Diary
Off to prison to visit a writer friend, first jailed led some years ago for trying to find a hit…
Birdsong
From ‘Literature and Soldiers’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915: In this war some of the most moving poetry has been written…
Portrait of the week
Home Talha Asmal, aged 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, died in a suicide bomb attack on forces near an oil…
A sting in the tail
Mr Holmes stars Ian McKellen as the great detective in his old age and while it could have proved a…
Walking with cadence
I often regret that I’m writing in the past tense here, but never more than about milonga. It is such…
Forward thinking
The award of a knighthood to the composer James MacMillan will have ruined last weekend for lots of unsavoury people:…
Forward thinking
The award of a knighthood to the composer James MacMillan will have ruined last weekend for lots of unsavoury people:…
Tajikistan diary
Talking politics in Central Asia is often unwise, so I try to bring it up casually. ‘Oh you won’t believe…
Parmenion
Athens The air-raid siren howls Over the quiet, the un-rioting city. It’s just a drill. But the unearthly vowels Ululate…
Changing seasons
February seems a long time ago. It’s not only the seasons that have changed, so too has the entire political…
Late news: what was really served at the Mansion House banquet
Last week’s deadline did not allow me to report from ringside at the Mansion House dinner, but there was so…
Oh God, don’t let the Pope be a climate fanatic
In his latest encyclical Pope Francis will apparently describe global warming as a ‘major threat to life on the planet’.…
Are schoolgirls fair game for teachers?
Mr Malcolm Layfield, the former violin teacher at Chetham’s music school, will have been celebrating this week after being found…
Does Labour still not get it?
You wait ages for a Labour leadership contest, then five come along at once. In the past few days, nominations…
The Spectator’s Notes
It is natural to assume that, if a majority votes No in the referendum on Britain’s EU membership, we shall…
Bad robots
You’d think scientists might have realised by now that creating a race of super-robots is about as wise as opening…
Australian notes
It was back in the mists of time but I easily recall the day in September 1961 when I dropped…
Is suicide bombing now a Yorkshire tradition?
Where would you rather live, Dewsbury or Bradford? I ask because it seems that there are probably some good property…
A lot to ask
He has two jobs: to keep his party together, and to get the best possible deal. He just stumbled on both
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said of the EU referendum: ‘If you want to be part of the government,…
Diary
Plus: bird-watching in middle-age; Cornwall’s topless scythers; and what Labour can learn from the Ivy
The game of survival
Like Nero's terrified senators, Sepp Blatter's courtiers know how the game is played
Against profiteering
From ‘The Essential Need’, The Spectator, 12 June 1915: Just as wages must be ‘stabilised’ for the men at existing rates,…
Letters
Plus: Crazy presidential candidates, the imperial hubris of Brussels, and the mystery of Dear Mary’s blouse
