This magazine rarely misses an opportunity to criticise the ABC. So readers may be surprised to find us defending Aunty…

Tony Abbott is right. Too much is being made of the Governor-General’s ‘injudicious’ support for republicanism and gay marriage. It…

There was one really interesting aspect of the revelation of the salaries being paid to top ABC presenters, apart from…

I flew from London into Sydney, then Melbourne, to make three dinner speeches in a row. Through nerves I never…

When someone ten years your junior asks you to drop your pants you know it’s going to be an interesting…

On Indonesia, Tony Abbott is right to ignore the self-loathing Asia-first elite

By speaking out in favour of gay marriage and the republic, the GG shows she was not fit for high office

Soft on crime Sir: One of my favourite Spectator Australia columns is Peter Coleman’s. His insightful and calm articulation can…

Politicians used to have to apologise when they lied. Now it's the opposite

A no in the referendum should mean no. Thanks to the political geniuses in London, it will instead mean 'Yes, but...'

If he had real foreign-policy achievements, no one would be getting excited about it

Nine cartoonists are shortlisted for the first ever Michael Heath Award for cartooning. The theme of the contest, sponsored by…

They were funny once. But the revival is a dreadful idea

When he threatened to kill opium smokers, they gave up. What does that tell you?

Sir Anthony Van Dyck's final self-portrait is a vital part of Britain's artistic heritage

There's no better place for last-minute gifts than gallery and museum shops. They even look thoughtful!

Everyone talks about the human cost of climate change. What about pensioners dying in the cold?

Home Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, outlined Scottish National Party plans for independence, which included keeping the pound…

Plus: Milan yearns for a Thatcher, and how I might have killed Hugh Gaitskell

Third-class thinking A report by the Institute of Economic Affairs recommended standing-room-only third-class carriages as an alternative to longer trains…

Plus: Where today's slaves live, worse interest rates than Wonga's, and bankruptcy by the seaside

The Chancellor has a delicate balancing act to get through

Beyond the outback and the dens of urban sophisticates, there are suburbs that are forever Bournemouth

Staffordshire has become the beating heart of industrial England

Tim Cope's moving account of his 6,000-mile ride across the lands of the nomads, On the Trail of Genghis Khan, is vast, repetitive and meandering — just like his journey

Can you write fiction in a non-fiction way? In Pure Gold Baby, the author tries to avoid a beginning, a middle and an end, keeping us always in the midst of the moment

Brad Stone's The Everything Store is an unflattering portrait of the giant online shop and its driven CEO Jeff Bezos, a man who'd be 'uncool' by his own exacting standards

Too much kindly advice can be grating, as the author unintentionally demonstrates in This is the Story of a Happy Marriage — yet her collection of essays is also a charmer

Melanie McDonagh picks The River Singers, The Demon Dentist, Rooftoppers, The Fault in Our Stars, Knight Crusader — and several beautiful Folio editions

You'll learn about litotes, synecdoches, zeugmas, isocolons and the right way to order your adjectives in Mark Forsyth's The Elements of Eloquence

It's time to celebrate this elegant writer of a dozen novels, among them Angel, in which she fictionalised her own fears about being a young female author

Get flying buttresses for your coffee table — Norbert Wolf's Art Deco is a massive and beautiful tome, despite a few strange omissions

In Letters of Note, Shaun Usher has compiled a stupendous collection of memorable missives, often by famous people — and with facsimiles, each page is a marvel

Andrew Lambirth's handsome volume on Davison's work deals only with the foothills of his oeuvre. The artist remains a genius to be discovered

Andrew Taylor picks the best detective thrillers of the season — The Late Scholar, Then We Take Berlin, The Double, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon

I have to declare an interest: for many years the Knight and I were the closest of friends until a…

Hot Dogs and Cocktails was written after Peter Conradi watched Hyde Park on Hudson — you should catch both the book and the film

There is a test in Canberra which applies to the quality of political commentary. It is called the ‘Blue Poles’…

The art of adapting Russian plays – and novels and stories – for the stage

Plus: Francis Bacon and Henry Moore at the Ashmolean

He's not a substantial character, he's the spirit of justice. Just what the play needs!

Miller on starring in The Duck House, a farce about MPs' expenses, and sketch partnership with Alexander Armstrong

With luck, the highlight of the Britten centenary will allow more people to recognise his operatic masterpiece

Still, perhaps it didn't need quite so many spoonfuls of sugar

For my generation at least, this is clearly a classic and a touchstone

Forty years after his death, the choreographer's brilliance lives on in his old company's eclectic style

His family were panicked about The Legalizer. You can see why. But you'll love him...

Plus: A brilliant play about the birth of Bollywood

After 25 years in a bathtub, you'd be cranky, too

At times, violence can be a pathway to spiritual grace

Not once in the past ten years have I told the truth without calculating the capital that came with it

The message of the leaflet is that, like sex, recycling is very much an activity anyone can do

Britain, like the United States, now seems opera crazy. Good news for me

‘Yikes! I’ve been Grosvenored!’ This is a wail you will hear from time to time when a Declarer has been…

Magnus Carlsen has become the 16th world chess champion, taking the title with three wins, seven draws and no losses,…

White to play. This position is a variation from Anand-Carlsen, Chennai (Game 9). White is on the verge of delivering…

In Competition 2825 you were invited to supply a poem for a well-known painting of your choice. The poet and…

The unclued lights (all but two of two words) are of a kind, listed in Chambers 2011. Elsewhere, ignore one…

The unclued Across lights are words abbreviated by C (= 100) and the unclued Down lights are abbreviated by c…

Someone should beat Andy Slaughter. But sadly, it won't be me

You can tell Stuart Lancaster used to be a schoolmaster. His players are learning

Present difficulties, when to take your shoes off, and other social puzzles solved

One Canada Square is a weird place for a restaurant - cold, mean and riveting

There are worse sins. But this is one of the most irritating