Low life
A new footpath from the village down to the beach opened earlier this year to a great fanfare. It was…
Taxi
Old Quentin Letts was on the wireless the other day asking ‘What’s the point of the London black cab?’ Between…
Real life
‘Oh no, I can’t bear it,’ said the builder boyfriend when I told him I wanted to look at one…
Club cricketers: Zimbabwe needs you
Make sure you tell everybody about Zimbabwe,’ said the lady at our block of flats in suburban Harare as we…
France began breeding jihadis in 1989
E .D. Hirsch Jr., the American educationalist and author of Cultural Literacy, has a new book out that may throw…
France began breeding jihadis in 1989
E .D. Hirsch Jr., the American educationalist and author of Cultural Literacy, has a new book out that may throw…
Old-fashioned values
Bookmaking’s image has changed. Alongside the arrival of the betting exchanges, the evolution of the big names like Hills, Coral,…
Old-fashioned values
Bookmaking’s image has changed. Alongside the arrival of the betting exchanges, the evolution of the big names like Hills, Coral,…
Barometer
Behind the cover-up Some facts about Burkinis: — The Burkini was invented by Ahedi Zanetti, a Lebanese-born Australian businesswoman, in…
Diary
European unions come and go. Back in 1794, one of the more improbable ones was founded when Corsica joined Britain…
Churchill’s privilege
From ‘Mr Churchill’s misfire’, The Spectator, 2 September 1916: There is nothing that democracy so much hates as unfair privilege, and Mr Churchill…
Australian letters
Gender fluid Sir: I wonder if the authors of ‘Dr.James Barry’ got their inspiration from the 1999 publication by Isabel…
Letters
Against Boris Sir: In discussing my attitude to Boris (‘The Boris-bashers should be ashamed’, 27 August), Mary Wakefield is too kind —…
Portrait of the week
Home Britain rejected a call by Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France who hopes to return to power next…
Wet dream
Utopia dons some unlikely guises, crops up in some odd places. On the sea wall a couple in their teens…
The Allen way
Woody Allen has made a film nearly every year in the four decades since the release of the award-winning Annie…
All the way to Memphis
The bad news for old rock’n’rollers is that there’s not much time left to stay at Heartbreak Hotel — these…
All the way to Memphis
The bad news for old rock’n’rollers is that there’s not much time left to stay at Heartbreak Hotel — these…
First aid
In the 1980s, supermarkets stocked a fruit juice named ‘Um Bongo’ with the strapline ‘They drink it in the Congo!’.…
First aid
In the 1980s, supermarkets stocked a fruit juice named ‘Um Bongo’ with the strapline ‘They drink it in the Congo!’.…
My idea of fun
We don’t really do operetta in Britain these days — and at this stage in the game, I don’t really…
My idea of fun
We don’t really do operetta in Britain these days — and at this stage in the game, I don’t really…
Northern brag
The last thing we need right now, in these divisive times, is a series that spends all its time crowing…
Northern brag
The last thing we need right now, in these divisive times, is a series that spends all its time crowing…
Aussie exceptionalism
It would have once been uncontroversial to suggest nations have characteristics that not only distinguish them from other countries, but…
