The Spectator
8 March 2014 Aus
Europe’s nightmare neighbour
Putin has now broken the post-Cold War consensus for good. But Russia may not enjoy the results
Australia
Is Tony Abbott a dry?
At six minutes past eight on the evening of Monday 3 March, the camera panned unexpectedly off the face of…
Australian Columnists
Australian Notes
What an eccentric case the Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane mounted against the federal government’s proposal to amend section 18C…
Brown study
During my illustrious career as Minister for Employment and Youth Affairs I had a visit from my counterpart in the…
Diary
Here’s a piece of news you may have missed. The EU has shelved its trade talks with India. At the…
Australian Features
A knife blade on the skyline
Downtown Melbourne embraces skinny buildings more than three decades since they littered Manhattan
More British than Britain
In the interests of a more civilised world, let the Commonwealth leaders trump democratic values
Black armband
The first ever footy-playing Australian of the Year is ashamed to be an Australian
Here we go again
The upcoming senate election in Western Australia shows Paul Keating was right: the upper house is unrepresentative swill
Features
Europe’s nightmare neighbour
Pax Americana died six years ago. We're now seeing what has taken its place
Paddy power
The Transport Secretary and former miner admits High Speed 2 won't be through parliament by the next general election
The Week
Who speaks for Europe?
For the first time in many years, the eyes of the world are on Crimea. As Russian troops violated Ukrainian…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said Russia was to blame for ‘violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another…
Columnists
The Spectator’s Notes
Plus: Are the middle classes turning against immigration? And what Prince Charles loses by not hunting
You shouldn’t lose your children for disagreeing with Boris Johnson
The mayor has a plan to take into care all children who are brought up with a bleak and nihilistic worldview. Does he include mine?
A reminder of the UK energy gap as Putin prepares to put another knot in his pipeline
Plus: The frenzy over AO.com, and business’s bad rap on stage
Books
The right sort of chap
A review of A Spy Among Friends, by Ben Macintyre. The double agent's victims, unlike his family, were not the sort of people one bumped into at White's
The Guardian vs the Hobbits
A review of The Snowden Files, by Luke Harding. Did GCHQ break in and insert the clichés?
The corpse in the cupboard
A review of The Madness of July, by James Naughtie. The broadcaster's clever first thriller leaves you in no doubt of his preferred reading
The Great Game in Arabia
A review of Lawrence of Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson. Increasing the cast list of T.E. Lawrence's story doesn't add to the interest
Lords and protectors
A review of God's Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England, by Jessie Childs. To see the power of 16th-century aristocrats, look at the ones being tracked as enemies of the state
Plucky little Denmark
A review of Countrymen, by Bo Lidegaard. Only one per cent of Danish Jews perished in the Holocaust. How they were saved is a story of courage and principle
Damaged love
A review of Bark, by Lorrie Moore and All the Rage, by A.L. Kennedy. Two terrific new collections
A later beginner
A review of Arctic Summer, by Damon Galgut. Portraying the novelist as a fusty, virginal defeatist doesn't make for thrilling fiction
Arts
Act of Faith
Sensitive and ballsy, shy and flamboyant – this is a pop star, proud of being hard to pin down
The torture of earworms
Earworms are bad enough. But this meme might ruin your pop-listening life for ever
Raiders and traders
The BM's new blockbuster ranges as far and wide as the famously peripatetic marauders
Musical feasts
ENO’s new production of the Handel opera is a musical feast. Plus: two brilliant evenings with Opera North
Freak factory
A freak factory in Soho Theatre's The One and a genial lecture by Simon Callow in Being Shakespeare
For your eyes only
The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest Wes Anderson film and it is beautiful to look at, scrumptious, luscious, such…
Winning formula
Where others see weaknesses, I see strengths. (But it's also giving me déjà vu...)
Blast from the past
BBC4’s Arena documentary shows just how biting – and tricky to make – the classic satirical series was
Life
Varsity match
On Saturday 8 March the 132nd Varsity match between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge will see Oxford seeking to…
No. 304
White to play. This position is from Robbins-Smith, Varsity Match 1972. The black king has been drawn out into the…
Reunion blues
In Competition 2837 you were invited to submit a poem on the horrors of a reunion dinner. In days gone…
2152: T20 – it’s just not cricket!
The unclued lights (and 4 Down + N) are of a kind and along with the suggestion given by the…
to 2149: Super!
When preceded by GREAT, each unclued light yields a phrase listed in Brewer 19th edition. First prize Mrs T.…
You gotta have faith
Why I can’t support the Shepherd’s Bush fair admissions campaign
Dinner with the editors
An old haunt of Guardian journalists, now with a Telegraph editor in the kitchen






























































