Fluid factism grips the world
For holiday reading I have dived into non-fiction books filled with facts and hard evidence (cod, salt, volcanoes, earthquakes), to…
BBC’s A Christmas Carol was the victim of tub-thumping lefty politics
‘Spoke to someone at The BBC yesterday, this person told me they are SH–TING themselves right now, as viewing figures…
Am I in the mainstream now?
The moment of Boris’s victory makes me stop and look back. In the referendum of 1975 — my first vote…
Gay giraffes and dead in ditches: The Spectator 2019 quiz
They said it In 2019, who said: 1. ‘You have stolen my dreams and my childhood.’ 2. ‘I didn’t sweat…
What’s your worst Christmas song?
Just to sour the festive mood a little, I thought I’d ask what are your least favourite Christmas songs and…
Diane Abbott to Donald Trump: Christmas messages from the great and the good
Diane Abbott I spent the entire day searching for those familiar traditional Christmas delicacies which all kids adore – but…
10 reasons why Santa Claus is a Communist
Bah-humbug! Sorry people to snow on your parade (or should it be “sorry, snowflakes to rain on your parade”) but…
The best Christmas gift you can give yourself is to learn some poetry by heart
Every Christmas I find I am living in the past. I blame my father. He was born in 1910 —…
How Christians feel at Christmas
Imagine being in love with someone who ignores you eleven months of the year, then suddenly seems really into you.…
Scott Morrison is right – Australia’s bushfires aren’t down to climate change
I have long since learned, not least from my interview with Al Gore published here in 2017 that the surest way…
France, not Britain, is the real angry and divided nation
Remember when Boris Johnson met Emmanuel Macron for the first time as Prime Minister? It was in August and, as…
The ‘impeachment’ of Donald Trump
Did we just witness an historic event, the impeachment of only the third president in the entire history of the…
Lessons from the Johnson impeachment
The first time Congress impeached a president was in 1868. The president was Andrew Johnson, a man almost as surprising…
This election made me fall in love with democracy again
It’s an unfashionable thought, but having spent many hours in the university sports hall where constituency votes for Boris Johnson…
Stuff the diversity warriors and say it loud, say it proud: Merry Christmas!
An outfit called the Diversity Council claims to be the place to go for advice on diversity and inclusion in…
Corbyn’s cult have learnt nothing from the left’s last election wipeout
I initially misread the reaction of Labour’s leading Corbynites and social media outriders to the party’s most cataclysmic defeat since…
Social media needn’t be a cesspit
The early promise of the internet – to bring us closer together, better inform us, and spread liberty around the…
ScoMo might have pulled off an election miracle, but he’s not a weather god
Scott Morrison has cut short his Hawaiian holiday to inhale some Sydney air, which is pretty much the only thing…
Joe Kennedy and the perils of media hubris
‘Dear Ellie and James,’ said Rep. Joe Kennedy in his remarks to the House of Representatives as he voted to…
The impeachment process we deserve
Like a bona fide member of Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has opted to seize defeat from the jaws of victory.…
How the Tories plan to hold together their new electoral coalition once ‘Brexit is done’ and Corbyn gone
The thumping majority by which both the second reading and the programme motion for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill passed yesterday,…
What a relief Jeremy Corbyn never became PM
It is worth fixing for posterity the feelings which, on polling day, swirled in the breasts of many who wanted…
The Tory war over Europe is finally over
Happy Christmas (War Is Over). John Lennon probably didn’t have the decades long Conservative dispute over Europe in mind when…
Twelve things we’ve learned from the 2019 election
Britain’s parliamentary democracy is easily mocked: the medievalisms, the men in tights, the ayes to the right. But it has…
Portrait of the year: From May to a December election
January ‘If parliament backs a deal, Britain can turn a corner,’ Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said. The Commons defeated…
