He was our very own rock ‘n roll star of the printed page. An Aussie Keith Richards and John Lennon…

Malcolm, take note… As the dust settles on the Western Australian election result, and Labor’s Mark McGowan sweeping to office…

My sadness at Bill Leak’s death is compounded by the fact that I never met him. But his influence on…

Last week, I was on a Brexit road show with the UK Euro-parliamentarian Dan Hannan. Hannan, who has written superbly…

We have mourned Bill Leak. Now we must avenge him. The time for tears has passed. It’s anger we need…

Like many Speccie contributors, I was privileged to know Bill Leak personally, although for only about ten months.But through no…

The death of great men illuminate the darkness like lightning on a stormy night. So it is with Bill Leak,…

Interesting timing Kate Ellis. While feminists were busy waxing their broomsticks for International Women’s Day (slash month, slash decades), MP…

As a writer and raconteur Bill Leak was peerless. He had a larrikin wit of which Henry Lawson would be…

Theresa May is a cautious politician. She has risen to the top by avoiding unnecessary risks; no one survives 18…

On the Israeli side of the Syrian border, near al-Quneitra, you can watch the war. From my vantage point on…

I was raised as an observant Muslim in a British family. Women, I was taught, determine their own conduct —…

In the autumn of 1888 London was in a state of terrified excitement over Jack the Ripper. There had never…

Just 350 years ago, in April 1667, John Milton sold all rights to Paradise Lost to the printer Samuel Simmons…

A British military base is being used for a multi-million-quid criminal enterprise, possibly involving the Russian mafia — and Britain…

The centenary of General Allenby’s capture of Jerusalem falls later this year. On 11 December 1917, the commander-in-chief of Britain’s…

Now that Philip Hammond is promising yet more tax hikes, he might consider how Athens managed it. During the whole…

Mary Queen of Golf? The vote by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to admit women as members has reawakened…

In the NHS clinic where I work, adults who suspect they may have Asperger syndrome wait almost a year for…

From ‘The Dardanelles report’, 17 March 1917: The plan of the government in the case of the Dardanelles Expedition had…

Freedom fighter Sir: How sad is it that, in what turned out to be the last years of his life,…

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, decided to delay until later in the month the invoking of Article 50 of…

After Philip Hammond delivered his Budget last week, he went to speak to a meeting of Conservative backbench MPs. Several…

Tesco chairman John Allan provoked feminist fury by telling would-be non-exec directors, ‘If you’re a white male, tough: you’re an…

On the Amazon page that sells the world’s smallest mobile phone, the reviews are mainly about putting it into your…

Allahu Akbar! Greetings from Samsun, where Turkish protestors — their eyeballs spinning in orgasmic Islamic rage — tried to set…

The great achievement of the Scottish Nationalists is to persuade people outside the borders of their own nation — including…

I am a regular listener to the Sunday morning service just after eight on BBC Radio 4. It’s a habit…

Roy Hattersley would never have been born had it not been that his mother ran away with the parish priest…

The minister’s private secretary wrote to another cabinet minister about the previous day’s cabinet meeting: They cannot agree about what…

When Australia imposed generic packaging in its war on cigarettes, there was consumer research into the most deterrent colour. Pantone…

Nowadays, most of us living in the liberal West agree that there can never be anything morally wrong with love…

Last year, I attempted to pass through security in an American airport carrying a small black box, containing eight batteries…

Only once did Michelangelo sign a sculpture. It was the ‘Pietà’ of 1497–1500, and he did so using an incomplete…

To cut to the chase, my ten-year-old daughter really liked Beauty and the Beast. And given you’re probably going to…

The exit signs were switched off and the stalls were in utter darkness. One by one, 15 invisible dancers, their…

The enticingly subversive films of Paul Verhoeven were very tempting to me as a schoolboy. When I hit 14, the…

It is often said that Terence Rattigan’s ‘thing’ was his homosexuality and that his disguising of it coloured everything he…

Harry Potter, who uses the stage name Daniel Radcliffe, is a producer’s delight. By now it’s becoming clear that the…

I don’t think that I have left a theatre many times feeling as depressed and irritated as after the Royal…

It was the crime story that showed us just how much China has changed since its years of social, political…

For a creative arts organisation to operate successfully in Australia for 40 years is an achievement in itself. The Australian…

Down the Mighty River with Steve Backshall (BBC2) was perfect Sunday-night TV — one of the most enjoyable adventure travelogues…

At a chic dinner party last week, a friendly chow as big and black as a dog can be without…

After circuiting Spain by train, I went east to Italy, stopping on the way at the French border town of…

Don’t tell my husband, but I have been having doubts. (He never reads this column, so our secret is safe.)…

Someone has given the builder boyfriend an iPhone and things will never be the same. Until now, he has always…

Few sporting events in history have been greeted with such swivel-eyed, table-pounding hysteria as Barcelona’s comeback to overturn a 4-0…

One of the most important debates in Britain’s history took place in Westminster earlier this week. The issue was absolutely…

If the championship for training jumpers went to a set of gallops rather than to a trainer it would not…

In Competition No. 2989 you were invited to submit a version of the Gettysburg Address as it might have been…

Eight unclued lights are of a kind; the remaining two complete four words from a quote, which is appropriately positioned…

The unclued lights are titles of Russian novels minus their ‘and’ (И in Russian): 17 CRIME and 9 PUNISHMENT (Dostoevsky),…

Q. Living in a large house in the country within striking distance of a motorway, we get a lot of…

Aquavit is a ‘uniquely Nordic–style’ restaurant in the St James’s Market development between Regent Street and the Haymarket. This development…

Tournament bridge players do not expect, or get, much in the way of luxury. I have played in some of…

The 135th Varsity Match hosted by London’s Royal Automobile Club last Saturday resulted in a narrow win for Oxford, who…

White to play. This is from Horton–Murphy, Varsity Match 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers to me at…