The Coalition has embarked upon a risky Labor-style experiment, hoping Mr Turnbull’s sugar hit in the polls will see them…

Malcolm Turnbull has certainly made a name for himself since he became leader of the Liberal party. The party that…

Some readers may be wondering what it’s like to vote Labor for the first time. Okay, by ‘vote Labor’ I…

As a first time candidate in a volatile election, with a member retiring after 43 years, I was keen to…

Songkran is not the best time of year to be a correspondent in Pattaya. It’s not that the story you’re…

On election night Liberals expected to be clear winners of the longest campaign in memory, with Malcolm Turnbull having vanquished…

Even if he scrapes in, Malcolm Turnbull has lost this election, as this column warned on 28 May. If he…

Napoleon’s judicial murder of the Duke of Enghien was summed up by either his Chief of Police, Joseph Fouche or…

The conventional wisdom surrounding Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to Prime Minister was that his more moderate leanings would allow him to…

It looks like costing Australian businesses multi-billions of dollars – and taxpaying Australians multi-billions more. Malcolm Turnbull’s woeful election campaign…

We are living through the most intense political drama in modern British history. The vote to leave the European Union…

On the way to interview Michael Gove, we meet a government minister, an Old Etonian, who suggests we ask him,…

In my novel Three Daughters of Eve, a well educated housewife with kids looks at her motherland, Turkey, and thinks:…

In France, Brexit has provoked resentment and shock. For many years-Britain has been seen in both Paris and-Brussels as the…

As Boris Johnson will know from his love of Greek tragedy, hubris leads to nemesis. And it is Boris’s own…

Last year, I found a pair of trainers in our communal recycling bin: Nike Air Max in black and grey…

Early on the morning of Friday 24 June, Darren Gratton went into his butcher’s shop in Barnstaple and changed his…

Sooner or later, no matter where you are travelling on Italian railways, you are likely to pass through Bologna Centrale.…

‘If it falls apart, everything falls apart in the region’ — Note from Tony Blair to George W. Bush, 2…

Home Conservative MPs set about finding two candidates for the party leadership to be put to party members as rival…

All hail social media. In January, I lost my beautiful pussycat Mr Mew, and I have spent six long months…

Inscribed in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo in Delphi were the famous words gnôthi sauton (‘know yourself’) and…

From ‘News of the week’, The Spectator, 8 July 1916: On the surface of London life there is hardly a ripple,…

Junior elitists Sir: In response to Andrew Peters’s reminder that in many cultures it is the older and more experienced…

Before she was murdered, Jo Cox MP had written most of a report. She worked on it jointly it with…

There’s something a little-dispiriting about waking up one morning to find that our elected politicians are even more psychopathic, deranged…

Before even writing this I know what response it will meet. Some who fought for Leave on 23 June will…

I suppose I could probably get a Polish passport. Both of my maternal grandparents were Poles, displaced by war and…

I enjoyed the Daily Mail’s lambasting of the Financial Times as ‘panic-monger-in-chief’ for its doom-laden post-Brexit tone: ‘Is it determined…

Elisabeth Luard has a fascinating and rich subject in the relationship between food and place. Humans eat differently according to…

The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth’s Booker-longlisted debut novel, was set just after the Norman Conquest, and was told in an odd…

First a confession. Like many modern British readers, I have contracted a severe case of Jihad Overload Syndrome. Symptoms of…

There is a moment at the start of most authors’ careers when it is hard to get anything published, and…

There were two communist manifestos of 1848. One had no influence whatsoever on the revolutions of that year, but now…

When James Kelman won the Man Booker prize for How Late it Was, How Late, one judge stormed out, calling…

In 1964, a newly elected Labour MP was put in charge of the House of Commons kitchen committee. (An unpromising…

In his preface Sebastian Junger tells us that this book grew out of an earlier article. It obviously didn’t grow…

In January 1980 Isaac Asimov, writer of ‘hard science fiction’, professor of bio-chemistry and vice-president of Mensa International, penned a…

The Detection Club is rather like the House of Lords of British crime writing, though considerably more select. (I should…

After peaking at around the tenth instalment, birthday celebrations get progressively less interesting, for their subjects at least. I remember…

Fifty years ago on Monday the World Service programme Outlook was launched as an innovative news and current affairs programme…

A couple of weeks ago Opera Australia celebrated its 60th Anniversary with a gala concert at the Opera House. Surprisingly…

Pop idol turned top boffin Brian Cox doesn’t shy away from the big issues. With programmes such as Wonders of…

From the Oscar winning classics of the early Seventies — The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973) — to…

The Bolshoi Ballet’s wunderkind ballerina Natalia Osipova defied received wisdom when, in 2012, she cast off from the great Moscow…

Anthony Weiner is the American politician who made a comeback after a sexting scandal and stood for New York mayor.…

Does anyone believe Brian Friel’s libellous blarney? He portrays Ireland in the 20th century as an economic basket case where…

‘Hidden beauty is best (half seen), faces turned away.’ So noted a young English painter named Winifred Knights in 1924.…

Grey men in grey overcoats walking through grey architecture. If you had to pick an image to reflect the current…

The magnificent English Ladies have won another gold medal at the Europeans in Budapest. They have won medals in the…

What a well-behaved Wimbledon. Apart from a bit of racket-smashing (most of the ladies), low-level swearing (Nick Kyrgios), tantrums (Kyrgios),…

I walked into the bar and there was Trev standing in front of a giant screen showing Germany v. Italy…

The unclued lights (two of two words) are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer among other reference books. Elsewhere, ignore…

Amid the bloodshed and chaos that followed David Cameron’s resignation as prime minister, Theresa May earned praise for seeking to…

Brits don’t quit,’ said David Cameron two weeks ago, to which the obvious rejoinder is: ‘Oh but they do!’ The…

Cliveden is a good review for a divided country and I have waited, not too long, for it to feel…

I am trying to decide with some friends which is worse, English weather or English football. The former is improving…

‘Of course, there will be no air quality now,’ said a friend, shaking her head over my support for Brexit.…

I love Eclipse Day at Sandown, the first occasion in the year when the classy three-year-olds start taking on their…

As we bid farewell to the great Viktor Korchnoi, it is worth pointing out that he was one of those…

In Competition No. 2955 you were invited to supply a report on a Uefa Euro 2016 match written in the…

The unclued lights Across are CATS and the unclued lights Down are DOGS.  First prize John Kitchen, Breachwood Green, HertsRunners-up…

The post The Battle for Britain appeared first on The Spectator.

Q. My son goes into his final year at school this September and I would like him to be able…

Bustle, an online newspaper ‘for and by women’, has published ‘six common phrases you didn’t know were sexist (that you’ll…

White to play. This is from Kasparov-Alonso, Simultaneous Display, Moenchengladbach 2016. How did White conclude his attack? Answers to me…