Our heartiest congratulations to Boris Johnson on his elevation from proud and humble editor of this magazine to the prime…

Thanks to the increasingly infantile appetite of cinema audiences and the laziness of modern screenwriters, two distinct but related film…

In political history, 2019 will be remembered as the year Labor lost the unlosable election due to wrong-headed tax policies.…

Maybe it wouldn’t surprise you to know how constrained and routine most MPs’ lives become. It’s day after day of…

Wrong way, go back My last Dis-Con Note (‘Watching and hoping, Mr Morrison’, 13/07/19) pointed out that, despite his ‘miracle’…

Re-stocking the knacker’s yard If there is an Englishman more hated by the European establishment than Boris Johnson, it’s Nigel…

Not the 7 o’clock news – brought to you by ‘their’ ABC Is the nation getting good value for the…

Once upon a time, Britain sent Australia its excess convicts.  These days we get Tony Blair’s old spin doctors, a…

In his brilliant Intellectuals – From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky, Paul Johnson highlights the hypocrisy of what…

The open secret of Donald Trump’s political success is that he is always in the news. He seems to live…

Constitutional ‘recognition’ of the  indigenous people is but the latest in a series of silver bullets proposed by the elites…

Boris Johnson’s first 100 days will make or break him — which is what makes his premiership unlike any other.…

With Boris Johnson finally in No. 10 we now have a prime minister who says he is committed to Britain…

To understand Boris Johnson, you have to understand the figure who has inspired him, shaped his worldview and accompanied him…

Two considerable injustices were undone this week. The first was the reinstatement of Sir Roger Scruton to the government’s ‘Building…

Iran’s seizure of a British-owned oil tanker transiting the Persian Gulf has let loose a fresh round of media war…

As I left Lord’s at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon to go to The Lion King European premiere I…

‘I’m not going to your place, it looks like a crack den.’ It’s not exactly a vote of confidence when…

The late Frank Johnson — former editor of The Spectator — had a thing about London City Airport. ‘I never…

It’s hard to think of a prime minister who has reached No. 10 with lower expectations. Boris Johnson has been…

Home Boris Johnson became Prime Minister after being elected the leader of the Conservative party by its members, with 92,153…

So the party of family values has chosen as leader a man of whom to say he has the morals…

Hardly a week goes by without a cook — sorry, chef — going bananas about the desecration of his hallowed…

Losing confidence The government may soon face a vote of no confidence, the second this year. How often do these…

From ‘Low talk’ by John Daniel, 19 July 1963: Everybody has heard of Dr Johnson’s dictionary, which is now not…

Rose is the right choice Sir: Every Wednesday for the past nine years, it has been my privilege to attend…

‘No great surprise’ headlined the BBC television news on Tuesday lunchtime. The BBC does not admit it now, but it…

When the leadership result was announced, Jeremy Corbyn’s keyboard warriors swung into action. Behold, they said: a new party leader…

I never believed Carl Beech’s allegations that he had suffered multiple depravities, including sexual abuse, at the hands of various…

Halfway up the back stairs on a ledge is the body of a wasp so big it’s either a queen…

China is a nation with values deeply at odds with the West. The Chinese spy, steal and bully. They don’t…

The list of business leaders who have damaged their careers with a single word famously begins with Gerald Ratner, who…

Novelists will always be interested in enclosed communities — or the ‘total institution’, as sociologists say. When you separate a…

After kayaking solo in a November storm to a square mile of rock called Eilean a’Chleirich in the Summer Isles…

At the end of 1969, teenage Rolling Stones fans reading the new Fab 208 annual could be forgiven for thinking…

My uncle Edward did not like talking about his service in Burma during the second world war. When I asked…

In 2017’s Goldsmiths Prize-winning novel H(A)PPY, Nicola Barker strewed pages with multicoloured text. The Cauliflower, her joyful previous offering, employed…

Should the man on the Clapham omnibus ever turn his mind to ballet, he is bound to envisage the work…

Andrew Martin continues his quest to create uniquely interesting crime novels in The Winker (Corsair, £16.99). Lee Jones is a…

You might think The Carer rather an unpromising title, but Deborah Moggach’s book delivers a wickedly witty entertainment. Towards the…

When Klaus Fuchs started passing atomic secrets to the KGB, he changed the course of world events. Forget about Philby…

Bunnies were out. Beatrix Potter had the monopoly on rabbits, kittens, ducks and Mrs Tittlemouses. ‘I knew I had to…

Equus is a psychological thriller from 1973 which opens with a revolting discovery. An unbalanced stable-lad, Alan, spends his evenings…

Think back to when you were 12, and the sensation of re-opening your favourite book. (This is The Spectator; I’m…

Every so often an idea for a show will come along that is perfect, and therefore should never be made.…

BBC2’s How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain (Tuesday) began rather promisingly. ‘I’m a working-class comedian who voted Leave,’ announced presenter…

Superficially, the Olafur Eliasson exhibition at Tate Modern can seem like a theme park. To enter many of the exhibits,…

Last weekend, in a pleasant park outside Maidstone, a most unusual rock festival took place. For one thing, it was…

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love is Nick Broomfield’s documentary chronicling the muse-artist relationship between Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen.…

It was a beautiful autumn morning when we went up to Cambridge for a meeting at King’s College. Christopher Hogwood…

Serifos He went away to fight and the war lasted ten years. He missed his wife but he didn’t worry…

‘So what are your plans?’ said our gentle, civilised Airbnb host over a tray of tea and cake to welcome…

Laikipia   All across the north the ritual bulls have already been slaughtered. I am waiting for the invitation from…

‘Ah well, it can’t be helped,’ said the builder boyfriend. I call people who talk like that civilians. Nut jobs…

Bridge isn’t a game you can get good at quickly. It takes years to reach a reasonable standard — far…

There are comparisons to be made between tennis and chess. Player X (aka White) serves. Player Y (Black) responds. The…

White to play. This is from Giri-Mamedyarov, ­Croatia 2019. White is a piece down and needs a dramatic continuation. What…

In Competition No. 3108 you were invited to submit a sonnet with the following end rhymes: son, mire, fire, won,…

Unclued lights are of a kind, including one of two words, all listed in Chambers or Oxford (the required spelling…

The word was ‘pale’, suggested by PEELIE-WALLY (1A) and the title, which, with changes to its FIRST VOWEL (7D/33), becomes…

The changing of the guard at 10 Downing Street always creates opportunities for the commentariat. I don’t just mean it…

The name Cameron Delport might not be immediately familiar, but his exploits last week could mean more for the future…

Q. It was 10 p.m. by the time the canapés appeared and by then it was already too late. The…

The Goring is a tiny grand hotel near Victoria Station and the Queen’s garden wall. Victoria is not pleasant —…

How might an oath lend its name in England to a religious extremist and in Spain to a moustache? That…