Leading article
Vladimir Putin is innocent until proven guilty in the Russian spy case
The apparent chemical attack on a former Russian double-agent and his daughter in an English cathedral city could be straight…
Back off, Barnier – you don’t need to invent obstacles to Brexit
There’s an unwritten law governing Boris Johnson in Westminster: every-thing he says or does is a gaffe, or can be…
As the Tories rail against Corbyn’s past, they’re losing the fight for the future
The news that Jeremy Corbyn met a Czechoslovakian agent three times during the 1980s, when the Cold War was still…
Why we shouldn’t try the jihadi ‘Beatles’ in Britain
The success of the military campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq has left behind a diplomatic and legal problem:…
This crash is just a return to normality
It is easy to mock the most strident critics of capitalism, like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s harder to…
Donald Trump has a genius for damaging his own reputation
It’s easy to see why Donald Trump gets angry. He is presiding over a robust economy, growing at the fastest…
Open goal: Britain must embrace all Brexit’s freedoms
A decade ago, bankers were not merely the masters of Davos, but the ‘masters of the universe’. No one calls…
Jeremy Corbyn’s takeover is complete – and the Tories are terrified
For Jeremy Corbyn and his allies, there has been no far-left takeover of the Labour party or its governing National…
Something’s gone badly right with the world economy
It is only a few months since gloomy economic commentators were confidently predicting that the world was about to plunge…
His critics can’t admit it, but Trump’s crazy tactics are succeeding
Among the many new political maladies of our age, one has been left largely undiagnosed. This is Trump Derangement Syndrome,…
A simple way for Spectator readers to make a real difference
Perhaps the most insightful piece of political analysis since the turn of the century came from the Queen in a…
Returning jihadis must be brought to justice
At first sight, the evidence presented in David Anderson’s report into the four terror attacks committed between March and June…
A £50 billion Brexit ‘divorce bill’ is a price worth paying
There will be howls of outrage in some quarters if it is confirmed that the government has offered the EU…
This budget was useful but boring: the Tories need bigger ideas
Philip Hammond began his first Budget, in March, by playing down its importance — for his big ideas on fiscal…
Britain and its allies are opening the way for yet another Iraq war
After the most intensive street-by-street combat since 1945, Isis’s so-called caliphate is no more. Last weekend, the Iraqi government won…
Does Theresa May’s zombie government even want to survive?
Dealing with a hung parliament was never going to be easy, but no one quite foresaw the decay which now…
Gordon Brown’s memoirs show he is good at blowing his own trumpet – but nothing else
Gordon Brown has pitched his memoirs as the honest confessions of a decent man. He failed to win the one…
Identity issues
It was always going to be difficult for Theresa May’s government to secure a legacy beyond Brexit. With the negotiations…
The Kurds are on their own
The routing of Isis in northern Iraq ought to be a time of international celebration, but as ever in the…
The new tycoons
The giants of the internet have long said that they are not publishers but mere platforms — or couriers —…
Tory blues
Theresa May’s conference speech — interrupted by coughing fits and with part of the set falling apart behind her —…
It’s time to talk trade
Thirty years ago, the Conservatives would have had no problem countering what Jeremy Corbyn had to offer in Brighton. But…
A fallen idol
Few world leaders have fallen from grace as quickly as Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel prize-winner, who also holds…
Red Tories
Jeremy Corbyn has never been very keen on parliamentary democracy. He may be changing his mind now. The British electoral…
Keeping faith
For Church of England vicars who worry less about what they will preach on Sunday than whether there will be…
