Features
If you want a real safari, head to Botswana
As a boy camping with my father on safaris deep in the African bush, there were no tents involved; we…
Solitude
Together, they wrote a book. Its title was Solitude, orEvery Man his own Hermit. They wrote alternate chapters in a…
Solitude
Together, they wrote a book. Its title was Solitude, orEvery Man his own Hermit. They wrote alternate chapters in a…
Black flags and Christmas lights: a letter from Beirut
Blue and white Christmas lights twinkle over the shops near my apartment in Beirut’s Christian quarter; pricy boutiques display elaborate…
What’s behind the Boris Johnson show?
To interview the Mayor of London is to witness an extraordinary performance
Penelope Lively’s notebook: Coal holes and pub opera
I have been having my vault done over. Not, as you might think, the family strong room, but the place…
The threat to Christmas carols – and how to save them
A glorious, healthy and intensely pleasurable tradition is in danger
The transvestite, the fat cyclist and the woman from Chest Monthly: writers' tales of weird dates
Spectator writers and others on the path of romance
How to fix Britain’s immigration crisis (without leaving Europe)
The crisis is real. And we can solve it without leaving Europe
Europeans no longer fear Germany. But do the Germans still fear themselves?
Germans are beginning to recognise that they will not always be able to stay out of military conflicts
David Hare’s notebook: The National Theatre belongs to taxpayers, not corporate sponsors
The nicest day of the year was spent at Charleston in May. The Sussex farmhouse shared by Duncan Grant and…
Why are we abandoning the Middle East's Christians to Isis?
Why are we abandoning Christians to Isis?
The Christmas lunch
Illustrated by Carolyn Gowdy The early Christmas lunch party had been Bunny Wedgewood’s idea. But Bunny had pulled out the…
Alexander McCall Smith’s notebook: America vs my diet
The trouble with going on an American book tour is that I know it’s going to play havoc with my…
Has the Chief Inspector of Schools really gone rogue?
Sir Michael Wilshaw must revamp his power-crazed organisation
Edie Campbell’s catwalk notes: the joys of the hunt ball, and mystery of Grozny fashion week
It seems as though I have just been on some grand tour of the absurd. It helps that I work…
Interview: Alex Salmond’s game plan for the Commons
Scotland’s former first minister on the allure of the Commons, the Queen and Prince Charles – and the defects of Cameron and Miliband
Pippa Middleton on wine, fishing and Kim Kardashian
A few days ago I went truffle hunting in Piedmont. It’s been a bumper year for white truffles in northern…
Valérie Trierweiler’s notebook: Christmas as a singleton
Christmas will be a very warm occasion for me. I’ll be spending it with the Massonneaus — my family —…
Straight white males are the winners in the sexual counter-revolution
Forget the culture war rhetoric. We straight white males have won
Alan Turing's last victory
The story of how we cracked Enigma was top secret, then misrepresented. Now it’s a worldwide cult
From the archive: Sound of the season
How ‘White Christmas’ invented the modern festive song
The Servant
You will see, alas, that all of this is true. One morning, I awoke in a feather bed in a…
The Northern Lights
Getting here took a long time. First a flight to Seattle, then a connection to Fairbanks, followed by a coach…
The Christmas lunch
Illustrated by Carolyn Gowdy The early Christmas lunch party had been Bunny Wedgewood’s idea. But Bunny had pulled out the…
