The Week
The freedom paradox
Who would have thought, this time last year, that the British government would be planning to detain British nationals at…
Diary
Monday started with me opening my bedroom windows to let what little light there is come through, only to find…
Barometer
Bad service Economic growth fell by 2.6% in November, the month of the second lockdown, compared with falls of 7.3%…
Letters
Paradise lost Sir: After reading Jonathan Beswick (‘Critical mass’, 16 January) I am writing to express the shame I feel…
Take the hard road
Diversity is ‘about empowering people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religion,…
Portrait of the week
Home The government undertook to offer a first dose of vaccine to the adult population of the UK by September.…
A lost generation
At the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Chris Whitty often made the point that a pandemic kills in two ways:…
The right balance
When lockdown was first proposed in March, one of the many arguments against it was that people would tolerate being…
Letters
Lockdown damage Sir: I am sick and tired of people taking the moral high ground and looking down on ‘lockdown…
Barometer
Parliamentary objections The US Capitol was raided by Donald Trump supporters trying to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election…
Words to that effect
In his 37-book Natural History, Pliny the Elder (d. ad 79) wondered why we wished people ‘Happy new year’ (primum…
Diary
The thing we most need to understand right now is how you deprogram people who have been in a cult.…
Portrait of the week
Home The government, in the face of overwhelming numbers of people with Covid-19 being admitted to hospital, told everyone to…
Sir David Barclay, 1934-2021
When Sir David Barclay, along with his twin brother Sir Frederick, bought The Spectator in 2004, the magazine came as…
What have we learnt?
So great have been the government’s failures over Covid that it would be easy to forget to give credit where…
Diary
Real men are not supposed to confess to feeling fear. But I am frightened, second time round, about the plague.…
Letters
Veritas vincit Sir: Professor Dawkins eloquently and engagingly defines true truth for us (‘Matters of fact’, 19 December). It seems…
Barometer
A ferry tale Gerry Marsden, who died aged 78, was credited with making the ferry across the River Mersey world-famous.…
Portrait of the Week
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced harsher coronavirus restrictions in England, resembling those last March, except that bubbles continued.…
Respect vs rigour
Professor Toope, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge university, had proposed a motion ordering all members of the university to ‘respect’ each…
Portrait of the Year
January Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, signed the EU withdrawal agreement, sent from Brussels by train. Sajid Javid, the Chancellor…
Letters
Joy Sir: Alexandra Coghlan identifies the coincidence between the rise of recording and broadcast technology and the flourishing of the…
Ring out, wild bells
Save for those old enough to have lived through the second world war and its immediate austere aftermath, it would…
Barometer
Now and then Were households allowed to mix at Christmas during the plague? Samuel Pepys’s diary entry for 25 December…
Diary
Among the greatest bores right now are those friends who insist on telling you, usually as if it’s some kind…
