My Grandmother Said
It was the First World War. Her husband was away. So she knew fear, but also found new freedom in…
When did Israel start to seem so bafflingly foreign?
Glaring, the ennui over Israel. The way we drag our eyes to the page, and sigh, and want to read…
There’s no fighting paedophile panic. But I’ll try
Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_10_July_2014_v4.mp3 As essay titles go, ‘On losing an argument with Tim Loughton MP’ may fail to catch the imagination;…
Australian notes
‘We have the full range of politics here tonight — from the hard Left to the soft Left.’ The ABC’s…
Let’s stop slavery – again
Theresa May's Modern Slavery Bill was the one bright spot in the Queen's Speech. But as events in Cardiff have shown, it isn't enough
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, rang Jean-Claude Juncker to congratulate him on being nominated by EU heads of government…
Letters
Beyond the law Sir: In your leading article of 28 June you make the point that the hacking trial demonstrates…
The Spectator’s Notes
Plus: The BBC acknowledges its rural failings; the march of the badgers; and the remarkable John Casey
Mr al-Baghdadi’s inspirational vision for Europe
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s planned caliphate should ensure a bit of discipline is imposed on Spain and Portugal
The reassuring triumph of Big Mother
Every day more and more objects in the western world find their voice, and invariably that voice is female
Our shameful empire of aid
There are now more western aid workers in Africa than there were colonial administrators
Here we go again: bankers taking liberties in pools full of sharks
Plus: What the ‘E’ in OBE should stand for; and the next property hot spot
What will be left?
Our future disunited kingdom could be more of a mess than anyone has really grasped
Let’s face it – Ray Honeyford got it right on Islam and education
The Bradford headmaster was dismissed. He should have been applauded
Napoleon’s last victory
The battle went to Wellington. But for once, it was the losers who wrote the history
Terminally confused
The closer you look at the campaign to legalise assisted dying, the less reassuring it all becomes
The tyrant and the cloud-dweller
A review of The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book, by Peter Finn and Petra Couvée. Boris Pasternak really did defeat the Soviet censors (and not just because he was Stalin's pen-pal). But no one was allowed to do the same again
How to write a novel
A review of How to Build a Girl, by Caitlin Moran. Even before she came across a pleasing reference to herself, Julie Burchill loved this hyperactive novel
