saying he’s the greatest American crime novelist ever. The man sometimes called the ‘demon…
Anne Glenconner: My Christmas gift from Queen Mary
At the age of 87 I find myself not just a first-time author, but a bestseller. I’ve always told stories,…
A soldier’s legacy: how a baby’s cry saved a family
It was early evening on Sunday 6 August 1944. The Allies’ bloody struggle to liberate Normandy from the Nazis had…
Michael Moorcock: I feel I’ve been cheated by the British state
Back to Texas to prepare for guests arriving for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Once again we left our Paris home not…
History may hold the secrets of statecraft – but not the secrets of business leadership
‘How can one person lead one hundred?’ That was one of the questions in my Cambridge entrance exams back in…
I was born to be a pantomime Dame (oh yes I was!)
‘Flamenco, lambada/ But hip hop is harder/ We moonwalk the foxtrot/ Then polka the salsa…’ I’m sure you know those…
Eggs and hard liquor: Spectator writers on their favourite examples of meals in literature
P.J. O’Rourke I love poems but hate poetasters, love wine but detest oenophiles, love food but can’t stand foodies. Therefore…
A.N. Wilson: The V&A’s Tristram Hunt is a modern Prince Albert
We don’t have Thanksgiving in Britain, but this does not stop us giving thanks and Christmas is a good time…
The King of Christmas: A short story by Owen Matthews
The Christmas King steps slowly from his house and sniffs the evening’s chill. His tread is dainty, for all his…
‘Cook it like a prayer’: Bip Ling’s Christmas curry
This dish is refreshing and super yummy. It’s a recipe that Didas (my Indian grandmother) taught me. The zesty tomato…
Away from the manger: the holy relics of Bethlehem
‘No crib for a bed,’ says ‘Away in a Manger’ rather puzzlingly, since a crib is a manger. ‘No one…
