Features
Bali: A bird in the ring…
William Cook goes in search of an island tradition hidden from tourists
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…
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 show?
To interview the Mayor of London is to witness an extraordinary performance
A London Christmas
I have been having my vault done over. Not, as you might think, the family strong room, but the place…
Save the carol!
A glorious, healthy and intensely pleasurable tradition is in danger
My strangest date
Spectator writers and others on the path of romance
A new deal on immigration
The crisis is real. And we can solve it without leaving Europe
Back to the front
Germans are beginning to recognise that they will not always be able to stay out of military conflicts
A Dramatist’s Notebook
The nicest day of the year was spent at Charleston in May. The Sussex farmhouse shared by Duncan Grant and…
Thrown to the lions
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…
American notebook
The trouble with going on an American book tour is that I know it’s going to play havoc with my…
Ofsted in the dock
Sir Michael Wilshaw must revamp his power-crazed organisation
Notes from the Catwalk
It seems as though I have just been on some grand tour of the absurd. It helps that I work…
Salmond’s revenge
Scotland’s former first minister on the allure of the Commons, the Queen and Prince Charles – and the defects of Cameron and Miliband
Winter Diary
A few days ago I went truffle hunting in Piedmont. It’s been a bumper year for white truffles in northern…
A singleton’s notebook
Christmas will be a very warm occasion for me. I’ll be spending it with the Massonneaus — my family —…
A sexual counter-revolution
Forget the culture war rhetoric. We straight white males have won
Bletchley spark
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…
