The Week
High-speed fail
A year ago the electoral strategies of the two main parties seemed set. The Conservatives would stand as the party…
Portrait of the week
Home A storm passed over England, with plenty of warning. The strongest gust, of 99mph, was recorded at Needles Old…
Diary
Researching a new book on Shakespeare’s sonnets, I stumbled upon an astonishing piece of hitherto unnoticed evidence in a 16th-century…
Barometer
What can they do? Saudi women took to the wheel in defiance of laws preventing them from driving. Some recent…
Art history
‘Democracy has bad taste’, declared potter Grayson Perry in his Reith Lectures on the BBC about art. Tell that to…
Letters
Not fair on cops Sir: Nick Cohen (‘PCs gone mad’, 26 October) claims that the police are deliberately attacking the press…
Tackling health tourism
In February, an NHS surgeon came to The Spectator’s offices to discuss a piece he felt it was time to…
Portrait of the week
Home The government agreed a guaranteed price for electricity that persuaded a consortium led by the French-owned EDF Energy and…
Diary
The last time I wrote for The Spectator I was sitting in a prison cell. I sent the then editor…
Letters
Ridley’s wrong Sir: In last week’s issue the former Northern Rock chairman rejoiced in the ‘good news’ that climate change…
Arbitration by hedgehog
Since trial by jury is so expensive, government is keen to cut costs on legal aid by ‘alternative dispute resolutions’…
Barometer
National statistics Some lesser-known facts about the National Theatre: — 26 per cent of its income comes from box office…
Dim sums
Trade missions are almost comically pointless nowadays, as George Osborne’s visit demonstrated this week in Beijing. He is right that…
Portrait of the week
Home Shares in Royal Mail, floated on the stock market at 330p, began trading at 475p. SSE, the energy supplier,…
Diary
ONE OF THE MINOR sociological treats of being appointed shadow education secretary is a frontbench view of David Cameron’s crimson…
Barometer
Union dispute Pedants suffered a blow as the chief vexillologist of the Flag Institute declared that the Union Jack and…
Tyrannical sexual appetites
A new book about Colonel Gaddafi goes into shocking detail about his monstrous sexual appetites. He used rape as a…
Letters
A fat lot of good Sir: Max Pemberton is right that obesity is a terrible problem in western society (‘The…
Blowing bubbles
In opposition, George Osborne said that you cannot borrow your way out of a debt crisis. In government, he has…
Portrait of the week
Home An issue of shares in Royal Mail was oversubscribed, pushing valuation well above initial forecasts of £3.3 billion. The…
Diary
A great night to be in Pittsburgh. The local baseball team, the Pirates, were attempting to reach their first play-offs…
Livy on Ed Miliband
What should we make of Ed’s support for his father Ralph against the Daily Mail? Livy’s life of Torquatus suggests…
Barometer
Lost property The second-to-last surviving resident of St Kilda — a small archipelago 40 miles off the Outer Hebrides which…
Letters
Nursing standards Sir: I share Mary Dejevsky’s concern regarding the impact of tired, overworked nurses on the quality of patient…
Drawing the lines
Every opposition leader sometimes needs to act as a saboteur. Ed Miliband showed his wrecking skills this week, picking a…
