In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Far from ideal
There were few subjects which escaped Oscar Wilde’s barbed wit: dentists, cynics, Americans, literary critics, democracy, the working classes, the…
The sport of kings
Queen Victoria disapproved heartily of the racing set and of her son Bertie’s involvement in the sport. But she must…
Del-con notes
After Turnbull, who? With three weeks to the election, and the government still labouring despite what should have been a…
The leap
This week the Prime Minister devoted a speech to what he regarded as six lies being told by his opponents…
Scarred by the past
In Indonesia in 1965–6 half a million communists and supposed communist sympathisers were murdered by a range of civilian and…
Edgehogs
Last week, commenting on Nigel Davies’s new book The Pirc Move by Move (Everyman Chess), I wrote about my win…
One country, two worlds
In October 1964, Charles de Gaulle visited Brazil. The country was six months into its military dictatorship. In April of…
Minus one
In Competition No. 2951 you were invited to remove a letter from a well-known book title and submit an extract…
A terrible beauty
It was only when I left Western Australia for university in England that I understood how vast and dangerous my…
To 2261: Long Jump
Clifton Fadiman wrote that cheese was ‘MILK’S LEAP TOWARDS IMMORTALITY’ (3/4/18). The remaining unclued lights (16, 21, 25, 35, 44…
Love for sale
The premise of Kat Banyard’s Pimp State is a familiar one: sex work — a phrase the author rejects as…
The Battle for Britain
The post The Battle for Britain appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment…
That glowing feeling
On the morning of 15 October 1927, a dim, autumn day, a group of men foregathered at the Rosedale cemetery…
The pain of being second-best
The boys at Radio 5, bless ’em, are now including the EU referendum as part of their sports trailers. As…
Tales of Mr Tod
Have you ever considered tying a fox’s penis to your head? Well no, nor have I, but if you suffer…
Un-Italian job
I have been waiting, like a heroine in fiction, for the specialist lasagne restaurant. London has long been heading this…
She’s the top
This book is the latest in Yale’s series of Jewish Lives — though in this case Jewish Loves might be…
Lives of gay abandon
Somewhere I have a couple of neat letters from the artist Richard Chopping, politely declining my requests to interview him…
Books & arts
The post Books & arts appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
These foolish things
No reliable statistics exist — it’s not the sort of thing you can audit — but England is surely the…
The lost world
Every now and then, with great infrequency (alas), a film comes along that is like no other and completely knocks…
Boxing
The post Boxing appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
Doing bird
A decade ago, the French pianist and poly-math Pierre-Laurent Aimard announced that he was ‘very bored to live in a…
Sourced
The post Sourced appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.
No laughing matter
Rossini is the meat-and-two-inappropriately-shaped-veg of summer opera; he’s the wag in the novelty bow tie, the two satyrs shagging enthusiastically…
Editor’s picks
Magazine
Making appointments, Coalition-style
A satirical look at the previous government’s conservative leanings
Four troubling features of the Higgins judgment
Everyone behaving badly, but only one is pronounced guilty in a social justice outcome
