The Week
From the archives
From The Spectator, 27 February 1915: Observers of birds have been much interested by the evidence, which seems to be fairly…
Australian letters
Bad behaviour Sir: A good number of years ago I was at the University of NSW with a pleasant fellow…
Let Greece leave the eurozone
To listen to Greek government ministers addressing the outside world during their breaks from negotiations with eurozone leaders this week,…
Portrait of the week
Home The annual rate of inflation fell to 0.3 per cent as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (or to 1.1…
Virginia Ironside’s diary: Fifty Shades is a story of redemption (but I still won’t watch it)
All this fuss about Fifty Shades of Grey! I wonder how many people have actually read all three books? Sado-masochism…
Why did the House of Lords ever have a rifle range?
Gun lords The House of Lords shooting range is to be turned into a cupboard, having previously survived an attempt…
Julius Caesar could teach Isis a thing or two
Isis disseminates videos of beheaded captives to spread simple terror. Julius Caesar knew all about it. In his diaries of…
From the archives
From ‘The psychology of drill’, The Spectator, 20 February 1915: One is tempted to divide all men under drill into…
Australian letters
Japanese numbers Sir I refer to the article No Aussie Knighthood for Winston (31 January). Whilst I agree with the…
In this election, won't someone please weaponise defence?
Britain is forfeiting its position on the world stage. With no national debate, we are surrendering our claim to be…
Portrait of the week
Home Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, told Parliament that Britain reserved the right to supply arms to Ukraine, as ‘We…
Sebastian Faulks’s diary: My task for 2015 – get a job
Just back from Sri Lanka, a place I first went to in 1981. It was then a dreamy island. I…
What Samsung’s new TVs owe to Jeremy Bentham
Watching brief Samsung warned users of its voice-activated televisions that what they said in front of the TV could be…
What Cicero knew that David Davis doesn't
The MP David Davis has lamented that the British seem to prefer laws that protect their security rather than guard…
From the archives
From ‘Prohibition in Scotland during the War’, The Spectator, 13 February 1915: At present the economic waste caused by drunkenness…
Australian letters
Royal slip Sir: Philip Murphy’s ‘Sir’ Bob Carr of Italy article (Spectator Australia, 7 February) refers, in relation to Prince…
Proof that the schools revolution isn’t over
For those who assumed that the removal of Michael Gove as Education Secretary marked the end of the Conservatives’ scholastic…
Portrait of the week
Home MPs voted by 382 to 128 to make Britain the only country to allow genetic modification of embryos to…
Alexander Chancellor’s diary: Picking golden oldies, Ken Dodd, and the sadness of Jack Nicholson
An excellent test of character is a person’s response to being offered an Oldie of the Year Award. There have…
Would Jesse Boot have agreed with Stefano Pessina? (Clue: he called his employees ‘comrade’)
Right Boot, left Boot What would Jesse Boot, who built Britain’s largest chemist chain from his father’s herbal shops, made…
The Magna Carta was hopelessly behind the times
Important as the Magna Carta (ad 1215) has been as a founding myth for everything we hold dear about law…
From the archives
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 6 February 1915: Germany proclaims a paper blockade of all the British coast,…
Spectator letters: Oxfam’s Ebola appeal; what Cumberbatch should have said; and why Prince Charles is right and wrong
In defence of Oxfam Sir: Mary Wakefield rightly praises Médecins sans Frontières but makes many misinformed claims about Oxfam and…
Calling the Green party socialist is an insult to socialists
The Green party has been likened to a watermelon: green on the outside and red on the inside. But that…
Portrait of the week
Home Party leaders mercilessly launched 100 days of campaigning before the general election on 7 May. David Cameron, the Conservative…
