Why Joan Bakewell must be right about anorexia
You can always tell when a public figure has said something with the ring of truth about it by the…
Turkey’s blackmail
And the EU is capitulating. That doesn't make David Cameron's referendum task any easier
Portrait of the week
Home The Bank of England arranged for banks to be able to borrow as much money as they needed around…
Diary
Susan Hill’s diary: on taking against a book, the death of dear friends, and writing by speaking out loud
Barometer
Plus: the price of power at Hinkley Point; and an immigration estimate for if Turkey joins the EU
Governor Cameron and the Brussels empire
…and David Cameron is responding like a loyal imperial governor
Against Churchill
From ‘Colonel Churchill’, The Spectator, 11 March 1916: Colonel Churchill is being found out. The charm, once universal, no longer…
Osborne can still see off Boris
If Britain votes against Brexit and the economy stays strong he may yet be the next Prime Minister
The smelly, snobbish death of the public loo
In England, people dislike talking about lavatories in public. So soon, they will have no public lavatories
Want to leave the EU? You must be an oik like me
Just as with Thatcherism, it’s the very posh who won’t stand firm
This great commodity rally doesn’t mean that spring has arrived
Also in Any Other Business: budget boredom; Bob Dudley; Brics nonsense
Bordering on insanity
We can’t get rid of jihadis, sex gang ringleaders and drug lords – so we try to deport old ladies like Myrtle Cothill
From Hitler to girls in pearls
‘The bible of the British aristocracy’ lived up to its eccentric reputation
American Notebook
Also in Max Hastings’s US notebook: Trump and the triumph of irrationality, and a lament for the washbasin plug
Trudeau family values
Canada’s new PM is a media darling. You can expect that to change when the bill arrives
Americans for Brexit
It’s in our shared interests for Britain to be a more reliable ally. Without its EU entanglements, that’s just what it’ll be
New Zealand
My visit began with a ‘rather strong’ earthquake. But there’s no question the long flight was worth it
Fighting for progress
In The Age of Genius, he awards the 17th and 21st centuries top marks for intellectual progress. But will terrorism relegate our present to also-played?
Wonderful waffle
Like the rest of My Struggle, this fifth volume, with its loving descriptions of everyday life, will be sheer magic to aficionados
A choice of first novels
Merritt Tierce, Sunil Yapa, Ali Eskandarian, Austin Duffy and Paraic O’Donnell take us from the hippy streets of Seattle to the squalid lofts of Brooklyn
Wild man of the woods
Nina Lyon traces his legend from the Roman god Sylvanus, through the Arthurian Green Knight to summer sex-fests and sweetcorn’s Green Giant
