The Wentworth defeat has many fathers, not just Malcolm Turnbull
So it has come to pass. Wentworth has been lost by the Liberals with the biggest by-election swing against a…
Modern family: how Meghan and Harry helped firm up the monarchy
Whether it was intended so or not, the decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to choose Australia as…
Portrait of the week: Crisis talks and pizza in Andrea Leadsom’s office
Home Brexit was in crisis as the European Council (of heads of state or government) met. Theresa May, the Prime…
Ignore the global warming hysteria: hurricanes are not getting worse
When I land on the east coast of America, people tell me they’ve never met a Trump voter. When I…
Mazes; royal babies; carbon data; FTSE falls
Twists and turns Jeremy Hunt, taking a group of EU foreign ministers around the maze at Chevening House in Kent,…
The Romans liked a stylish death
World Mental Health day raised again the issue of suicide, still regarded as happening only among those ‘whose balance of…
Letters: the Irish and Brexit; the Archbishop’s witness; meat not wheat
Ireland’s day of reckoning Sir: John Waters is more right than he knows when he talks about the Irish attitude…
The civil service’s anti-Brexit bias
Can you think of a serious crime which does not involve hate or, at the very least, contempt? You must…
Melania Trump elegantly rises above the media muck
I am not sure that Melania Trump had the introduction of Henry IV Part 2 in mind when she sat…
Hell hath no fury like an irate teenage girl
Something troubling is happening to our girls. I noticed it again most recently at this year’s Battle of Ideas —…
Good news – now everyone can be a victim
We are terribly remiss in our coverage of women’s sport in The Spectator, so I thought I would try to…
Why I’m boycotting ‘Davos in the Desert’
The current stock-market correction has been steaming down the track since August and I claim no wisdom for having predicted…
Divide and rule: how the EU used Ireland to take control of Brexit
The story of Britain and Ireland’s relationship has, all too often, been one of mutual incomprehension: 1066 and All That…
Why French kids don’t get fat – and British ones do
A decade ago a book called French Women Don’t Get Fat took the Anglophone world by storm. It was a…
How Bellingcat outfoxes the world’s spy agencies
Bellingcat is an independent group of exceptionally gifted Leicester-based internet researchers who use information gleaned from open sources to dig…
Getting the sack was a shock but not a surprise
It was a shock but not really a surprise. I came back from holiday at the beginning of August to…
Are you a politically correct pervert?
It hasn’t always been easy being a progressive-minded man who prides himself on his sensitivity to issues of race, gender,…
Happy Birthday, Blue Peter
Every Monday and Thursday afternoon when I was growing up, a drum roll would sound throughout suburban Britain. ‘Damian? Blue…
Durban Notebook: a nation in paralysis
No one likes uncertainty and in Britain we’ve got more than our fair share. But spare a thought for South…
Notes on Davenports Magic Shop, an emporium for serious conjurors
It’s a very fitting place for a magic shop. Hidden away in the maze of pedestrian tunnels that lead from…
Whatever America is searching for, Trump isn’t providing it
Donald J. Trump has sparked some soul- searching among US historians: has this happened before? Does it mean America has…
150 years on, what makes Little Women such an enduring classic?
The great thing about Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women is that it has something for everyone: stay-at-home types have…
Manic creations: Lost Empress: A Protest, by Sergio De La Pava, reviewed
American mass-incarceration is the most overt object of the ‘protest’ of this novel’s subtitle. The author, Sergio De La Pava,…
Gatsby in Japan: Killing Commendatore, by Haruki Murakami, reviewed
Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore was published in Japan in February last year. Early press releases for this English version hailed…
Kidnapped by Kett: Tombland, by C.J. Sansom, reviewed
Tombland is not to be treated lightly. Its length hints at its ambitions. Here is a Tudor epic disguised as…
