The Spectator’s Notes
In May 2020, in the wake of the Barnard Castle story, Emily Maitlis delivered her famous Newsnight address to the…
Meat of the matter
Are you ready for ‘Operation Red Meat’? If not, then you should brace yourself. For it looks set to be…
Looking back in anger
What Keir Starmer should have said, but didn’t, was that he had indeed drunk some beer in a frowsy Labour…
The good side of guilt
I do not know anyone in the Sackler family. I wouldn’t even have heard of them were it not for…
Someone should tell Biden it’s not 1965
We can’t blame American progressives for yearning to relive the civil rights movement. Those were heady days. Opposition to segregation…
Lardy cake
Lardy cake has a branding problem. We don’t mind puddings or cakes which explicitly announce their richness or decadence —…
Chorus of approval
Nabucco, said Giuseppe Verdi, ‘was born under a lucky star’. It was both his last throw of the dice and…
Mike Yarwood moment
Any artist who has habitually written or performed in character — from David Bowie to Lady Gaga — eventually arrives…
High life
Gstaad According to a little bird, Boris has gone from brilliant to bawd, and according to me this village has…
2539: Wider
Six unclued lights (all real words) are the names of 35/26 minus one letter. The missing letters match those that…
The turf
There is nothing like visiting a stud early in the foaling season. As amiable mums-to-be saunter up to the paddock…
The secret seven
Madeleine Slade, born in 1892, was a typical upper-class Victorian daughter of empire: a childhood riding around her grand-father’s estate…
Playwright’s notebook
I’ve been keeping a journal for nearly 60 years. There are piles of the damn things in archives and covered…
Into the woods
The extent of Walt Disney’s grasp of the natural world remains unclear. After the Austrian author Felix Salten sold the…
Real life
‘Can I ask you why you don’t want a smart phone?’ said the chirpy manager, as I stood blinking in…
Neither free nor easy
The rules of sex can kill. In 1844 an angry mob shot Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, for his…
Low life
Sharon told me once that the best sex she’d ever had was with Tom in the town public conveniences, bathed…
Scorn at Unilever’s GSK bid highlights the perils of ‘purpose’
‘Tell me we’re winning the media battle!’ I imagine Unilever boss Alan Jope barking at his team on Tuesday, following…
Dog’s breakfast
It has taken me a while to watch Yellowjacketsbecause I found the premise so offputting: in 1996 a plane carrying…
