The Spectator
26 April 2014 Aus
Back to the future
Ed Miliband is set to unleash a radical, Old Labour political agenda
Australia
Seventy ain’t old
Age, clearly, has not withered the Rolling Stones. With the average age of the remaining four members of the ‘greatest…
Australian Columnists
Brown Study
There are now another 156 reasons for keeping our constitutional monarchy, for that is the number of leading barristers who…
Australian Notes
I first came across Neville Wran back in January 1946. Just out of school but not yet enrolled in Sydney…
Diary
It’s not often you have a foretaste of paradise. Recently I spent a month in Europe — the UK, Ireland,…
Australian Features
Repeal section 18C
I am a person of Aboriginal descent, and I have a strong personal view on section 18C of the Racial…
In praise of Big Coal
Through its coal-digging antics, Oz has made itself the midwife of a new era of progress around the world
Aunty’s deep cultural confusion
Why is a public broadcaster allowed to use tax dollarsto promote a commercial success like Peppa Pig?
Why we love the Cambridges
The visiting Royals are more like film stars than royalty, following the template set by the Duke’s late mother
Features
Back to the future
If he wins the next election, Ed Miliband is set to unleash a radical Old Labour agenda
Clinton vs Bush – again
The American political establishment looks increasingly like an oligarchy
Going underground
Our strange fascination with tunnels, bunkers, and all things underground
Damascus Notebook
Plus: The memory of Jeffrey Bernard, and the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide
The Week
How to lose a country
Why the unionists need to make the wider, more emotional case for saving Britain
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, appeared in public with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer — the first…
Columnists
Cameron must tackle the optimism deficit
Politicians seem incapable of making a positive argument for anything
The Spectator’s Notes
He had the opportunity – and for that matter, so did Cyril Smith
David Moyes couldn’t deal with the pomposity of Manchester United
The egos at the club are off the scale
When did life become a medical problem?
Cyberchondria has infected the US, and now it’s over here, too
The left-liberal hold over the arts may be ending
Right-wing creatives have much to gain from internet crowdfunding
Osborne is entitled to look smug but would be wise to wear a bag over his head
But it won’t do him any favours with the voters
Books
Up close and personal
A review of Updike, by Adam Begley. John Updike was very happy to recycle his own experiences in his fiction
The poor man in his castle
A review of Requisitioned: The British Country House in the Second World War by John Martin Robinson
Recent crime fiction
From dystopian thrillers to childhood horrors and archaeological discoveries; some of the latest crime fiction releases
X marks the stop
A review of Tiny Stations, by Dixe Wills – a travelogue that takes in the 38 remaining request stops on the British railways
Prisoners of conscience
Shame and the Captives, by Thomas Keneally, is not a perfect novel, but this fictional account of escapee Japanese POWs is gripping nonetheless
The gambler’s daily grind
A review of The Ballad of a Small Player, by Lawrence Osborne. An insight into a gambler’s life of soulless grind
Beauty in beastly surroundings
In The Gardens of the British Working Class, Margaret Willes follows the determined struggle of the poor to grow flowers
‘Qui, moi?’
In 2008, Bob Carr was on an ABC panel show, pontificating about the wisdom of decisions of the US Supreme…
Arts
Life
Watch and wait
While Viswanathan Anand, the former world champion, has been qualifying for a revenge match for the world title, Magnus Carlsen,…
No. 311
White to play. This is a variation from Carlsen-Leitao, Brazil 2014. White has a big attack on the kingside which…
Inconsequential
In Competition No. 2844 you were invited to provide an extract from either a gripping thriller or a bodice-ripping romance…
2159: Wine, Woman and Song
Nine unclued lights are linked in three different ways (three lights to each) to a tenth, which solvers should highlight.…
to 2156: Shoreline
The perimeter is occupied by seven SANDPIPERS. First prize Tim Hanks, Douglas, Isle of Man Runners-up Hilda Ball, Belfast;…
Yes, Britain is a Christian country
David Cameron is right — the evidence is overwhelming
A toast to Le Roi Jean Quinze
Why we need a new literary award: the antisocial book of the year


























































