“An excuse to celebrate maleness”
Some have already called it a strong contender for the most stupid tweet of the year: That’s quite a call…
Won’t somebody please think of the children!
Most of us have memories of walking to school. It was a small step towards independence on the long journey…
What makes a state?
The New York Post’s recent write-up on the budget allocations of the Palestinian Authority makes for disturbing if not wholly…
Why the Andrews euthanasia bill is all about suicide
It’s difficult to talk about suicide. There won’t be a person reading this who hasn’t been touched by a suicide…
Wage inequality: us vs the bureaucrats
Note to Labour: One reason why the income gap widens in times of slow economic growth, I suggest, is surely…
Why January 26 matters
Symbolism and imagery are important for a nation. They are important as focal points where our history vividly comes to…
Would another Arab state be any different?
In the latest act of rank hypocrisy from Labor, this weekend the NSW and Queensland branches of the Labor Party…
The future of learning and the independent scholar
When the British historian, Christopher Dawson, received the Christian Culture Award in 1951 from a Canadian university, he called his…
Playing chicken
Besides being important in themselves, the trade talks between Britain and the United States which began this week are symbolic…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, invited the media to take a photograph of her beginning a holiday with her…
Diary
As pictures go, it could be career death. An amazing young talent caught in a compromising position with two older…
Barometer
But me no butts Boris Johnson, being taught a Maori head-to-head greeting, joked that it might be ‘misinterpreted in a…
Health and personal choice
Public health specialist Sir Michael Marmot has blamed ‘the cuts’ for the rise in dementia among the elderly, resulting in…
The dark clouds threatening Brexit
It’s summertime and the living is easy… unless you’re a civil servant working on Brexit. Whitehall has recognised that the…
If Brexit is dying, what about democracy?
Never meet your enemies — you might like them, and that ruins stuff. I had dinner with the former Archbishop…
The Spectator’s Notes
The pre-commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales is already in full swing. She…
Bridge
This is a great time to be a bridge professional — not just for the world’s top players, who have…
British championship
This year’s British Championship starts on Saturday and is endowed with an outstanding prize fund supplied by Capital Developments Waterloo…
no. 467
White to play. This position is from McShane-Istratescu, London 2013. How did White conclude his kingside attack with a fine…
Goodwood
The South Downs cover 260 sq miles from Hampshire’s Itchen Valley to Eastbourne in East Sussex. Nestled near the southernmost…
Show up and show off
The Edinburgh Festival was founded as a response to war. The inaugural event, held in 1947, was the brainchild of…
Maximum wattage
On his deathbed in 1904, George Frederic Watts saw a extraordinary spectacle. He witnessed the universe coming into being: the…
Balkan brass
When brass instruments with button-operated valves were introduced in the second half of the 19th century, music-making changed. Once requiring…
What stopped Stoppard?
Two programmes this week presented two radically different world views, or rather ways of life. Aditya Chakrabortty’s series for Radio…
1967 and all that
As you may have spotted, the BBC is marking the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of male homosexuality with an…
