Dear Mary
Q. How can I avoid becoming seen as an ‘Instagram creeper’? My well-meaning niece tells me that I’m in danger…
Having your cake
For those in the know, Jimmy Webb is one of the great pop songwriters of the 1960s and 70s, up…
Trials and Trinitarians
John Calvin believed that human nature was a ‘permanent factory of idols’; the mind conceived them, and the hand gave…
Apostle of gloom
Few people turn to Henning Mankell’s work in search of a good laugh. He’s best known as the author of…
Ratings war
Planning for the ‘war of the future’ is something generals and politicians have been doing for the past 150 years.…
Going places
Stations, according to Simon Jenkins, are the forgotten part of the railway experience. People love the trains, the journey, the…
Portraits of Pakistan
By his own admission, Isambard Wilkinson’s memoir of his experiences in Pakistan a decade ago as a foreign correspondent has…
Brotherly love
Jane Harris’s novels often focus on the disenfranchised: a maid in The Observations, a woman reduced by spinsterhood in the…
Alice’s restaurant
Though Alice Waters is not a household name here, that is precisely what she is in America — the best-known…
Of his time
Great novelists come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing they all share is a status of half-belonging. If…
High life
I think this week marks my 40th anniversary as a Spectator columnist, but I’m not 100 per cent certain. All…
Low life
As is traditional in this village, the Chapel congregation had walked the 100 yards up the hill to unite with…
Boo
In 1872, the 27-stone figure of the Tichborne Claimant was insisting he was Sir Roger Tichborne Bt, an heir thought…
Real Life
Assuming someone had moved house before, and put a new boiler in their new house, while remaining a customer of…
All power to the NFL knee protest
The history of sport and political protest in this country would be a slim old volume. It would feature quite…
Don’t let these figures depress you, girls
Are British teenagers suffering from an epidemic of mental illness? Yes, according to a ‘government-funded study’ which found that 24…
The turf
Racing is an expensive sport to stage. Courses and grandstands have to be maintained, health and safety regulations have to…
Diary
I don’t know why party conferences no longer take place in Scarborough. As a child, I saw many an important…
Terracotta bust of Edmund Barton by Nelson Illingworth (c.1901)
Although they are not especially grand, these houses are arguably the most significant in the country. The four official residences…
Identarian notes
It is hard if not impossible to express my sympathy for Neil Brown adequately having taken full note of his…
Assassins notes
Hashish, jihadists and the rule of fear There is a fifth column in our midst. People who have infiltrated our…
Uber was the ugly snowplough that cleared the path but its dominance is bound to fade
An Uber insider tells me not to write off the ride-hailing giant too soon, because it’s a very smart company…
At last! The subversion of Brexit has begun
The Brexit crowd are right to smell a rat. In any great national debate a columnist may feel tempted to…
Bridge
The youngest player on the great Allfrey team, Mike Bell, is forming a very strong partnership with David Gold. They…
