The Week
Boris Island and Pericles’ port
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…
A new Nato
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…
Diary
Lebanon The Beirut press corps gather to remember the murdered journalist Jim Foley. People stand for a minute’s silence, drink…
Barometer
In poor taste US Ambassador Matthew Barzun attracted the ire of chefs for complaining that he had been served lamb…
Nicias vs Alex Salmond
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
Advice for Cameron Sir: David Cameron once saved my life from a school of Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish, so…
Rotten borough
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…
Diary
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
Barometer
Not in their name The BBC decided to start calling the Islamic terror group Isis by the acronym IS instead.…
Pleasure and purpose
So here comes another book about how to be happy, written by Professor Dolan, an ‘internationally renowned expert’ at the…
From the archives
From ‘Left behind’, The Spectator, 29 August 1914: In the poorer streets a kind of holiday atmosphere prevails, and a sort…
Australian letters
Placing refugees Sir: Tony Abbott seems to have fooled The Spectator. Your editorial (23 August) gives plaudits to the Australian…
Give them shelter
The tale is now familiar: shouts are heard from inside a freight container and police are called. A cargo of…
Portrait of the Week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, writing of the Islamic State in northern Iraq, said: ‘If we do not act…
Diary
Like many inward-looking children, I always doodled stories and poems. Knowing one wanted to be a writer is a different…
Barometer
Tough at the top The clocks on Big Ben were cleaned by abseiling window-cleaners. Some other big cleaning/painting jobs: —…
Aesop on ageing gracefully
A drug has been invented to halt what is known as middle-aged spread. But it would be so much better…
From the archives
From ‘News of the Week’, The Spectator, 22 August 1914: Pope Pius X died at 20 minutes past one on Thursday…
Australian Letters
Disgraceful 18C retreat Sir: The articles by Brendan O’Neill (A Dark Day for Australia 9/8) and James Allan (Tony Abbott…
World disorder
The old cliché that ‘nothing happens in August’ has again been brutally disproved. From the centenary of the outbreak of…
