The Week
‘Thinking Germans must be depressed indeed’: The Spectator’s predictions for 2016
From ‘The Military Situation’, The Spectator, 1 January 1916: The opening of a new year is a time for taking stock…
Letters
Mind altering Sir: I was quite surprised to find the spread of mind altering drugs had reached Wandandian NSW but…
Soggy thinking
As the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, Lord Deben, observed this week, there is a bizarre dislocation between…
Plato and think-tanks
In Living with Difference, a think-tank report on the problems raised by a multi-faith UK, the chair Baroness Butler-Sloss says…
Barometer
In with the new How the new year is being celebrated around the world. From 1 January…BRITAIN: Annual Investment Allowance…
Diary
Disappointingly, the recent film about Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, does not include the thing about him which most struck…
Next year’s war
From ‘The Military Situation’, The Spectator, 1 January 1916: The opening of a new year is a time for taking stock…
Portrait of the week
Home Thousands of houses were flooded in York, Leeds, Manchester and other parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, after weeks of…
The shocking truth about the English and the Scots: they agree
Last year, the United Kingdom came within 384,000 votes of destruction. A referendum designed to crush the Scottish nationalists instead…
Portrait of the Year
January David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that only electing the Conservatives could ‘save Britain’s economic recovery’. Labour unveiled a…
Ben Schott's diary: Travels with a magic umbrella
Flying home to New York, I noticed a disturbing innovation in pre-flight cabin announcements. After the welcomes, exhortations, and promotions…
Father Christmas will be 400 next year
Christmas birthday Next year has a claim to be the 400th birthday of Father Christmas. Ben Jonson wrote a short…
Ancient Greeks and modern entrepreneurs
There is much talk today of the enthusiasm with which young entrepreneurs are setting up businesses. One reason why this…
Communion in the trenches
From ‘The Sacrament’, The Spectator, 25 December 1915: We were fairly fagged out, all of us, after a heavy day…
Spectator Christmas letters: from Daesh to zakuski
Just call them Daesh Sir: I was interested to read Sam Leith’s article in which he appears to argue that…
State of the Union
Last year, the United Kingdom came within 384,000 votes of destruction. A referendum designed to crush the Scottish nationalists instead…
Be your own boss
There is much talk today of the enthusiasm with which young entrepreneurs are setting up businesses. One reason why this…
Barometer
Christmas birthday Next year has a claim to be the 400th birthday of Father Christmas. Ben Jonson wrote a short…
Diary
Flying home to New York, I noticed a disturbing innovation in pre-flight cabin announcements. After the welcomes, exhortations, and promotions…
Communion in the trenches
From ‘The Sacrament’, The Spectator, 25 December 1915: We were fairly fagged out, all of us, after a heavy day…
Portrait of the year
January David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that only electing the Conservatives could ‘save Britain’s economic recovery’. Labour unveiled a…
It is time to join the fight against IS in Syria
The Islamic State is as monstrous an enemy as we have seen in recent history. It crucifies and decapitates its…
Portrait of the week
Home The House of Commons voted on air strikes in Syria. Labour MPs had been allowed a free vote by…
Quentin Letts’s Diary: An apology to the BBC journos who, thanks to me, are being sent away for re-education
First, an apology. Thanks to me, all journalists at BBC Radio’s ethics and religion division are being sent for indoctrination…
Barometer: Who was the first warmist?
The first warmist The first attempt to quantify the link between CO2 in the atmosphere and global temperatures was attributed…
