The Week
Spectator letters: Interpreting Islam, and Spectator-reading thieves
Chapter and verse on Islam Sir: Irshad Manji’s generally very sensible article on ‘Reclaiming Islam’ (29 March) suggests using the…
Putin's aggression is the price of western weakness
One cannot legislate for a quiet world. When a former Princeton University college professor was elected president of the United…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that inheritance tax ‘shouldn’t be paid by people who’ve worked hard and saved…
Diary
I had a slight shock last week, while listening to Desert Island Discs. The admirable nurse Dame Claire Bertschinger had…
The not-so-great escapes
Escapology This week marked the 70th anniversary of the Great Escape, when 76 Allied servicemen tunnelled out of Stalag Luft…
Epicurus on particle physics
According to a top TV scientist, in the beginning there was ‘empty space’ and ‘energy’. After a big bang, the…
Spectator letters: Bereaved parents against press regulation, and a defence of Tony Benn
Why we need a free press Sir: As bereaved parents and (to borrow from some signatories of last week’s advertisement)…
George Osborne's pensions revolution
It is easy to see why George Osborne seemed so confident ahead of the Budget. His radical reform of the…
Portrait of the week
Home In the Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that the economy was working but the job…
Laurence Fox's diary: On being married to a WOP
I have just shaved off my beard in preparation for a new series of Lewis because I want to look…
MH370 isn't the only flight that's still missing
Plane vanished Some other planes, besides Flight MH370, which have disappeared without trace: — A Boeing 727 cargo plane that…
On teaching, St Jerome is with Daisy Christodoulou
Last week in The Spectator, Daisy Christodoulou argued that, contrary to current educational theory, children learned best via direct instruction…
Letters
That’s not entertainment Sir: How very disappointing — and quite shocking — to see The Spectator Australia (15 February) featuring…
Why British mothers need a tax break
Next week’s Budget marks George Osborne’s last chance to make a game-changing reform before the next election. The Chancellor will…
Portrait of the week
Home Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour party, promised that, if elected, his administration would hold a referendum on…
Jeffrey Archer’s diary: My personal trainer only smiles when I’m in pain
The week leading up to publication is a strange time for any author. You subject yourself to doing everything from…
Do wars always start in years ending ‘14’?
Years of war Imaginative souls have tried to compared the situation in Ukraine with that which preceded the first world…
Cicero would have agreed with Putin
Last September Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against a ‘unipolar’ world, saying that the national revival of Russia was in…
Why an EU summit will never solve the Ukraine crisis
For the first time in many years, the eyes of the world are on Crimea. As Russian troops violated Ukrainian…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said Russia was to blame for ‘violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another…
Where to open your brothel: an international comparison
The best places to open a brothel The Commons all-party group on prostitution has called for a Scandinavian-style law where…
Tim Rice’s diary: From Eternity to here
Last October, in these very pages, I wrote with what is now annoying prescience, ‘Like almost everyone else in the…
What Socrates and Harriet Harman have in common
Since apologising has recently been all the rage, refusing to apologise, as Harriet Harman has done over the NCCL’s connection…
Letters
Long Labor Sir: The insightfully worded editorial ‘The Sins of Craig Thomson’ (22 February) has historical echoes. The original ‘Blind…
Stop bribing Ukraine – and start helping
The last time Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power in Ukraine, following a corrupt election nearly a decade ago, it…
