The Spectator
Australia
Do a Farage
In an intriguing new political strategy, described as a ‘vengeful gimmick’, Nigel Farage has declared that should his Reform party…
Australian Columnists
Brown study
When politicians talk about ‘reform’, I am instantly suspicious. If the good Dr Samuel Johnson was right in defining patriotism…
Australian notes
Even without the rise of One Nation’s vote, Labor has been moving inexorably to a position as the natural party…
Australian Features
The King of Australia (and Great Britain) wows the Americans
A right royal triumph
Features
Starmergeddon: Labour is hurtling further left
There’s a difference between climate and weather. Both change, but at very different tempos. Variations in the weather are seasonal…
Get ready for the ugliest building in the City of London
The City of London is not noted for its beauty. Most great European cities expect their historic streets to retain…
Why is maternity care in Britain getting worse?
Chelsea and her partner had been trying for a baby for two years. Following several miscarriages, she became pregnant again…
What no one tells you about dairy farming
It has been calving time in Devon and I arrive from London ready to work hard. The day starts at…
Is your wellness smoothie giving you cancer?
There’s a question I’ve started being asked at work. Given I’m a psychiatrist, it isn’t one I’d ever expected to…
Are any fans weirder than Michael Jackson fans?
What does a star need? A great lawyer, a good publicist, a silent plastic surgeon on speed dial – and…
Russians no longer believe Putin’s war propaganda
A year ago, Russia marked the 9 May Victory Day celebration with a spectacular display of fireworks that lit up…
Who cares if fridge magnets are naff?
Let’s dispense with the obvious question first. Are they common? While there’s a clear temptation to consult Nicky Haslam on…
The Week
Portrait of the week: Golders Green attacked, borrowing costs soar and rat virus hits cruise ship
Home Two Jewish men aged 76 and 34 were stabbed in Golders Green, north London. Essa Suleiman, 45, a British…
Anti-Semitism is a virus – and it’s spreading
To eradicate a virus, one needs precision. The origin of the threat needs to be identified, as do the circumstances…
Queen Camilla’s unusual phone app
And so to the White House for a ringside seat at the Trump circus. Another assassination attempt on the President…
Letters: Yvette Cooper for PM!
Bet on Yvette Sir: Were Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband, Andy Burnham or Wes Streeting to succeed Sir Keir (‘After Starmer’,…
The Romans would tax anything
When Nero committed suicide in ad 68, he left Rome deep in debt after military campaigns, building himself a fabulous…
Which animals are older than David Attenborough?
Travel sickness Three people were reported to have died in an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship returning to…
Columnists
18 ways to save your political career
Dear wannabe leaders of Britain. What a lot of you there are! I’ve been writing about leadership and the craft…
I admit it: I was wrong about the Premier League
Yes, of course, one sometimes yearns for the old days. The friend who, appearing in court on a charge of…
Keir Starmer is downplaying the Islamist threat to Jews
At Tuesday’s anti-Semitism ‘summit’ in Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer achieved a personal first. He used the word ‘Islamists’. But…
Don’t blame Trump for food price hikes and cancelled flights
In the hierarchy of factors that will make consumers curse politicians and company bosses this summer, food price inflation probably…
Let’s ditch the idea of the ‘black vote’
I long took for granted that US opinion polls break down respondents into white people, black people and Hispanics. But…
The obvious truth about anti-Semitism
There are many ways to do nothing. One is to sit on your hands; another is to call for ‘a…
Books
Would W.G. Grace recognise the game of cricket today?
The leisurely long-format game once so dear to the English has been transformed by television and T20 into a highly professionalised global sport that has effectively become football
Lean and mean: Mick Jagger was always a tightwad
His parsimony included replacing chocolate biscuits with plain ones at recording sessions and paying a derisory £50 for what became known as ‘the most famous logo in the history of pop music’
Marvels of the masked ball: dressing up in Georgian London
A craze for masquerades reached its apogee at Carlisle House in the 1770s, when vast forests were imported into the ballroom, along with fountains and festooned arches
Accelerating the ‘kill chain’ – a terrifying glimpse of future warfare
A misfit band of military personnel and Silicon Valley uber-geeks apply AI to target America’s enemies more rapidly and accurately than ever before
From pike-and-pitchfork brigade to crack militia: ‘Dad’s Army’ wasn’t so ludicrous after all
Sinclair McKay traces the gradual evolution of the Home Guard into what one colonel described as ‘the best trained and equipped force of its kind in the history of our country’
No one is ordinary: The Things We Never Say, by Elizabeth Strout, reviewed
Writing about the inner lives and struggles of small-town characters, Strout reminds us that we are all battling something, even if we don’t broadcast it
Is coffee-drinking the new secular religion?
In a whimsical discussion of our relationship with the beverage, Julian Baggini proposes ‘Coffeeism’ as a philosophy for everyday life
They shoot horses: Boyhood, by David Keenan, reviewed
Two young Glaswegians revenge themselves on the men who assaulted them at a nightclub by murdering one of them and killing their herd of horses
The exquisitely dull life of Elizabeth II, expert on cap badges
‘I spend most of my life conversing with strangers’, admitted the late Queen, hosting endless receptions, launching ships, taking salutes and pinning medals on civic worthies
All the gossip about Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Trawling through decades of songs, newspapers, films and merchandise, Guy Cuthbertson catches a shoal of ephemera relating to Lawrence’s last novel
Arts
The performance of her career
It’s odd, isn’t it, the uncanny relationship between success and achievement. Just the other night the Melbourne Theatre Company had…
Students of theatrical history will adore David Hare’s Grace Pervades
Grace Pervades by David Hare is a drama-documentary about the life and theatrical work of the great Victorian thesp, Sir…
How to win MasterChef
‘Warmer, sharper and funnier than ever,’ claims one reviewer of ‘the BBC’s disgraced cookery show’ MasterChef. But this is nonsense.…
The art of noise
I’m bullish about AI. All aesthetic snobs should be. In the war on man-made slop – still the most pressing…
Compelling: Cowboy Junkies at Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, reviewed
Anyone who was listening to independent music back in the 1980s and 1990s might find it surprising to learn which…
Riveting: Kokuho reviewed
A three-hour Japanese epic about a classical performance art (kabuki) isn’t the easiest sell, I’ll grant you, but I’ll give…
A spring mood lifter: Tales of Love and Loss at the Linbury Theatre reviewed
This year’s Jette Parker Artists showcase is a triple bill of modern-ish operas; a cleverly assembled trittico of one-acters, linked…
How to dress a queen
The problem with exhibiting costumes is well known. Should the mannequins be lifelike with human features, or faceless? What about…
The art of flowers
Multi-sensory exhibitions are old hat, but in the case of In Bloom – How Plants Changed Our World at Oxford’s…
Life
Aussie life
Advertising which gives a brand topical relevance gets extra traction with its target audience. So if I was creating the…
Language
My rage against the journalistic abuse of ‘populist/populism’ continues. As I have pointed out in the past, the meaning of…
Resist the cult of ‘picky bits’
We are, according to Marks & Spencer, in ‘picky bits’ season. I cannot bear the tweeness of it all. M&S…
What really killed off the traditional B&B
To B&B or not to B&B? That is the question. Whether it’s nobler to offer breakfast to a guest is…
The ‘airport effect’ that’s ruining modern life
The phrase ‘computer says no’ now has its own Wikipedia page. The first recorded use dates back to a Stasi-era…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my husband from interrupting?
Q. My husband worked in an office for 25 years and now works from home. As well as the interaction…
Why does everything now pivot?
‘As the door turneth upon his hinges,’ says the Book of Proverbs, ‘so doth the slothful upon his bed.’ But…
Can our democracy survive the ‘bad chaps’?
What is the greatest threat to British democracy? Zack Polanski’s call for ‘building a society’ that ‘doesn’t include’ people who…
2751: Transmission
Together, three unclued entries (two of two words) cryptically explain the three other unclued pairs. Solvers must highlight the single…
Spectator Competition: Laughter lines
For Competition 3448 you were invited to supply a joke in verse form.Apologies for an ambiguous brief; I was actually…
The joyful mayhem of meteorite hunting in Africa
Nairobi Eastleigh, the Somali quarter in Nairobi, was a scene from Blade Runner but in African Islamic dress. Muezzin calls…
Man vs lobster
She was doing a postgrad course in a town by the sea, and a strange thing happened to us one…












































































