Diary
Are you here to seek political asylum?’ asked a clever young student after my lecture at the National University of…
A free vote on the Heathrow runway? Don’t be so wet, Prime Minister
Hinkley Point — for all its flaws and the whiffs of suspicion around its Chinese investors — has finally received…
Super villains
Thirty years ago, Paul Keating did a great service by launching a cultural shift from retirement almost entirely dependent on…
The party’s over
This leadership contest was meant to topple Jeremy Corbyn, or at the very least weaken him. It looks almost certain…
Business/Robbery etc
It’s just the calm before the storm. Despite the apparent parliamentary resolution of the government’s superannuation fracas, the battle is…
Importing the gentleman
Beijing Gerard Manley Hopkins said that if the English had done nothing but ‘left the world the notion of a…
Dear Mary
Q. How can I tactfully request that well-meaning old friends stop toasting my (new) husband’s hospitality? It seems ungrateful but,…
Bombs astray
Soon, soon, you will see a wondrous sight,’ says the Isis anthem, ‘for your destruction, my sword has been sharpened.…
The missing lynx?
Sometimes an idea is so barmy that worrying about it ever becoming reality seems pointless. So when the Labour MP…
Victory of the swashbucklers
On 14 June, a short email popped up in the inboxes of all Financial Times editorial staff. It came from…
Five Go Back to Blyton
Six years ago, the publishers Hachette took the well-meaning yet preposterous step of making ‘sensitive text revisions’ to Enid Blyton’s…
The Victoria and Albert
Thomas Hardy, while still married to his first wife Emma, but arranging assignations in London with Florence, his second-wife-to-be, used…
The King of Clubs
Unless you are a monk in Mount Athos, or a Tibetan holy man, El Morocco rings a bell as one…
The quiet patriot
History teaches no lessons but we insist on trying to learn from it. There is no political party more sentimental…
Thinking of Israel
‘Here is a story from the winter days of the end of 1959 and the beginning of 1960,’ announces the…
The Spectator’s Notes
When I read that Martin Roth, the director of the V&A, was resigning from his job because of Brexit, I…
The Crusades live
The 12th-century crusader Reynald de Chatillon was one of the most controversial men of his time, and his new biographer…
The stupidest target in British transport
Two books to recommend to my fellow transportation nerds: Travel Fast or Smart? A Manifesto for an Intelligent Transport Policy…
When less is more
It’s 2008 in Manhattan, and there’s still a brief window for the Goldman bankers to swill their ’82 Petrus before…
Immigration notes
This one’s a stitch: according to a recent Essential poll, 49 per cent of Australians believe Muslim immigration should be…
Who you think you are
The Good Immigrant, a collection of essays about black and ethnic minority experience and identity in Britain today, is inconsistent,…
Boom time
The government claims it had a good week last week, increasing taxes on savings, raising effective marginal tax rates on…
What makes Turkey tick
I remember an American author once saying she wrote about love and friendship because, after all, these were the fundamental…
War games
For a long time the Australian military has been very wary about public discussions, so this first book is a…
My mother, my self
To tell this story of his search for a mother lost to mystery in early infancy, its author uses the…
