J.K. Rowling’s schizophrenic politics
On the face of it, there is nothing complicated about the politics of Harry Potter, who made his first appearance…
Wild life
Laikipia, Kenya During our evening walk on the farm, Claire kept looking around nervously instead of engaging in conversation.…
Why driverless showers are key to the housing crisis
Although it is commonly assumed that faster-than-sound passenger travel died with Concorde, this isn’t quite true: it overlooks the Caledonian…
Stronger together
There is unlikely to be much of a legacy from Theresa May’s premiership, which could yet be truncated a short…
Letters
The Tory quagmire Sir: While the media has been preoccupied in divining what went wrong with the Conservatives’ appalling election…
Australian notes
LINO takeover Did that curious phone call really mean I was to be dragged before some Liberal inquisition to suffer…
Tom Roberts The sculptor’s studio 1884-85
We may have seen them before, but the prospect of the Australian Impressionism show is very alluring; it has now…
Terrorism notes
A strange game The organisers of terrorist attacks in various European cities over recent times seem to seriously misunderstand the…
Marriage of connivance
‘Loose lips sink ships’ was the famous Second World War phrase which accurately warned of the dangers of allowing careless…
The next financial crisis is coming ‘with a vengeance’, says the expert. But when?
There’s a passage in Philip Larkin’s All What Jazz, the collection of his writings as the Daily Telegraph’s jazz critic,…
Did Glastonbury love Corbyn as much as it loved pirates in 2007?
I saw him — the loneliest man at Glastonbury. He was wearing a neon-green Hawaiian shirt, and he was next…
The Bank of England is enslaved by groupthink
I do find it odd that I’m so often having to write about the science of global warming, species extinction…
Why May must stay
Sometimes crises end simply because all of the participants are exhausted. Essentially, this is what has happened with the post-election…
The Spectator’s Notes
At Guildhall on Tuesday, the Centre for Policy Studies held its Margaret Thatcher Conference on Security. Its title is an…
Bridge
I’ve just returned from two weeks playing in the European Open Championships in Montecatini in Italy, and I’m so whacked…
Sporting life
Can chess and bridge be considered sports? According to a European Court of Justice judgment earlier this month, bridge is…
no. 463
White to play. This position is from Caruana–Carlsen, Paris 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers to me at…
Portrait of the week
Home In preparation for the vote on the Queen’s Speech, the Government, after weeks of negotiations, bought the support of…
Diary
Also in Sam Leith’s Diary: the best 18th-century novel since the 18th century and gossiping with David Miller
The answer isn’t Liberal
Let’s pretend for just a moment that Tony Abbott is the right-wing hardliner everyone says he is. Let’s pretend he’s not as…
Christopher, admission to the winner’s circle has a price
There is no family Christmas, no school reunion more dysfunctional than the Liberal Party’s annual Federal Council. Every June, MPs, their staffers…
Gillard: “Six men a day taking their own lives.” Now ask yourself why…
The Guardian Australia has published an extract from Julia Gillard’s John Curtin prime ministerial library’s anniversary lecture. Stay with me… She…
Libertarianism is the new heavy metal
If you are one of those people who raised an eyebrow about my election to the Western Australian Legislative Council,…
Diary
To Fortnum & Mason last week on the hottest evening of the year to present the Desmond Elliott Prize for…
Bernardi fails national economic test
Senator Cory Bernardi, as the leader of Australian Conservatives, has failed his first critical national economic test. A fortnight ago, Bernardi issued his weekly ‘common sense’…
