The Week
Master charlatans at work
To watch the Revd Paul Flowers being grilled by the Treasury Select Committee on his role in the demise of…
Barometer
The darkest day Several people were injured on ‘Black Friday’, a day of retail discounting imported from the US, where…
Letters
Climate scientists write… Sir: Lord Lawson has written in his diary (30 November) under the online summary headline ‘my secret…
Winter fuel
Fanciful predictions of all the deaths that will result from climate change, decades into the future, are regularly thrown into…
Portrait of the week
Home Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, outlined Scottish National Party plans for independence, which included keeping the pound…
Diary
The long-discussed meeting between a group of climate scientists and Fellows of the Royal Society on the one side, and…
Barometer
Third-class thinking A report by the Institute of Economic Affairs recommended standing-room-only third-class carriages as an alternative to longer trains…
Why slaves had it better in Rome
The grim tales of ‘modern slavery’ that are currently emerging across the UK make one wonder whether ancient Roman slavery…
Alex Salmond’s economic policies would drive an independent Scotland into the ground
Within the white paper on economic policy in an independent Scotland that was published by Alex Salmond’s government this week…
Portrait of the week
Home The government announced proposals for the National Health Service, including a law to criminalise wilful neglect by doctors and…
Diary
I’ve worked for the BBC for years and have been listening to the Today programme all my adult life, but…
Barometer
Brave new words ‘Selfie’ was declared to be Oxford Dictionaries’ ‘word of the year’. It hasn’t, however, yet been added…
Aristotle on the age of consent
Prime Minister Cameron has rejected the proposal that the age of sexual consent be reduced from 16 to 15, arguing…
Letters
No middle way Sir: Ask not whether Iran wants to negotiate with us; ask whether we want to negotiate with…
Diplomatic meltdown
President Obama’s flagship foreign policy of ‘leading from behind’ has had some surprising consequences. Not least among them is that…
Portrait of the week
Home EDF Energy said it would put up prices by 3.9 per cent. BT Sport spent £897 million on the rights…
Diary
For a minute I just stood there with my back against the wall, staring at the credit card receipt. Then…
Barometer
Whose tattoos? David Dimbleby, 75, has had a scorpion tattooed on his right shoulder. Some more tattoo-wearers who perhaps ought…
Letters
Rod rage Sir: Like most cyclists, who also own a car and pay road tax, I enjoy a pedal along…
Remembering well
One remarkable fact of recent years is that even as the veterans of the first world war have died and…
Portrait of the week
Home Three Police Federation representatives accused of giving misleading accounts of a meeting with Andrew Mitchell over the Plebgate scandal…
Diary
Hard on the heels of the 90th birthday of Nicholas Parsons (10 October) comes the 65th birthday of the Prince…
Happiness in your own hands
On 21 November The Spectator is hosting a discussion about addiction — disease or choice? — and how we should…
Barometer
Dog’s dinner A Canadian hiker rescued in Quebec was reported to have killed and eaten his German shepherd dog in…
Australian Letters
Pilfering politicians Sir: On first reading the article ‘Put the expenses “scandal” in perspective’ (2 November) I was in sleeping-dog-disturbing…
