Real life
Bonjour mes amis! Cydney spaniel ici, en France! Well, the Eurotunnel was very nice, although the dog departure lounge could…
Diary
I first met a boyish, sunny Tony Blair more than 20 years ago. Our encounters have always been slightly tense…
Cuban diary
‘Vas bien Fidel’ (going well Fidel) are the words emblazoned across a government building facing the Revolution Square in Havana.…
Barometer
Nuggets on May Some trivia about Theresa May — At 59, she is the oldest new prime minister since Jim…
Notes on the type
Back in 1997 the New Yorker published a piece lampooning the proliferation of ‘Notes on the Type’ — those oleaginous…
Themistocles vs Tony Blair
Tony Blair has excused himself for the Iraq war by saying that he did what he believed was right. But…
Never again
From ‘Terms of peace’, The Spectator, 15 July 1916: As the man in the street might say, ‘The Allies are not…
Dear Mary
Q. My wife and I are enthusiastic dancers so when we heard that people we know through mutual friends were…
The Spectator’s Notes
On Tuesday night in London, I spoke to Women2Win, a Conservative organisation dedicated to recruiting more women candidates. My title,…
Australian letters
True measure Sir: I prefer Peter Costello’s view of conservatism to that of Michael Davis (Conservative Notes 18 June), that…
At least Corbyn knows what he stands for
My favourite comment about Angela Eagle came from some unnamed spiteful Corbynista MP who, with reference to her twin sister…
High life
The Spectator readers’ party was as always a swell affair, with long-time subscribers politely mingling with ne’er-do-wells like myself, the…
What’s to blame for a generation’s desperation?
Youth is wasted on the young, for the most part, and thank God for that. There’s nothing grislier than a…
Wild life
Gilgil, Kenya At our Gilgil hut in the Rift Valley I’ve had a new flower garden planted to welcome…
Brexit won the battle. But now we’ve lost the war
When Jonathan Swift wanted to mock the immeasurable superficiality of British politics, he imagined it as a contest between the…
Frightfest
In Competition No. 2956 you were invited to provide extracts from the unappealing-sounding programme of a festival that is making…
The new PM is right to want boardroom reform, but how can she make it happen?
I spent Sunday at the Sage Gateshead watching an epic performance of Götterdämmerung (I declare an interest, as a trustee…
The Battle for Britain
The post The Battle for Britain appeared first on The Spectator. Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment…
‘She doesn’t do likes’
As Tory MPs gathered at St Stephen’s entrance in Parliament to await their new leader on Monday afternoon, a choir…
Gig economy
In the same song where the brilliant lyricist Ian Dury gave the world the couplet, ‘I could be a writer…
She’s another Chamberlain
One name leapt off the text of Theresa May’s Birmingham speech, which began as the launch of her leadership campaign…
Ironic triumph of hate speech
Recent events here and abroad have amply demonstrated that the Western libertarian idea of individual free speech is a many…
May’s man of influence
Civil servants in the Home Office, even the senior ones, always felt a little nervous when walking towards Theresa May’s…
Dear Noreen
Longtime Speccie reader Noreen from Queensland is not one for camouflaging her true feelings. ‘So much for balanced opinion! Your…
Cops and killers
Washington, DC Considering how heavily its citizens are armed with pistols, hunting rifles, shotguns, military semi-automatics, crossbows and nunchucks, considering…
