Features
A Halloween short story: by The Woman in Black’s Susan Hill
‘This is a true story…’ Right. Only this time, it really is. There are no wails, whistling winds or taps…
An ‘I’ for a ‘my’: why we’re terrified of getting our grammar wrong
Jonathan Agnew recently described off-the-record interviews as those where you agree that it’s ‘between you and I’. Last month, Jess…
Bomb attacks are now a normal part of Swedish life
Stockholm One night last week, explosions took place in three different locations in and around Stockholm. There were no injuries…
Joan Collins: why I love London taxi drivers
Percy and I have seen quite a few movies recently and enjoyed many of them, which is rare. But the…
The Grand Union Canal, a serene sanctuary amid the urban sprawl
It was a Saturday afternoon in September, the end of summer, and I was feeling sorry for myself. I’d gone…
Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘I am enormously environmentally friendly by driving old Bentleys’
Jacob Rees-Mogg sits at a mahogany table in his office drinking black coffee from a Spode cup. Across from him…
The Canadian election is turning into a comedy of cringe
Next week my compatriots will cast their votes in what has arguably been the worst Canadian election ever. By ‘worst’…
![Kurdish politician Hervin Khalaf, who was apparently pulled from her car and executed last week by Turkish-backed paramilitaries [Photo: Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Paul_Wood.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Pax Russica: as Trump abandons Syria’s Kurds, Russia is ready to expand its empire
While American troops were hurriedly leaving north-eastern Syria, a young female Kurdish politician called Hervin Khalaf was pulled from her…
It’s down to the wire – and Boris only has one chance to survive
Here is my ideal scenario. Having failed to push through a deal to leave the European Union, either in the…
Tat Britain: Museum gift shops are naff – but necessary
Exit through the gift shop. Pick up a postcard, a magnet, a novelty eggcup in the shape of Queen Elizabeth…
![Parents and children demonstrate against the No Outsiders programme at Parkfield School in Birmingham in March [Photo: Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Melanie_McDonagh.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Should Muslim parents be allowed to challenge LGBT lessons?
We saw two different worlds, or at least two different value systems, collide in the High Court in Birmingham this…
It’s not just hooligans – hipsters also love a football shirt
When I was young, from about the age of nine to 13, I went through what my parents recall with…
There’s no deal – so what next?
There will be no last-minute deal. The talks between the UK and the EU have effectively broken down. It isn’t…
The commercialisation of shooting may kill the whole sport
A few years ago I was sitting on the sofa at Sandringham enjoying a ham sandwich with the Queen’s then-head…
Germany’s ailing economy can’t afford a no-deal Brexit
The UK was the ‘sick man’ when we ‘joined Europe’ in 1973. Now, with Britain on the cusp of leaving,…
Could this self-made billionaire become France’s first Muslim president?
The French writer Michel Houellebecq has a disconcerting habit of correctly predicting unsettling events. In 2001 in Plateforme he predicted…
Why do we keep pretending that children are wiser than adults?
We’ve begun to behave as if young people are special; more virtuous and wiser than adults. It’s wrong and it’s…
To solve Britain’s social care crisis, follow the Dutch example
More than a decade ago, four Dutch nurses decided something needed to be done about their country’s care in the…
The lessons I learned at my Oxford gaudy
I went to a gaudy last weekend. Several British universities now host these splendid events; mine was at Worcester College,…
The death of civilised debate
Today nearly all real public discussion has become impossible. Which is why nearly all public thinking has become impossible. Which…
For political discourse to survive, we must be more honest about language
When I was an English literature undergraduate, we were all very careful to avoid what used to be called the…
Paul Dacre: Do I regret the ‘Enemies of the people’ front page? Hell no!
So what to make of the extreme language, veering from the histrionic to the hysterical, dominating political discourse? The words…
Young recycling zealots are talking rubbish
Church attendances may be falling, but there’s a new religion in town: recycling. Its followers are devout and full of…
‘It wasn’t the Russian people who poisoned Skripal, it was just a few guys’: Alexander Lebedev interviewed
Who wants to be a billionaire? Not, apparently, Alexander Lebedev, the self-described ‘Russian ex-oligarch’ who has tried billionaredom and found…
The men I’ve groped (including Boris)
Charlotte Edwardes reports that Boris put his hand on her leg during lunch 20 years ago. Full disclosure, I put…
