No sacred cows

Should free speech campaigners hope Andrew Gwynne is prosecuted?

15 February 2025 9:00 am

David McKelvey, a former detective chief inspector in the Met Police, has called for the prosecution of Andrew Gwynne, the…

The trouble with criminalising ‘Islamophobia’

8 February 2025 9:00 am

When I first heard that Angela Rayner had been tasked with creating an advisory council that will draw up an…

Beware this terrible new AI email feature

1 February 2025 9:00 am

A friend of mine got a nasty shock last week after a Google Meet call, thanks to a new AI…

The Trump I (barely) know

25 January 2025 9:00 am

I can’t say I know the new President of the United States very well, but during the five years I…

The highs and lows of Dry January

18 January 2025 9:00 am

The first week of Dry January was relatively easy. Not falling asleep in front of the television was a pleasant…

Farewell Justin Trudeau, the last of the lockdown tyrants

11 January 2025 9:00 am

So farewell then, Justin Trudeau, last of the lockdown tyrants. Or should that be the last of the democratically elected…

Can I be cancelled twice?

4 January 2025 9:00 am

One of the biggest regrets of my life was saying yes when Jo Johnson asked if I wanted to be…

Could I limit myself to 100 bottles of wine in a year?

14 December 2024 9:00 am

Back in January, I wrote about my new year’s resolution to cut down on my drinking. The thought of total…

Why Elon Musk shouldn’t be kicked out of the Royal Society

7 December 2024 9:00 am

In a notorious interview in the Sunday Times in 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson said, among other things,…

At 61, it’s official: I’m ‘young old’

30 November 2024 9:00 am

I read with some disappointment recently that the Encyclopaedia Britannica considers 61 – the age I am now – to…

Carry on Kafka: this is our Brave New World

23 November 2024 9:00 am

An ex-copper who blogs as Dominic Adler – not his real name – came up with a good phrase this…

Must try harder, Education Secretary

16 November 2024 9:00 am

The headmaster of one of the best comprehensives in the country was once asked the following question by Tony Blair:…

Did I deny my son a shot at the Premier League?

9 November 2024 9:00 am

When my youngest son Charlie was seven he was talent-spotted by a QPR scout who saw him playing football in…

Will Keir Starmer get me banned from football games?

2 November 2024 9:00 am

Last Saturday, I made the 400-mile round trip to Burnley with my 16-year-old son Charlie to see Queens Park Rangers…

A British First Amendment wouldn’t save free speech

26 October 2024 9:00 am

Does the United Kingdom need a First Amendment? That’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, given the…

Starmer’s snowflakes’ charter

19 October 2024 9:00 am

I almost choked on my cornflakes when I read that the Prime Minister had said he would slash red tape…

Yvette Cooper wants to lock up your sons

12 October 2024 9:00 am

In his independent review of the Prevent programme last year, Sir William Shawcross warned that something had gone very wrong…

Did Michael Gove mean what he said?

5 October 2024 9:00 am

I thought the Spectator dinner for Michael Gove hosted by Fraser Nelson would be cancelled. To be clear, this wasn’t…

Why play the Saudi anthem before an all-British boxing match?

28 September 2024 9:00 am

For only the second time in my life, I went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last weekend. At least,…

The science of voting for Kamala Harris

21 September 2024 9:00 am

The latest issue of Scientific American, a popular science monthly published by Springer Nature, contains an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris.…

Help! I’ve got class envy

14 September 2024 9:00 am

The summer holidays were a washout as far as my children are concerned, because we had to cancel our trip…

Labour’s backwards steps on free speech

7 September 2024 9:00 am

Free speech advocates like me need to stop talking about the meagre gains we made under the last government because…

How to exploit a crisis

31 August 2024 9:00 am

The phrase ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ is often attributed to Winston Churchill, but it’s something the…

I was wrong about staycations

24 August 2024 9:00 am

I hadn’t intended to go on a ‘staycation’ this summer. Quite the contrary, I’d booked a family holiday to Norway.…

Will Starmer make the Online Safety Act even worse?

17 August 2024 9:00 am

Good God, there’s a lot of guff being talked about the Online Safety Act. This was a piece of legislation…