Thomas Hampson
Sir Andrew Davis became Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and, happily, will continue until the end…
A rate rise in November? After years of dithering, don’t bet on it
It is more than three years since Bank of England governor Mark Carney was accused by Labour MP and Treasury…
The Spectator’s notes
Sir David Norgrove, the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), is an honourable man. When he publicly rebuked Boris…
Bridge
I’m writing this from Stuart Wheeler’s beautiful villa in Tangier, in the hills just above the bay, where for a…
Bronstein’s legacy
Last week I focused on the games and somewhat tragic career of the ingenious David Bronstein. Before his time the…
no. 475
White to play. This position is from Jobava-Nepomniachtchi, FIDE World Cup, Tbilisi 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers…
iAddicts
For many years The Spectator employed a television reviewer who did not own a colour television. Now they have decided…
No balls
Borg vs McEnroe is a dramatised account of one of the greatest tennis rivalries of all time — between Bjorn…
Mothers’ ruin
At the heart of Basic Instincts, the new exhibition at the Foundling Museum in London, is an extraordinarily powerful painting…
Seeing the light
‘You can’t lie… on radio,’ says Liza Tarbuck. The Radio 2 DJ was being interviewed for the network’s birthday portrait,…
Director’s cut
Much fuss has been made of the title given to Sir Simon Rattle on arrival at the London Symphony Orchestra.…
Speech therapy
Oslo opened in the spring of 2016 at a modest venue in New York. It moved to Broadway and this…
Ruck ‘n roll
As every Speccie reader certainly will be aware and no doubt heartily applaud, the game of rugby league was born…
2328: Second coming
6A and 42 (whose unchecked letters give IDEA) combine to suggest the title of a novel. Remaining unclued lights give…
to 2325: Hard task
The theme was PIGS. First prize J. E. Green, St Albans, HertfordshireRunners-up Michael Moran, Penrith, Cumbria; John M. Brown, Rolleston…
Poor old Ron and Pen, just trying to help
Here’s the problem. An Asian bloke gets on to the Tube holding a bulging Lidl bag with wires sticking out…
Small wonders
It has been a reasonably good week for peripatetic opera-loving female-underwear fetishists. In La bohème at Covent Garden Musetta slipped…
Portrait of the week
Home Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, issued a manifesto for a ‘glorious future’ for Britain outside the European Union as…
Brexit wars
The time for choosing is fast approaching for Theresa May. Soon she must make a decision that will define her…
A court’s contempt
The issue of sovereignty has mysteriously disappeared from the debate over Brexit. Some business-focused commentators even like to assert that…
Ukraine’s last best hope
Georgia’s former president may be a reckless narcissist, but he could change everything
Robbing new citizens of their Day
Last week the City of Moreland became the third Victorian council to cancel their Australia Day celebrations. The City of…
Let’s pick on the poor with a floor price for alcohol
The Western Australian government this week announced a proposal to apply a floor price to takeaway alcohol, another ingenious idea…
A practical guide to completing your SSM survey
The apparently simple act of placing a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ in a little black box and posting a form…
