Leading article
Joy to the world
Pessimism sells. It shifts books and newspapers, sends ratings soaring. It fills lecture halls, wins research grants, makes political careers.…
George Osborne has seen the light on tax cuts. Now he needs to implement some more
George Osborne has not been a complete disappointment as Chancellor. He has, it is depressing to note, ended up giving…
Our enemy is not global warming. In Britain, people are dying of the cold
Fanciful predictions of all the deaths that will result from climate change, decades into the future, are regularly thrown into…
Alex Salmond's economic policies would drive an independent Scotland into the ground
Within the white paper on economic policy in an independent Scotland that was published by Alex Salmond’s government this week…
Vive la France! Everyone else, led by Obama, is capitulating to Iran
President Obama’s flagship foreign policy of ‘leading from behind’ has had some surprising consequences. Not least among them is that…
We are not 'tired of war'. We are tired of lack of leadership to win one
One remarkable fact of recent years is that even as the veterans of the first world war have died and…
High-speed fail
A year ago the electoral strategies of the two main parties seemed set. The Conservatives would stand as the party…
How the Spectator helped blow the whistle on health tourism
In February, an NHS surgeon came to The Spectator’s offices to discuss a piece he felt it was time to…
Global race? Lack of air routes means we're already on the slow boat to China
Trade missions are almost comically pointless nowadays, as George Osborne’s visit demonstrated this week in Beijing. He is right that…
George Osborne is blowing bubbles
In opposition, George Osborne said that you cannot borrow your way out of a debt crisis. In government, he has…
Miliband's la-la lurch to the left has revived the right
Every opposition leader sometimes needs to act as a saboteur. Ed Miliband showed his wrecking skills this week, picking a…
The death of Aids
In a week in which the world is once again invited to consider the prospect of climatic Armageddon, it would…
Finally, the IPCC has toned down its climate change alarm. Can rational discussion now begin?
Next week, those who made dire predictions of ruinous climate change face their own inconvenient truth. The summary of the…
How to save the BBC? Privatise it
Three years ago, our columnist and former editor Charles Moore was summoned to Hastings Magistrates’ Court to pay £807 for…
How Australia's Tony Abbott pulled off a great conservative victory
By conventional wisdom, Tony Abbott should not become Prime Minister of Australia this weekend. He ought to be too conservative,…
Syria: A war without a purpose
There is something deeply disturbing about switching on the television and finding Jack Straw talking about the need to take…
The Guardian didn't care when Murdoch's journalists were arrested. So why the hysteria now?
It is good to see the Guardian suddenly rediscover its interest in the sanctity of a free press. Just five…
This is no way to run a railway
We would not want to return to the days when the transport secretary was actively engaged in the running of…
Causes and effects
When spending money is declared to be a good in itself, it is certain that much of it will be…
The only way the Tories can show they care about the North is to permit fracking in Sussex
David Howell never really succeeded as energy and then transport secretary in Mrs Thatcher’s governments. After she sacked him in…
Google is part of the free press. So hands off, Prime Minister
It is not quite clear what Google did to David Cameron, but the Prime Minister seems to be exacting some…
Leader: Ring-fencing the NHS is only making matters worse
According to popular wisdom on the left — and even among some in the Conservative party — this ought to have been…
Why Ed Miliband should stop paying his union dues
Ed Miliband’s relationship with Len McCluskey was defined in a brief camera shot at the Labour party conference in 2010.…
Egypt shows us that elections aren’t enough
Democracy and holding elections are not the same thing. There could be no better demonstration of this than the experience…
