The Week
Nick Timothy: Theresa May folded like a Brompton bike during the Brexit negotiations
As my train hurtles northward, my phone starts to buzz. Jeremy Corbyn has agreed to hold a December election. So:…
How unusual is a December general election?
A December election How unusual is a December general election? Of the 56 elections held since 1800, 5 essentially took…
Could a sex-strike solve Brexit?
Last week the Lawyers Group of the charity Classics for All held its fifth moot (cf. ‘meet’) in the Supreme…
Letters: What would be the point of a second referendum?
Another referendum? Sir: Matthew Parris’s article ‘What question should a second referendum ask?’ (26 October) occasioned a wry smile from me…
Brexit and the power principle
It has become perceived wisdom that we are heading for a ‘people vs parliament’ election. But that is a false…
Portrait of the week: More Brexit chaos, royal complaints and Syrian fighting
Home The Commons voted by 329 to 299 for a Brexit Withdrawal Bill but then stymied progress by defeating a…
Should we be blaming Balliol, rather than Eton, for our political woes?
In our house, the biggest source of tension is that I think there is an important difference between deferring a…
How violent are our jails?
Big Ben protests An Extinction Rebellion protestor climbed to the top of the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, with…
Roman funerals had real ‘emotional intelligence’
Today’s funerals, featuring shiny black hearses and top hats, lack (we are assured) ‘emotional intelligence’. Colourful coffins featuring pictures of…
Letters: David Cameron’s real referendum mistake
Cameron’s fatal error Sir: Jo Johnson’s otherwise informative review of David Cameron’s For the Record (Books, 12 October) suggests Cameron’s…
The vindication of Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy
Before the referendum, David Davis thought that the Brexit process would be straightforward. ‘The first calling point of the UK’s…
Portrait of the week: Brexit uncertainty, Turkey in Syria and a Chinese threat
Home Brexit teetered from uncertainty to uncertainty. Parliament had been summoned to sit on Saturday 19 October to debate what…
Helena Morrissey: my manifesto for the next govenor of the Bank of England
The start of term at Oxford University is bittersweet for the close-knit Morrisseys; we have just ‘lost’ three offspring to…
How violent are our jails?
Parliamentary days Could one of parliament’s longest sessions be followed by one of its shortest? — The shortest was between…
Who advises Dominic Cummings?
Dominic Cummings, chief adviser to the Prime Minister, thinks that there is no ‘better book than Thucydides as training for politics’. But…
A paradise of postcards
From The Spectator, 15 July 1922: It is true that things so small as postcards cannot give one the…
Letters: Shoots should be about quality, not quantity
Bad sport Sir: At last a respected member of the shooting community has popped his head above the parapet. Patrick…
Boris needs to be explicit: it’s the UK’s offer or no deal
The past few months have been characterised by weeks of high drama which, for all the excitement, have resolved nothing.…
Portrait of the week: Brexit approaches, Extinction Rebellion protests and Donald Trump tweets
Home After a telephone conversation between Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a Downing Street…
Even Donald Trump is tweeting about Spectator USA
We’ve just launched the US edition of The Spectator and the reaction so far has been great. Americans can be…
A slice of history: how did Britain’s pizza industry begin?
A slice of history Pizza Express is to undergo financial restructuring, leading to fears that it could go under. How…
Extinction Rebellion proves Aristotle was right about the follies of youth
Extinction Rebellion is blocking the streets again, foolishly demanding the impossible on a very important issue. But what does one…
Letters: Remainers lost – and Richard Dawkins needs to accept that
Deny Remainers oxygen Sir: Your correspondent Richard Dawkins seems to have a very tenuous grasp of logic for an academic…
The Conservatives have become the true workers’ party
The party conference season has showcased two very different visions of Britain. Jeremy Corbyn speaks of the country as one…
Portrait of the week: Tory conference, John Lewis cuts jobs and Duchess of Sussex sues
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, presented the EU with a proposed withdrawal agreement. It entailed Northern Ireland remaining for…
