The Week
Article 50 and the Athenians
Europe, a majority of MPs (party loyalties aside), the Lords, the civil service, the BBC and the CBI are all…
Are these the coldest Winter Olympics ever?
Museums of curiosity The former culture secretary Ed Vaizey suggested that there are quite enough museums in Britain, and that…
Letters: the militant suffragettes set back their own cause
Suffragette setbacks Sir: Jane Ridley (‘Women on the warpath’, Books, 10 February) claims that Millicent Fawcett and her suffragists had ‘got nowhere’…
Why we shouldn’t try the jihadi ‘Beatles’ in Britain
The success of the military campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq has left behind a diplomatic and legal problem:…
This crash is just a return to normality
It is easy to mock the most strident critics of capitalism, like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s harder to…
Civil partnerships for all and the Queen’s swans dying of bird flu
Home Stagecoach and Virgin could only manage to run the East Coast rail franchise for a few more weeks, Chris…
Joan Collins: Want to know why all the Oscar films are boring? I’ll tell you
I’ve been meaning to write a Spectator diary since the summer but as a Gemini with Aries rising I find…
Corbyn is the master of ‘raising issues’ – with no result in sight
Jeremy Corbyn is the master of ‘raising issues’. He received an obscure prize last year for his ‘work for disarmament…
Dire warnings of a Brexit university brain drain? They’re a myth
How to sell snake oil Ex-cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell accused Brexiteers of ‘selling snake oil’. How do you sell snake…
Letters: Leave Theresa May alone – she’s doing her best
Stop knocking May Sir: I find this knocking of Theresa May increasingly depressing (‘Theresa’s choice’, 3 February). She has a terrible job…
Donald Trump has a genius for damaging his own reputation
It’s easy to see why Donald Trump gets angry. He is presiding over a robust economy, growing at the fastest…
A Brexit transition period is ‘a new Norman Conquest’ says Jacob Rees-Mogg
Home The EU published its negotiating position on Britain’s period of transition, from 30 March 2019 until 31 December 2020.…
Why women are still fuming over my Desert Island slips
It never occurred to me, when I was interviewed for Desert Island Discs back in November, that I’d actually be…
Ikea’s founder was a billionaire skinflint – but others were even worse
Tight money Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, was worth an estimated £40 billion. Yet the eighth richest man in…
Outsourcing has a long history
The outsourcing business Carillion has gone bust because its bids for government work have been far too low. The problems…
Australian letters
Onward Christian soldiers? Sir: Hal Colebatch contemplates the revival of the religious military orders to protect Christianity from the attacks…
Open goal: Britain must embrace all Brexit’s freedoms
A decade ago, bankers were not merely the masters of Davos, but the ‘masters of the universe’. No one calls…
Boris Johnson slapped down after calling for more NHS funding
Home Boris Johnson went on manoeuvres again. The media were briefed that, in a meeting of the cabinet, he would…
George Osborne: Davos diary
We Citizens of Nowhere have made our home in Davos this week. Where else? Those who think we’re a remote…
What did Ukip do in five years that took Sinn Fein 66?
Redundant robots Fabio, a robot assistant in an Edinburgh grocery store, was retired after scaring customers. We worry about artificial…
We need a root-and-branch rethink on plastic packaging
Reasons to use less plastic Sir: Yes, packaging from petrochemicals is bad, but what if we set out to use…
Jeremy Corbyn’s takeover is complete – and the Tories are terrified
For Jeremy Corbyn and his allies, there has been no far-left takeover of the Labour party or its governing National…
Carillion crashes owing £1.5 billion: directors’ conduct is probed
Home Carillion, the construction and service-provider with 20,000 employees and many contracts for the public sector, went into liquidation with…
Justin Webb: the day I was forced to hide from John Humphrys
My friend John Humphrys has managed to get on to the front pages again. We first met in the 1980s…
The mischief of Bolshevism
From ‘The Bolshevik negotiations with Germany’, 19 January 1918: We think that the fact is fairly emerging from the negotiations…
