The Week
What real debate looks like
Ancients would have been astonished that parties never debate against each other in open, public forum except on the telly…
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 go
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…
Diary
All this fuss about Fifty Shades of Grey! I wonder how many people have actually read all three books? Sado-masochism…
Barometer
Gun lords The House of Lords shooting range is to be turned into a cupboard, having previously survived an attempt…
Julius Caesar vs Isis
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…
Laying down our arms
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…
Diary
Just back from Sri Lanka, a place I first went to in 1981. It was then a dreamy island. I…
Barometer
Watching brief Samsung warned users of its voice-activated televisions that what they said in front of the TV could be…
David Davis vs Cicero
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…
School’s not out
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…
Diary
An excellent test of character is a person’s response to being offered an Oldie of the Year Award. There have…
Barometer
Right Boot, left Boot What would Jesse Boot, who built Britain’s largest chemist chain from his father’s herbal shops, made…
Long before the Magna Carta
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,…
Letters
In defence of Oxfam Sir: Mary Wakefield rightly praises Médecins sans Frontières but makes many misinformed claims about Oxfam and…
Green for danger
The Green party has been likened to a watermelon: green on the outside and red on the inside. But that…
