Victoria’s secret: none of it’s true
Did you know that Queen Victoria might never have married Prince Albert had it not been for an amazing stroke…
Australian notes
Creativity versus identity News flash: At least two young, female, ‘non-white’ aspiring writers did not like Lionel Shriver’s opening address…
Super Norma
The Royal Opera has opened the season with a triumph, and in one of the most difficult of operas, Bellini’s…
Let the good times roll
For a regular dancegoer in New York City, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater seasons arrive with the comforting predictability…
Syrian notes
Raise a glass to Tony On September 10th, 2015, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced his decision to end RAAF airstrikes…
Sense of humour failure
Coleridge deemed the narrative structure of The Alchemist perfect. But, I wonder. A landowner quits plague-ridden London and his cunning…
Aux bien pensants
Treachery at the heart of our politics Australians have been told over and over that Senator Dastyari has broken no…
A Bridge too far?
Bridget Jones’s Baby is the third outing for our heroine as played by Renée Zellweger, whose cosmetic work to face…
Paul Dyer & ABO section leaders
Announcements of 2017 seasons are coming thick and fast. The Sydney Theatre Company, having lost an artistic director on the…
Cover 17 September 2016 AU
The post Cover 17 September 2016 AU appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and…
Va-t’en, Satan
What do you say to someone who is killing you? It is seldom possible to decide in advance. We are…
Stephen Conroy: the last of the Mohicans
Writing the first draft of history, as journalists and columnists are conceited enough to imagine that we do, is a…
Journos for censorship: the curious, confused Age
About the same time as I was finalising the leading article for last week’s Spectator Australia, a boffin at the Age was doing a…
Bans on political donations threaten our democracy
Imagine for a moment that you’re the managing director of a mining company. You have a project that has met…
Cover 17 September 2016
The post Cover 17 September 2016 appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment…
Chinese puzzle
As I write, the final results of the Baku Olympiad are still not in. England are fighting for a possible…
no. 426
White to play. This position is a variation from Li Chao-Short, Baku Olympiad 2016. White has various ways to win…
Selfie
In Competition No. 2965, an enormously popular one, you were invited to write a poem about a verse form, written…
Not much to smile about
CBeebies Land is a small dystopia inside Alton Towers, a theme park where people sometimes get their legs chopped off…
Defending Dave’s legacy
It is too early to tell what sort of Prime Minister Theresa May will turn out to be, but we…
High life
I’m jittery and fragile but free of plaster and in the dojo, slowly turning lean and muscular. Never listen to…
Long life
It’s been a very patriotic weekend, ablaze with Union flags. In London there was the Last Night of the Proms…
