Features
The most dangerous thing about the Amazon fires is the apocalyptic rhetoric
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese expert on forests who also plays football, so when he shared a picture online of…
What I’ve learned from five months sleeping on the streets
Over the years, I have spent around five months sleeping rough on the streets of London, Birmingham and New York,…
A bridge to the past: Tintagel’s complex history
Halfway across the brand new bridge that links the two halves of Tintagel Castle, there’s a gap where you can…
By royal disappointment: Meghan and Harry’s behaviour is undermining the monarchy
August on Royal Deeside. Soft rain falls without cease on the Caledonian pine forests, it soaks into the ancient peatlands…
We need the monarchy more than ever
One part of our unwritten constitution has been functioning perfectly during the Brexit upheaval: the monarchy. Unhappy behaviour by some…
How woke is your home?
Quick! Roll up the Persian carpet. Hide the willow-pattern service. Sweep the wok and chopsticks under the Berber rug. Mr…
Why Britain, like Iceland, will thrive outside the EU
I have no doubt that Britain will thrive after leaving the EU, whether or not it leaves with a deal.…
How verbal and physical abuse drove me out of the police
The past decade has not been kind to those we entrust, in the words of Sir Robert Peel, ‘to give…
How did my children become more middle class than me?
In a café in Norfolk last week, my seven-year-old son uttered words that mortified me. No, he didn’t comment loudly…
In Afghanistan, Trump and the Taleban want the same thing – Americans out
‘Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!’ As morning alarms go, this one leaves a lot to be desired. Normally I wake up to…
It’s easy to see why Trump wants to buy Greenland
When the news broke of Donald Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland from the Danes for strategic, mining and perhaps golf…
Right from wrong: a guide to the new European politics
Italy is preparing to go back to the polls and this time Matteo Salvini looks set to return as the…
The secret of Matteo Salvini’s success
Last summer, when Italy became the first major European country to get a populist government, Steve Bannon was cock-a-hoop. The…
History holds far fewer lessons for Brexit than both sides think
How we love bringing history into our political debates. It may seem strange in a country where so little history…
Can a church blessing tame my unruly dog?
The picture on the front of the Animal Blessing Service programme featured a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a goldfish,…
Right-wing comics are bringing variety back to the Fringe
I’ve been coming to the Edinburgh Fringe for five years, but this is the first time I’ve dipped my toe…
From Hong Kong to Kashmir, a new authoritarianism is on the rise
Frank Johnson, editor of The Spectator until cruelly sacked to make way for Boris Johnson, never wasted ideas. He liked…
Britain’s jazz scene is in full swing
Jazz died in 1959. At least, that’s what New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton wrote in 2011 as part of a…
Frightful flights, a falling pound: why would you go anywhere but Britain for your summer holiday?
The epiphany came when I was standing in the oxymoron of a speedy boarding queue at Gatwick, waiting to have…
The secret ingredient of successful seaside towns
The real secret behind Margate’s revival isn’t so much the restored Dreamland amusement park, but the trains. A decade ago,…
The UK’s best beaches – according to Spectator writers
Tom HollandTrevone, Cornwall Pretty much every summer, my family and my cousins head for a farm in north Cornwall,…
How Boris can make the extra cash for the NHS really count
It would be daft for someone to offer you £1.8 billion and you turn it down. That sort of money…
Desert Island Discs has completely lost the plot
There’s a cultural problem at the BBC, isn’t there? The Corporation is trying to attract under-35s — the sort who…
The West cannot survive without a re-energised belief in Christianity
There is no faster way to get yourself classed as dim than by admitting that you hold religious belief, especially…
Nicky Haslam: How will Boris decorate No. 10?
‘Volcanic temper… suspicious of everyone… irritability, mood swings… terror stalking the shadows… devastating collapse of Europe’s economy… rampant insecurity, unbridled…
