The Week
From the archives
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 10 October 1914: The Germans must really be in very desperate straits if,…
Letters
Faith and flexibility Sir: What a contrast in your two articles on religion last week: one liberal atheist parent (Claire…
Think again, Mrs May
If the Labour party conference in Manchester felt like a funeral, the Conservatives’ gathering in Birmingham had the air of…
Portrait of the week
Home The Commons, having been specially recalled, passed, by 524 votes to 43, a motion supporting ‘the use of UK…
Diary
Last Tuesday I tried to sign up to a new life. My wife and I argued, slightly. ‘I don’t think…
Barometer
Paisley power Paisley pyjamas were in the news. While associated with the town in Renfrewshire, whose mills produced the patterns from 1805,…
From the archives
From ‘Voluntary and compulsory service’, The Spectator, 3 October 1914: We do not suggest that the voluntary principle should be…
Letters
Degrees of ability Sir: Nick Cohen has written an amusing piece on PPE (‘Crash course’, 27 September), marred by lazy journalism.…
The good fight
It is a mark of the uncertainty of our policy in the Middle East that just over a year ago…
Australian Letters
Waiting to die Sir: Forgive my delay, only getting around to reading the UK content of the 12 July issue…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, visited New York for talks at the United Nations; he said Britain supported the…
Diary
This week marks another milestone in my 15-year battle with Richard Branson. Ever since he unsuccessfully sued me in 1999…
Barometer
Pot plants A 65-year-old Devon woman rang a BBC gardening show to enquire about a mystery plant only to be told…
Salmond’s demagoguery
Alex Salmond spent two years campaigning for independence for Scotland on the grounds of ‘social justice’. Now, claiming that the…
The 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…
Diary
Until recently I used to claim that I had been literary editor of The Spectator for over 25 years; now…
Barometer
Draconian sentence Paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius was cleared of murder but convicted of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter in English law.…
Forewarned is forearmed
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…
Letters
Breaking the unions Sir: By the time this letter appears we shall know whether the land of my birth has…
How to save a country
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…
Diary
I feel a bit about the Scottish referendum as I did about the 2005 Ashes series. In both cases, those of…
Barometer
Birth of a nation A reminder of how England and Scotland came to be one country: — Proposals had been…
