Political noir
In Competition No. 3088 you were invited to submit a short story in the style of hard-boiled crime fiction set…
2398: All steamed up
The unclued lights (five of two words, two pairs and a singleton) are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. …
2395: Concise Crossword
The seven concise clues lead to: heALth centre (3,31), HEARTbreak (9), midrIFf (26), last of alL (40), out of afRIca…
Gone are the days when the middle class could afford to go skiing
It won’t be news to readers of The Spectator that one of the long-term effects of globalisation is the hollowing…
Meet Chris Gayle, the coolest man in sport
It can’t be a coincidence that two of the coolest sportsmen on the planet are from the same place, Jamaica.…
Dear Mary: what should we do about a possible thief in our school dormitory?
Q. I run a very small mail-order company from home. Recently I received an exceptionally rude email from a disgruntled…
Pale pomp and £100 Beijing duck: Imperial Treasure reviewed
Imperial Treasure is a restaurant in the part of St James’s where Leopold von Hoesch, the German ambassador to George…
‘One fell swoop’ has become a cliche, but where does it come from?
The Sun, reviewing a new laptop from Huawei, mentioned a combined fingerprint sensor and on-switch that lets users ‘power up and…
Education and the modern declaration
The 2008 Melbourne Declaration, endorsed by state, territory and commonwealth education ministers, is the strategic ‘road map’ that has directed…
Kathryn Stott – Artistic Director
Townsville is bouncing back; it is also tuning up for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Battered by the recent…
Brown study
A few weeks ago we drew attention to some significant reforms to the electoral law in the Democratic Republic of…
Lies, groceries and feminist statistics
Successful politics is impossible without lies. Politicians know being truthful doesn’t work. Voters, for all their claims about wanting honest…
Prosecuting Pell
The important question is not simply whether the verdict in this case is sound but whether a responsible Public Prosecutor…
Catholic notes
My personal thoughts on Cardinal Pell’s conviction From what I can tell, this is the crime for which George Cardinal…
Private Pyne deserts
In 2016, the Turnbull government committed Australia to a $50 billion deal with the French to buy a dozen conventional…
Bad riddance
When the Left talks derisively about ‘climate deniers’, they probably imagine someone very different from Dr Peter Ridd. Bearded, bespectacled…
Abbott – the next Liberal leader?
It might be a little unfair to describe the announced departures of very senior Liberals Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne…
PM in the Last Chance Saloon
Australia, we’re told, will soon be under a government of thieves and constitutional vandals, pledged to change laws from the…
Simon Collins
If there is anything which can be relied upon to bring a nation together better than the achievements of its…
An instrument of unconditional surrender
In a previous article in these pages (Battle of Britain, Mk II, 1 Dec 2018) I argued that the European…
Australian letters
Sidelined Sir: I strenuously object to David Flint’s assertion (“Footballers have rights too”, March 2) that Australia’s National Rugby League…
ABC Barbie
Congratulations to Ita Buttrose for being designated the next ABC chair, where the former Murdoch and Packer editor will no…
To win, the Democrats need to be more like Trump
Here is the tragedy of the Democratic party in 2019: its partisans are left to hope that personal hatred of…
Why the Democrats have gone off Israel
Not so long ago in America, immediately after a Democratic politician announced a run for president, he or she would…
