The Spectator’s Notes
When Jeremy Corbyn says it is better to bring people to trial than to shoot them, he is right. So…
The man who wouldn’t be king
Not that long ago the BBC trumpeted a new Stakhanovite project to big up the arts in its many and…
Lost in space
In a converted barn in Dorset, not far from the rural studio where she made many of her greatest sculptures,…
Lost in space
In a converted barn in Dorset, not far from the rural studio where she made many of her greatest sculptures,…
All at sea
The Royal Opera House seemed nervous about Georg Friedrich Haas’s world première Morgen und Abend. They sent out a pdf…
All at sea
The Royal Opera House seemed nervous about Georg Friedrich Haas’s world première Morgen und Abend. They sent out a pdf…
Australian notes
I have a modest proposal to help combat the appeal to ordinary or ‘moderate’ Muslims, especially the young, of what…
Books of the Year: the best and most overrated of 2015
Among regular reviewers choosing their favourite books are Ferdinand Mount, Jan Morris, A.N. Wilson, Paul Johnson, Mary Beard, Jonathan Sumption and A.S. Byatt
How Technicolor came to dominate cinema
Peter Hoskin celebrates 100 years of a revolutionary process that gave birth to some of the greatest films ever made
Pry another day
The Investigatory Powers Bill is troubling, not because of the powers it grants, but because of the lack of restrictions on how they’re used
How Lebanon is coping with more than a million Syrian refugees
A country not much bigger than Wales has seen its population increase by a third
The wrong cuts
The Health Secretary’s quest for a ‘seven-day-a-week NHS’ is fundamentally misconceived
Donald Trump and the Republican cabaret show
My old friend’s father might find the state of his beloved party a little confusing. He wouldn’t be alone
There’s nothing wrong with plugging a friend’s book
Alexander Masters argues that knowing an author is a positive advantage when it comes to book reviewing
That Force of Destiny isn’t a great evening is the fault of Verdi not ENO
Plus: Wolf-Ferrari’s Le donne curiose is so good-natured as to be almost insipid, but this Guidhall School of Music and Drama production saves it
Low life
An opportunity to voice the most extreme opinions — of the left or right — that I can think of
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, outlined four changes he sought in Britain’s membership of the EU. He wanted to…
Charles Moore’s Notes: Who’d be a diplomat now?
Also: international sporting bodies; TV Licensing; drinks before dinner; Norman Moore
A trust betrayed
Jeremy Hunt’s reforms will penalise those who make the NHS run out of hours – and put doctors off key specialisms
Charles Williams: sadist or Rosicrucian saint?
The third (and weirdest) Inkling, the subject of Grevel Lindop’s biography, became a Thirties cult phenomenon, championed by T.S. Eliot as well as by Tolkein and C.S. Lewis
Diary
I still hope Labour wins the argument. But I’m happy to be listening to the Today programme, not speaking on it
Of course there’s no morality in top-level sport
Let’s not forget that when we bid for the World Cup, we indulged in our own little bit of bribery too
The man who made abstract art fly
Calder's mobiles at Tate Modern are delightful, beautiful, hypnotic, but for Martin Gayford there's still something missing
Real life
Unsurprisingly, the World Horse Welfare was having second thoughts about booking me to address its conference
