The Spectator

In 2012, the liner Costa Concordia struck a rock just off the Italian coast. The huge ship capsized and sank,…

Taking offence means we all walk on eggshells Recently, a controversial cartoon was drawn of a tennis champion which many…

The Right is cleaving Take a look at right-of-centre political parties in the Anglosphere. In Canada things are bad, very…

As disasters go, 9/11 is now much less of a problem for the world than 9/15. There are no widespread…

In early 2017, as feminists in pink pussy hats marched in shocked outrage at the election of President Trump, a…

Three girls in school tunics and battered hats are firing a machine gun in the quad. ‘Girls, girls, a little…

To properly understand the trend of world political events in recent years, it is essential to appreciate that a titanic…

You can’t walk on both sides of the street, PM If the Coalition were to go to the general election…

‘There was no body. There was no wrench. There was no evidence.’ The first two statements are undoubtedly true. Lawyers…

It’s the iron law of government administration. After a new bureaucracy is established, initially with limited powers and responsibilities, it…

She was born in a small town in South Australia, later grew up on Tamborine Mountain and, when aged barely…

The nomination by President Trump of Brett Kavanaugh as a Judge of the Supreme Court of the USA is very…

Pupils are back in classrooms and parents can finally have a brief respite from worrying about their children’s excessive screen…

Walking down the street on my lunch break, I sometimes pass a delivery man wheeling a large handcart of Japanese…

To the inhabitants of the British Isles, the nations of central Europe have always existed in a semi–mythical space, near…

One of the better plays at the National Theatre in recent weeks has been about a 21st-century banker, Judy, who…

The Conservative party has to move beyond Brexit and leaders: what is it going to be about? I suggest it…

As Labour gathers for its conference in Liverpool this weekend, the Conservatives will be watching with trepidation, rather than the…

One of the many pleasures of writing the life of Thomas Cromwell was to reach out behind the various versions…

Who was the second prime minister? Everyone knows Robert Walpole was the first. Firsts get all the fame and glory.…

Donald Trump campaigned as an unrepentant protectionist and, on the face of it, he has lived up to his word.…

Home Britain was overwhelmed by Brexitry. Before flying off to an EU summit in Salzburg, Theresa May, the Prime Minister,…

The Hastingses have idyllic lives but, like most seventysomethings, we find ourselves in ever-closer proximity to mortality. We hold season…

Trans mission Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt ordered research into a huge rise in referrals of under-18 girls to transgender services.…

‘Divide and rule’ (or ‘conquer’) diplomacy aims to disunite the opposition, the better to control it. The ancients were masters…

Flying circus Sir: Congratulations on 10 years of The Speccie Oz. As you note in your editorial, your contributors have…

Brexit won’t be over by 29 March 2019. Britain will legally leave the European Union on that date. But that…

I was delighted to see Claire Foy win an Emmy award for her portrayal of the Queen in the fine…

Things I learned about the Germans after a fortnight living as a non–tourist in Frankfurt:   1. Germans, and Germany…

‘I’m afraid I think he’s making it up,’ was the retort of Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin on Monday’s Today…

On the night of 13 June 1982, Dave Parr was hit by shellfire on Wireless Ridge. He was 19, a…

Laws and sausages, we know, are better not seen in the making; and neither are ‘black ops’. Waterloo may have…

Novels today do not want to be done. Thank Anthony Burgess and John Fowles for this, most immediately, but alternate…

Sir Stephen Sedley read English at Cambridge and Lord Dyson Classics at Oxford. Both switched to law and achieved high…

The last time I saw a copy of the New Musical Express — the ferociously influential 1970s pop paper which…

Poor old Henry II: once fêted as one of England’s greatest kings, he has long been neglected. Accessible books on…

Ever since enlivenment of the primordial blob, before thoughts were first verbalised, all nature has always been motivated by a…

Sing muse, begins The Iliad, of the wrath of Achilles. We are dropped straight into the tenth year of the…

Transcription, Kate Atkinson’s 11th novel, sees her returning to the detective fiction she honed in her series about Jackson Brodie,…

As an emigrant from Scotland, I was taken aback by the weird foreignness of the south of England. Some of…

Such was the perceived low standard of the 62 books recently submitted for the 2018 Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction,…

After the England football team beat Tunisia at this summer’s World Cup, they celebrated with a swimming-pool race on inflatable…

I think everyone was a little nervous of Harold. Including Harold, sometimes. He was affable, warm, generous, impulsive — and…

A pregnant silence, a peaty belch from the tuba, and the scrape of brass on brass as gears lock into…

Arinzé Kene’s play Misty is a collection of rap numbers and skits about a fare dodger, Lucas, from Hackney. Lucas…

Last year my wife and I were wandering around the backstreets of Salamanca when we were confronted by a minor…

No one any longer denies the immense significance of Wagner’s musical-dramatic achievement, even if they find it repellent. But his…

The first world war paintings of Paul Nash are so vivid and emotive that they have come to embody, as…

Faces Places is a documentary directed by Agnès Varda in collaboration with JR, the famous Parisian photographer and muralist (although,…

After the all-conquering success of Fleabag — her brilliant dark comedy about a smart but rudderless young woman in London…

Perception and reality, truth and falsehood, black and white; nowadays the salivating chattering classes don’t know their arse from a…

Moving day. The contents of a hillside shack to be moved four miles to a cave house perched high on…

The little lodger is moving in. I chose her after an exhaustive search of twentysomethings looking for accommodation, during which…

Around this time each September, I get to say, ‘I’m off to Tangier for a few days to play high-stakes…

The only official interregnum in the reigns of the world chess champions was that between the death of Alekhine in…

Black to play. This position is from Gurgenidze-Tal, Moscow 1957. What is the most direct way to break into the…

In Competition No. 3066 you were invited to submit an ode to a piece of sporting equipment. There is a…

The dozen unclued lights can be arranged in a specific sequence when preceded by or followed by their sequence indicators…

The unclued lights are DANCES. First prize K.J. Williams, Kings Worthy, Winchester. Runners-up Bridget Workman, Purley;C.S.G Elengorn, Enfield.

I’ve just finished making a one-hour documentary about character for Radio 4 that’s due to be broadcast on Saturday at…

Has the world gone mad? There’s Beauden Barrett, the world’s best stand-off, and rugby player of the year seemingly by…

Q. A neighbour, a wonderful old friend in his late eighties, is a marvellous raconteur. As a family we have…

Politicians are having a terrible time of late, along with the rest of us — it’s not much fun watching…

A detective superintendent has been placed on ‘restricted duties’ while the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigates a complaint that…