The demographic goldmine
Demography is destiny, they say, and if that’s the case then Britain’s future looks wrinkled and grey. Today, one in…
Australian notes
Tony Abbott was right. As I hurried along Phillip Street in Sydney the other Sunday afternoon to the service in…
A new Nato
European countries seem to think of their defence alliance as a means of getting security on the cheap. That won't work any longer
Portrait of the week
Home Britain’s terror threat level was raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’ in response to fighting in Iraq and Syria, meaning…
From the archives
From ‘The giving up of Louvain to “Military Execution”,’ The Spectator, 5 September 1914: Germany has dealt herself the hardest…
Letters
Advice for Cameron Sir: David Cameron once saved my life from a school of Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish, so…
Parenting? Leave it to the bureaucrats
Of course normal people can't be trusted to bring up children. They might be middle-class, or have the wrong views, or smoke
The problem with a wider definition of rape
The reason there are so many acquittals is that juries reach ‘perverse’ verdicts when they are uneasy about the law itself
Is looking at a nude photo of Jennifer Lawrence really the same thing as stealing it?
And if so, what was your justification for clicking on the headline above?
Applause for the Beeb’s new leading lady – but did the male runner-up deserve such a kicking?
Plus: Another good job for a mother of three, and the battle of Boris Island
Divide and don’t rule
Some Conservative MPs are planning their careers on the assumption that the election is already lost
Revolt on the right
Douglas Carswell's defection gives others on the Tory right new leverage – and they're not afraid to use it
A ladder for everyone
The International Development Secretary says her party needs to get back to Thatcher's message of aspiration for all
Russia’s Nato myth
Secret official records contradict the stab-in-the-back myth that justifies Russian expansionism
A life worth living
Eddie is capable of living a fulfilling life, and if he’s a luxury society can’t afford then that’s not a society I want to live in
The final crossing
The 'mare nostrum' policy has acted as a magnet for boat people; the crisis is only growing
A vote for real politics
This campaign has brought back conviction politics. It’s been as invigorating as a seaside walk on a raw and windswept spring morning
Waiting for the backlash
Attitudes in this country are still tolerant. But current headlines give reason to fear that might change
Sicily
This isn't some Italian Isle of Wight. It's an ancient cultural treasure with enough variety in landscape for a continent
After Albert
A review of Victoria: A Life, by A.N. Wilson. A superb new revisionist biography argues that it was only after her husband’s death that Queen Victoria found her true self
The Forgotten Army remembered
A review of Another Man’s War, by Barnaby Phillips. A book about courage and friendship that transcends time, distance and race
Pile-up on the reincarnation superhighway
A review of The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell. This restless new novel is full of student satire and undercooked fantasy
