The Week
Alex Salmond's success is just a symptom of our age of rage
In his short and infrequent visits to Scotland this year, the Prime Minister should have found time to speak to…
Portrait of the week
Home People living in Scotland voted in a referendum that asked: ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ A great deal…
Mark Amory's diary: Confessions of a literary editor
Until recently I used to claim that I had been literary editor of The Spectator for over 25 years; now…
Oscar Pistorius has received a Draconian sentence (yes, really)
Draconian sentence Paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius was cleared of murder but convicted of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter in English law.…
What Romans would have made of Obama's Syria strategy
President Obama was assailed for saying that the USA had no strategy on combating Isis. Vegetius (late 4th century AD), the…
From the archives
From ‘A review of the war’, The Spectator, 19 September 1914: It is the duty of all English publicists to make…
Spectator letters: In defence of the EU, the Welsh and Mary Wakefield
Breaking the unions Sir: By the time this letter appears we shall know whether the land of my birth has…
One week to save Britain
Next week, the most important vote in recent British history will be held. Indeed, it may well turn out to…
Portrait of the week
Home England suddenly began to take the prospect of Scottish independence seriously after a poll of 1,084 people by YouGov…
Tom Holland's diary: Alex Salmond is the Scottish referendum's answer to Shane Warne
I feel a bit about the Scottish referendum as I did about the 2005 Ashes series. In both cases, those of…
Tories weren't quite sure about the Union 300 years ago, either
Birth of a nation A reminder of how England and Scotland came to be one country: — Proposals had been…
The Boris Island of ancient Athens
During his lecture on Athens at the Legatum Institute (see p. 22), Boris Johnson placed great emphasis on Athens’ development…
From the archives
‘An apology’, from The Spectator, 12 September 1914: We are informed that a story told in a letter from a correspondent…
Australian letters
Leave her alone Sir: I refer to the article “Shorten comes clean” by Rowan Dean on page vii of The…
Nato must rediscover its purpose, or it will end up losing a war
This week’s Nato summit was originally intended to look back on lessons learned from Afghanistan and reflect on the notion…
Portrait of the week
Home Britain’s terror threat level was raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ in response to fighting in Iraq and Syria, meaning…
Paul Wood's diary: From James Foley's memorial to gunfire in the streets
Lebanon The Beirut press corps gather to remember the murdered journalist Jim Foley. People stand for a minute’s silence, drink…
An undiplomatic history of British diplomatic dinners
In poor taste US Ambassador Matthew Barzun attracted the ire of chefs for complaining that he had been served lamb…
Would Alex Salmond give up his job to a heckler? It happened in Athens
Alex Salmond claims to be thrilled that so many people in Scotland are suddenly gripped by politics. The importance of…
From the archives
From ‘The giving up of Louvain to “Military Execution”,’ The Spectator, 5 September 1914: Germany has dealt herself the hardest…
Letters: Andrew Roberts on Cameron, and a defence of Kate Bush
Advice for Cameron Sir: David Cameron once saved my life from a school of Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish, so…
Who will be held to account for the horror in Rotherham?
If Rotherham council were a family, its children would have been removed by social services long ago, and Ma and…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said that Britons who went to Syria or Iraq to fight could be stripped…
Andrew Marr’s diary: Seeing shadows of Syria in Limousin’s ghost village
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
Six rivals for the name Isis
Not in their name The BBC decided to start calling the Islamic terror group Isis by the acronym IS instead.…
