Real life
Goodbye then, Bal-ham. You were my gateway to the south. I loved you for so many more reasons than that,…
This snap election’s real victims? Bankers’ wives
The people I feel most sorry for in the wake of Theresa May’s shock announcement are not moderate Labour MPs,…
Fund a fisherman or finance a film
Crowdfunding is a promising idea, and has created useful products. The Canary home-security system I wrote about recently was funded…
Cicero, the lagomaniac
A year ago, the Danes reached into their groaning cracker barrel and pulled out ‘hygge’ as their own solution to…
Barometer
Back to the Foot year This year’s election has been likened to that of 1983 when, under Michael Foot’s leadership,…
Diary
We are all drama queens, really, we political hacks; and so we were all thoroughly delighted by Theresa May’s Tuesday…
Let them eat hay
From ‘What ails the House of Commons?’, 21 April 1917: Theoretically no horses kept for pleasure or sport ought to…
May’s manifesto
Never has the Conservative party entered a general election campaign feeling more confident about victory. Much of that confidence is…
Letters
Benedictine engagement Sir: Matthew Parris has missed the point (‘Give me the Anglican option’, 15 April). He compares Rod Dreher’s…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, having repeatedly said that there would be no election until 2020, surprised the nation…
Brown study
As readers know, I have been engaged for the last year on a search for the ideal job. Having spent…
John Olsen, Sydney Sun (or King Sun) 1965
His work has been there for all our adult lives; John Olsen’s artistic vision has become part of our visual…
Housing ‘affordability’
With less than three weeks to go until Treasurer Scott Morrison hands down his 2017 Budget, the signs that he…
Spectator Australia wine club – April
I’d never realized William Wordsworth was a terroirist. A meso-climate man. A bloke keen on the weather and the soil…
What can May say to the Tory Remainers?
I don’t see it. I do not see the anatomy of how it all pans out. Theresa May will be…
Is Trump’s revolution already over?
There were three reasons why I so badly wanted Donald Trump to win the US presidential election. One was that…
Disaster versus chaos for France’s economy? My village neighbours don’t seem bothered
The lovely Dordogne village of St Pompon that is my holiday hide-away has only 350 voters, but is a perfect…
What I expect from this pointless election
A general election is called and in a matter of hours a neutral and unbiased BBC presenter has likened our…
The Spectator’s notes
The fact that nothing leaked about Mrs May’s snap election tells you much of what you need to know about…
Bridge
Not many people can say they’ve partnered David Gold and been the better player — but I’m one of them.…
BCM
The British Chess Magazine is the oldest continuously published chess magazine in the world. Recently it has been boosted by…
no. 453
White to play. This position is from Costachi-Toma, Calimanesti 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers to me at…
Acting up
Gemma Arterton’s new film, Their Finest, is about second world war propaganda. Her character, who is bookish and sensitive, is…
All dressed up, nowhere to go
Rules Don’t Apply is Warren Beatty’s first film appearance in 15 years and his first as writer, director, producer and…
Constable on sea
John Constable was, as we say these days, conflicted about Brighton. On the one hand, as he wrote in a…
