The Week
Australian letters
Rocky road Sir: Piers Ackerman is either indulging in a piece of tabloid provocation or he is on the rocky…
A dangerous silence over Telford
Whenever a Hollywood actress complains about some lecherous man, there’s blanket coverage. Even our MPs feel the need to tut.…
Portrait of the week: Sergei Skripal, Dame Louise Casey, Philip Hammond’s spring statement
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, told the Commons that the chemical that put in hospital Sergei Skripal, a Russian…
California is the unexpected antidote to censorious liberalism
If I needed a safe space, I would nominate California. Against most odds this seedbed of censorious liberalism has thrown…
Kim Jong-un’s unwise offer
President Trump’s acceptance of talks about denuclearisation must have been as big a shock to Kim Jong-un as his offer was…
Sorry Rod Liddle, we may not want more immigrants but we still need them
Growing our own Sir: Rod Liddle is clearly right that ‘the people of Europe do not want any more immigration…
Vladimir Putin is innocent until proven guilty in the Russian spy case
The apparent chemical attack on a former Russian double-agent and his daughter in an English cathedral city could be straight…
Paul Mason: In a parallel universe, Cameron is delivering Brexit
At the BBC early doors for the Today programme, to preview Corbyn’s speech advocating membership of a customs union. I…
Portrait of the week: was the poisoning of a Russian spy a hit?
Home Sergei Skripal, aged 66, and his daughter Yulia were found in a state of collapse on a bench outside…
BBC2’s Civilisations seems unable to decide what civilisation is
The presenters of the BBC 2 programme on civilisations seem unable to decide what civilisation is. Socrates would therefore wonder…
Australian letters
The point of Cory? Sir: I am a paid up member of the Australian Conservatives. Sadly, I suspect the good…
Back off, Barnier – you don’t need to invent obstacles to Brexit
There’s an unwritten law governing Boris Johnson in Westminster: every-thing he says or does is a gaffe, or can be…
Crisis looms over the Brexit negotiations
Home Crisis loomed over Brexit negotiations as Theresa May, the Prime Minister, travelled to the north-east to explain ‘this Government’s…
Andrew Marr: It’s volunteers, not the state, who are tackling London’s stabbing epidemic
Of all the villages of London, it seems to me, most of the time, that I live in the happiest:…
Triumph of the spirit
From ‘A moral test’, 2 March 1918: The nation, in spite of all the silly talk about our war aims…
The ageing rock stars who go on and on
Ageing rockers The Rolling Stones announced their first live shows for five years. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards (both 74), Charlie…
Australian letters
Sterner stuff Sir: I refer to Mark Higgie’s article in The Spectator Australia last week. I served with DFAT for…
As the Tories rail against Corbyn’s past, they’re losing the fight for the future
The news that Jeremy Corbyn met a Czechoslovakian agent three times during the 1980s, when the Cold War was still…
Portrait of the week: Jeremy Corbyn attacks the press over spy claims
Home Someone called Jan Sarkocy said that, as a Czech Security Service agent in London under the name Jan Dymic,…
Steven Pinker’s Diary: my advice to the new president of Harvard
Everyone’s mood is affected by the news, especially bad news. A recent review found that heavy news-watchers show ‘misperception of…
How to get the Winter Olympics experience at home
The great indoors How to get the Winter Olympics experience without leaving England: — The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead: ‘London’s…
Australian letters
Love is love Sir: What total hypocrisy: the words attacking Barnaby Joyce from the same people who argued we must…
Portrait of the Week: Oxfam faces losing funding as crisis grows over abuse claims
Home The Charity Commission said it would hold a statutory inquiry into a scandal in which Oxfam staff paid for…
My trip to Pakistan’s ‘Jihadi Disneyland’
Not so long ago, Barack Obama called Waziristan ‘the most dangerous place in the world’. It was the losing front…
Trotsky’s audacity
From ‘News of the week’, 16 February 1918: Last Sunday M. Trotsky announced at Brest-Litovsk that Russia would fight no…
