The Week
Diary
With four days to go until the result of Labour’s leadership election, a call from the Sunday Times. Would I…
Time to tax
From ‘The coming budget’, The Spectator, 18 September 1915: At present the large majority of householders and electors pay no direct…
Portrait of the week
Home In the shadow cabinet chosen by the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the Exchequer went to John McDonnell, a…
The fog of law
Not even Jeremy Corbyn lamented the death of Reyaad Khan, who was killed by an RAF drone in Syria after…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, told Parliament that he had authorised the killing, on 21 August, by means of…
Diary
During our annual odyssey around the Scottish Highlands, I read Tears of the Rajas, Ferdinand Mount’s eloquent indictment of imperial…
Barometer
Old bags The government announced details of a compulsory 5p charge for single-use plastic bags in shops. Plastic bags have…
Livy on immigration policy
In the migration crisis, the EU is currently acting just like the ancients, as if border controls did not exist,…
A Russian revolution
From ‘The situation in Russia’, The Spectator, 11 September 1915: A new Russia has been arising within the old while the war has…
Australian letters
Mistaken identity Sir: Taki is mistaken in his column of 29 August 2015. Louis XVIII was not a ‘fat Napoleonic…
The fog of law
Not even Jeremy Corbyn lamented the death of Reyaad Khan, who was killed by an RAF drone in Syria after…
Livy on immigration policy
In the migration crisis, the EU is currently acting just like the ancients, as if border controls did not exist,…
Barometer
Old bags The government announced details of a compulsory 5p charge for single-use plastic bags in shops. Plastic bags have…
Diary
During our annual odyssey around the Scottish Highlands, I read Tears of the Rajas, Ferdinand Mount’s eloquent indictment of imperial…
A Russian revolution
From ‘The situation in Russia’, The Spectator, 11 September 1915: A new Russia has been arising within the old while the war has…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, told Parliament that he had authorised the killing, on 21 August, by means of…
Elizabeth the Great
That the Queen has lived to become our longest-reigning monarch — a milestone which she will mark quietly with a…
Portrait of the week
Home The Government decided after all to retain the rules preventing ministers and their departments from publishing campaign material, ‘with…
Diary
‘Devon, Devon, Devon/ Where it rains six days out of seven.’ Nothing beats a British seaside holiday. And north Devon…
Barometer
Peers’ peers Forty-five new peers were created. Are we alone in having an upper house of parliament made up of…
Corbyn and the plebs
Last week, guru Corbyn was invited to reflect on the 2,500-year-old Roman origins of the republicanism to which he is…
Muscular economics
From ‘War bonuses’, The Spectator, 4 September 1915: War means a demand for human muscle… At the moment the brain-worker is…
Letters
Suicide and assisted dying Sir: As a mental health practitioner, I am grateful to Douglas Murray (‘Death watch’, 29 August)…
Elizabeth the Great
That the Queen has lived to become our longest-reigning monarch — a milestone which she will mark quietly with a…
Corbyn and the plebs
Last week, guru Corbyn was invited to reflect on the 2,500-year-old Roman origins of the republicanism to which he is…
