What a shame that Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull never found a way to work effectively together. Or to look…

Self-indulgent race discrimination commissioner African American is not an accurate descriptor of Americans of Negro racial origin. North Africans, for…

If you look up the website of the late Australian philosopher David Stove, you will find the following mysterious announcement:…

Windscreen stickers of family groups propagate an image of modern Australia at odds with our national diversity

... where N is for Negative Sentiment Overdrive

His refusal to support the Bob Day changes to 18C will further alienate the new PM from conservatives

The Four Corners Lawler and Jackson show was much more than just great telly

The return of a Trudeau promises the start of a Canadian dynasty, and a lot of bouncing taxpayers’ cheques

If the Turnbull government had been elected in 2013, there can be no doubt that illegal immigration would now be…

How does Labour solve a problem like Jeremy Corbyn?

The migrant crisis is testing the country’s idea of itself

Emily Hill declared in The Spectator that the movement’s big battles are all won. Not for older women they’re not

‘Les nouveaux réactionnaires’ are causing furious discussion in a country that pays unique respect to public thinkers

I live with pain as with an old friend one would prefer to distance oneself from

This is one place in England where nature seems truly awesome – and the local sport is glorious, too

Foraging natives Sir: Simon Collins is right about England supporters’ world class barracking [Spectator. Oct 24th]. Having wasted my youth…

For many years, Australia has been turning away boats filled with migrants. From a remove, this looks cold–hearted — a…

Home After it was twice defeated in the Lords on its plans to reduce working tax credits, the government announced…

Plus: The posthumous wit of Oscar Wilde and the curious poignancy of Murder, She Wrote

Plus: Who’d pay most sugar tax; the rise of English wine; the biggest concert halls

Students of imperial history will find ominous echoes in today’s European debates

A generation trained to bowl and ‘throw in’ hard and accurately are the best bombers the world can produce

David Cameron is reluctant to create the hundreds of new Tory peers it would take overcome the Labour/Lib Dem majority in the House of Lords

Also: on the rule of law; boarding-school bills; in memory of Norman Moore; and a better title for my Thatcher biography

The novelist’s attack on the Labour leader reveals his disdain for a vast slice of the public, and may provoke sympathy votes

He made a great impression on me, aged 18, because of his deep internal honesty

The TalkTalk hack suggests we might be. So will the spies have to snoop on us all?

Plus: Another indicator of a slowing economy; and the wonders of a new train link to Bicester Village

Adam Sisman brings admirable clarity to le Carré’s murky world of espionage, but there remains a mystery about his lifelong fixation with his father

John Gimlett’s travel memoir Elephant Complex celebrates the enigmatic island of palm-fringed beaches and suicide bombs

Scarpia, Piers Paul Read’s latest novel, skilfully transforms Tosca’s notorious scoundrel into handsome lover and gallant man of action

Richard Ingrams has always made fun of Frost’s naked ambition — but the ‘larger-than-life genius’ of Neil Hegarty’s authorised biography is too preposterous

But at least Melvyn Bragg captures some of the drama — of noble peasant versus ignoble king —in his latest novel Now is the Time

A.N. Wilson, a close friend of Murdoch’s, finds her dull and rather silly letters a sad disappointment compared to her best novels

Asfa-Woosen Aserate’s even-handed account of Haile Selassie’s successful autocracy is that precious thing: an African history written by an insider

The latest ghost stories, recommended by Josephine Livingstone, include works by Gillian Flynn, Angela Carter, Catriona Ward and William Gay

Mark Twain famously said ‘Golf is a good walk … ruined’. Bondi locals possibly think that Sculpture by the Sea…

Neil MacGregor’s last major exhibition at the British Museum is a fascinating portrait of a crucial period in Egyptian history that holds a mirror up to today

The depressing thing is not that shows like the Scottish National Gallery’s ‘Modern Scottish Women’ exist. It’s that they need to exist

Just as Jackson Pollock became the Great American Painter, the Eameses became the Great American Designer, and this Barbican exhibition shows how

Photography was once considered an impartial device to investigate crime. Now it’s being used to commit it, as this deliciously macabre Photographers’ Gallery exhibition shows

But despite the voice, his Royal Albert Hall concert was still pretty wonderful

Plus: an arresting new dance work from James Cousins at The Place that combines powerful body language with acrobatic skill

Delius’s Koanga is more of a problem-child, a rarity that only the brilliant Wexford Festival Opera would dare stage

Plus: Finborough’s commitment to literary archeology is vital to theatre. Alas, not every dig yields a classic

There’s too much action and not enough of Bond trying to get through to British Gas

House of DVF, for example, offers strange and terrifying insights into womankind. The Apprentice has its moments. And the X Factor has become remarkably watchable

Plus: Radio 2’s Faith in the World week of programmes proves the BBC’s Reithian mission still just about has a heartbeat

1/44 (eight words in total) is part of a question (in ODQ) minus a word exemplified by the other unclued…

The thematic phrase is ‘The Waves’, shown in a wave pattern in the grid. It is the title of a…

Its buildings are beautiful and its residents beat the aggressive slobs that pass for New Yorkers

By the time I’d eaten 50 or so, the golfers looked like a bizarre and alien species

First time over the jumps with Darcy was a three-Voltarol day

My near-encounter with leader of the free world

Watching the field soar over fences gives as much pleasure as backing a 10-1 winner

If you like extremely high-level Pairs tournaments you would love Pierre Zimmermann’s Cavendish Monaco. Sixty pairs are auctioned off and…

Hou Yifan has won what must be considered one of the strongest, if not the strongest, all-women chess tournaments ever…

White to play. This position is from Koneru-Zhukova, Monaco 2015. How did White quickly exploit the constricted position of the…

In Competition No. 2921 you were invited to write a clerihew about a fictional character. The clerihew is a comic…

Elite university drinking societies just make their members look out of touch  — and the networking side is overrated, too

So what if that Twickenham penalty was a mistake. If he can make the English feel sorry for the Scots he can do anything

Plus, my friend’s husband posts endless boastful pictures on Instagram — isn’t that frightfully boorish?

I hated it. But then I was already angry about the lobby carpet

The ‘correct’ usage is used by hardly anyone. But it makes the common usage impossible too