Public art
On his lockdown rambles, Christopher Howse finds beauty and solace in London’s street furniture
A podcast about the literary canon that actually deepens your knowledge (sort of)
While most of life’s pleasures can be shared, reading is lonely. It’s more than possible for six friends to enjoy…
High life
Gstaad The jokes about keeping a mistress are old and I’ve yet to hear a truly funny one (‘The difference…
Real Life
After driving around the hospital grounds in concentric circles until I was surely down a wormhole, I found the scanning…
Mum’s the word
The virus has broken Edinburgh. The shattered remnants of the festival are visible on the internet. Here’s what happened. The…
Parallel universe
There wasn’t going to be a Lucerne Festival this year. The annual month-long squillion-dollar international beano got cancelled, along with…
A bid battle for BT won’t bring better broadband
A takeover battle for BT would bring much-needed excitement to the City — as well as a major political row.…
Bridge
I have not played a single hand of bridge for about a month, neither have I kibitzed online. Ergo I…
The Spectator’s Notes
‘The British Museum stands in solidarity with the British Black community, with the African American community, with the Black community…
Diary
Staying in Britain for the summer has been, in many ways, entirely glorious. We have zigzagged from Shropshire through Derbyshire…
Steak at stake
Pandemic has brought many truths, the most minor of which is: I can’t cook steak. I thought I could. I…
How progressive misogyny works
It happens a lot lately. Not just in a Twitter DM or an email but in real life. Someone tells…
Solution to 2469: Breadth
The unclued lights were: 12 CORNI, anagram of Corin (As You Like It); 23 MANDIRA, Miranda (The Tempest); 27 LARDOON,…
US protestors are clearing the way for Trump
‘This city is not going to stop burning itself down until they [the protestors] know that this officer has been…
Learning the hard way
Many commentators have argued that the recent grading controversy indicates just how important public examinations are. Up to a point,…
In short
In Competition No. 3163 you were invited to submit well-known poems encapsulated in four lines. Now that the internet has…
The economy of tanks
That an abundance of tanks is no guarantee of a happy and secure nation was evident from the Soviet Union’s…
Waves of unrest
In 1798, Tipu Sultan of Mysore sent an embassy to Mauritius. At home, he had fought the British and seen…
Wild life
Kenya I stood under huge skies in the open country of our farm in northern Kenya and, after months of…
A passion for collecting
Every so often the past makes a pass at you. An old school report, a train ticket, a curl from…
Reticent
Anna Massey had no dramatic training before appearing on stage in 1955 aged 17 in The Reluctant Debutante by William…
