Diary
Also in her diary: Doctor difficulties, Liverpool’s grands projets, Kenneth Baker’s brainchild, further adventures with bats
Barometer
Also in our Barometer column: children in care, football managers and mountain-climbing vegans
Plutarch and the EU
Plutarch’s advice to Greek rulers suggests he would understand today’s politics to a T
This referendum has shown us the real Cameron
Freed from normal election constraints, senior politicians are revealing what truly motives them
The Spectator’s notes
Also in The Spectator’s Notes: The EEA, the memoirs of Algy Cluff, and whatever happened to Tory modernisation?
Voters have no time for the flaccid centre
Norbert Hofer, Alexander Van der Bellen, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are all part of the same phenomenon
If I were in charge of Leave, here’s what I’d say…
Unless the Brexit campaign can capture something of the St Crispin’s Day spirit, it has no chance
Warning: top-performing funds are highly likely to contain tobacco
Also in Any Other Business: the return of the Greek crisis; the mystery of Noreena Hertz
Brexit, and the return of political lying
In their EU campaign, the Chancellor and Prime Minister have put dirty tricks back at the heart of government
Junk Bond
After six decades, and several writers better than Ian Fleming, this character is simply worn out
Hollande’s hollow crown
The French president is looking more hopeless than ever. But he has good reason to be plotting a run for re-election
Dating stinks
For the increasing number of single women in their thirties, any dating idea can seem worth trying, no matter how bizarre
The power trap
Having influence in a powerful European Union means giving it much more power over us
Northern overexposure
Mancunians used to laugh at the chippy folk in Liverpool. Now they match them for self-congratulation
Principles of heredity
We need a readable, authoritative popular guide to the latest developments in genetics. This, sadly, isn't it
The elegiac and the exuberant
The master of precision and the ebullient fabulist — though very different writers — are highly recommended reading
Great halls, last balls
Adrian Tinniswood vividly captures the last days of gracious living in his jaunty history,The Long Weekend
Why Juan Villoro is the best football writer you’ve never heard of
Juan Villoro, Mexico’s foremost man of letters, captures the beautiful game to perfection
There’s no escape
There’s no escape for Patricia Highsmith even in rural Suffolk, in Jill Dawson’s fictionalised vignette of the troubled novelist
The great monkey puzzle
Chris Herzfeld’s account of the orangutan Wattana, in need of constant mental stimulation, suggests that primates are really just like us
Lost in a time capsule
Charlotte Hobson’s promising debut novel explores the Russian avant-garde scene through the eyes of an English governess on the eve of the first world war
One club, no hearts
In a highly distinctive memoir, Betsy Lerner affectionately skewers her mother’s bridge-playing friends — with their impeccable reserve and luncheons of silvery fish
