Solution to 2478: Namesakes
The lyrics of the perimetric I’M POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN and FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN were written by Sammy Lerner,…
‘We’re all members of the Stasi now’
The arts are everywhere under attack from those who claim offence, writes Nina Power. Irvine Welsh steps into the fray with a documentary on the new censorship
Calculated risks
Classes of people at moderate risk from Covid-19. Addenda to current NHS guidelines. Those at risk from coronavirus now include…
Secret understanding
John le Carré once wrote sadly that he felt ‘shifty’ about his contribution to the glamorisation of the spying business.…
Origins of the termini
I began this book waiting for a diesel train to Derby, under the windy, boxy, flat-roofed bit which one of…
Why I’m ducking the Rashford debate
Moments arrive when it becomes clear you’re losing the zeitgeist. Whatever might be the spirit of the era, you don’t…
Collapsing barricades
Geometry shmometry. The pirouette of a knight may be pleasing to the eye, but sometimes what I really crave is…
High life
New York Election fever is heating up and I hope the party I’m giving on the evening of 3 November…
Low life
Wearing shorts last week in a mid-October heatwave, having worn shorts continuously since March, Les Murray’s poem ‘The Dream of…
Real life
As I scoffed down a fabulous supper in a candlelit room full of ecstatic diners, it struck me that this…
A toast to Tim
I am in an Eliot mood, not a Keatsian one. ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ is a surprisingly… mellow…
Cyber
An advertisement from GCHQ provoked angry comment because it seemed to suggest that some ballet dancers would be better working…
Spit and no polish
Thank you, Spitting Image, for the nostalgia trip! Your new series on BritBox has rekindled with almost Proustian fidelity those…
The Spectator’s Notes
As time passes, there is — blessedly — ever less need to pay attention to ‘untold’ stories about Diana, Princess…
There’s nothing neutral about Wikipedia
A couple of weeks ago Newsweek ran an article attacking Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, for engaging in a…
Make America boring again
I just spent £2.50 in postage to bring about one of the last things I want. Specifically, the next-to-last thing…
Bridge
I know its only October, but I’ve already found the perfect Christmas present for bridge-lovers: Simon Cochemé’s new book, Bridge…
Barometer
The Moon under water Nasa scientists using spectrometers claim to have found good evidence of water on the surface of…
What’s the point of trying to break up ‘big tech’?
The ‘antitrust’ law suit launched by US authorities against Google has been reported as a potential turning point in the…
Sovereign value
The term ‘Carthaginian’ is often used of the EU’s attitude to post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK, i.e. as if…
Style over substance
In 2006 the director Christopher Nolan filmed an adaptation of one of my novels, written a decade and a half…
Diary
Even in this bizarre year of Covid (for everybody) and ‘cancellation’ (for me), the last week or two has stood…
Riveting twosome
This week, two electrifying performances in two excellent films rather than two mediocre performances in the one mediocre film —…
Portrait of the week
Home Wales, entering a 17-day ‘firebreak’, closed most shops by law but then tried to stop supermarkets selling ‘non-essential’ items…
