The Week
Cicero could have told you all about the MPs’ standards committee
As Sir Kevin Barron, chair of the MPs’ ‘Standards’ committee, steps down so that his own MP-packed body can adjudicate…
Flying start
From ‘Common-sense and the command of the air’, The Spectator, 25 March 1916: The Air Service will be the great fighting…
Australian letters
Lefties Sir: Why is it that conservative commentators never promote the fact that Hitler and the Nazis were National Socialists?…
The jihad continues
On Tuesday morning Belgium was the latest European country to suffer a major terrorist attack. It is a disturbing reminder…
Cicero on regulating MPs
As Sir Kevin Barron, chair of the MPs’ ‘Standards’ committee, steps down so that his own MP-packed body can adjudicate…
Barometer
Bottling out Does any country have experience of a sugary drinks tax? — Denmark introduced a tax on sweetened soft…
Diary
Killing time in a Heathrow first-class lounge, I notice how many men adopt an unmistakable ‘first-class lounge’ persona. They stand…
Flying start
From ‘Common-sense and the command of the air’, The Spectator, 25 March 1916: The Air Service will be the great fighting…
Letters
PC and abortion Sir: It is heartwarming that Simon Barnes’s son should not suffer the stigma experienced by those with…
Australian letters
Lefties Sir: Why is it that conservative commentators never promote the fact that Hitler and the Nazis were National Socialists?…
Portrait of the week
Home Iain Duncan Smith resigned as Work and Pensions Secretary two days after the Budget, throwing the government into a…
Why the Republican elite couldn’t stop Donald Trump
The political climate that brought about his rise is in fact a worldwide phenomenon
Portrait of the week
Home In the Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, kept talking of the ‘next generation’. He outlined cuts…
My groaning swimming costume – and David Aaronovitch’s
To while away the time at airports, I like to spot celebrities. But pickings have been slim. Where is everyone?…
Staines, Pile o’ Bones and other towns that changed name
Name that town The representative of Slough in the UK Youth Parliament called for the town’s name to be changed…
There were no safe spaces at the dawn of democracy
Brilliant Oxford undergraduates argue that it is right to prevent us saying things they object to, because speech they do…
Portugal’s choice
From ‘Portugal and the war’, The Spectator, 18 March 1916: Portugal in coming into the war may seem to have taken…
Australian letters
Christ you know it aint easy Sir: Andrew Bolt has allowed his vision of what happened to Cardinal George Pell…
Why Trump prevailed
If the Republican party were a company, it would now file for bankruptcy. Donald Trump, arguably the most grotesque candidate…
Safe space in ancient Athens
Brilliant Oxford undergraduates argue that it is right to prevent us saying things they object to, because speech they do…
Barometer
Name that town The representative of Slough in the UK Youth Parliament called for the town’s name to be changed…
Diary
To while away the time at airports, I like to spot celebrities. But pickings have been slim. Where is everyone?…
Portugal’s choice
From ‘Portugal and the war’, The Spectator, 18 March 1916: Portugal in coming into the war may seem to have taken…
Letters
More things to ban Sir: In the light of Mick Hume’s piece about politically correct students (‘The left will eat…
Australian letters
Christ you know it aint easy Sir: Andrew Bolt has allowed his vision of what happened to Cardinal George Pell…
