The Week
Blundering on
Yet again, the Conservative party has reminded us that it is quite capable of losing the next election. The events…
Portrait of the week
Home Maria Miller resigned as Culture Secretary after a week of being the centre of a game of hunt-the-issue. She…
Diary
Sunday afternoon brings the bomb squad to South Kensington. From my third-floor window, I see them fan out through the…
Socrates on Maria Miller
Our former culture secretary, Maria Miller, is still apparently baffled at the fuss created by her fighting to the last…
Barometer
Flat pack Some facts about Glasgow’s Red Road Flats, built in 1968, which are to be demolished as part of…
LETTERS
In loving memory Sir: When Clarissa Tan covered last year’s Good Funeral Awards, it quickly became apparent that she was…
French lessons
François Hollande and Ed Miliband could be political blood brothers. Neither has held down a job outside politics for any…
Portrait of the week
Home George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made ‘a commitment to fight for full employment in Britain’ and for…
Diary
What a week! I was thrilled to have a chance to confront Nick Clegg but my excitement was tempered with…
David Cameron, oracle
Nigel Farage rather missed a trick in his debate over the EU with Nick Clegg. The Prime Minister has promised…
Letters
Chapter and verse on Islam Sir: Irshad Manji’s generally very sensible article on ‘Reclaiming Islam’ (29 March) suggests using the…
The price of 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…
Barometer
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…
Letters
Why we need a free press Sir: As bereaved parents and (to borrow from some signatories of last week’s advertisement)…
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…
Diary
I have just shaved off my beard in preparation for a new series of Lewis because I want to look…
Barometer
Plane vanished Some other planes, besides Flight MH370, which have disappeared without trace: — A Boeing 727 cargo plane that…
Good teachers
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…
Mother country
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…
