Building block
We should learn to love our turn-of-the-millennium architecture, says Helen Barrett, starting with the Dome
Women-only train carriages help no one
Sooner or later, somewhere in the UK, we’ll have trains with women-only coaches. It’s an idea which keeps rolling around,…
Trudeau’s tyranny
Early in the corona era the historian David Starkey gave some thoughts on Covid. ‘We’ve got a Chinese virus,’ he…
Atwood adrift
Margaret Atwood is among the major writers of English fiction of our time. This is a very boring way to…
Pipeline politics: what happens if Putin cuts off Europe’s gas?
The price of Brent Crude oil was hovering at $100 a barrel as Germany halted approval of the controversial Nord…
The war in the shadows
When in 1941 Winston Churchill famously declared that the newly formed Special Operations Executive, set up to encourage resistance movements,…
Similar to
A strange crisis has befallen like. It had long been an object of obloquy and vilification in two functions. The…
Bridge
My friend Nick Sandqvist says that coaching the England juniors is a joy; so great when someone enthusiastic and creative…
All’s not well that ends not well
My most important new year’s resolution was cast aside this week. I had vowed that in 2022 I would eschew…
Playing hooky
One of the curiosities of modern pop’s landscape is that no one knows any longer how to measure success. An…
The Spectator’s Notes
We are always cautioned against comparing a modern political event with those that led up to the second world war.…
Stolen pleasures
The Duke is an old-fashioned British comedy caper that is plainly lovely and a joy. Based on a true story,…
The true cost of reining in Russia
No British soldiers will go to fight in Ukraine. The UK’s military involvement will be limited to weapons shipments and…
Poet’s notebook
Living, as Clive James put it, under a life sentence, and having refused chemotherapy, I find I respond to the…
Waters of forgetfulness
Julie Otsuka has good rhythm, sentences that move to a satisfying beat. Even as her tone shifts — from tender…
Truly magnificent
Suleiman I richly deserved his epithet, as this vivid account of his early years illustrates, says Jason Burke
Is hooliganism on the way back?
Forty-odd years ago a friend, a Liverpool supporter, somewhat unwisely took his girlfriend to Elland Road for a Leeds match…
To have and to hold
When you take in the richness of a Pina Bausch production — the redolent staging, the eloquent, eccentric twists of…
Letters
The Bull of Oman Sir: There was one significant omission in the cast of characters mentioned by Charles Moore in…
2544: Fives
Clues lead to 5-letter solutions. Each set of ten clues is presented in alphabetical order of the solutions. Correct positioning…
A victim of its own mythology
Langan’s, a brasserie off Piccadilly with curling orange neon signage calling its name, is under new management after it fell…
