LETTERS
In loving memory Sir: When Clarissa Tan covered last year’s Good Funeral Awards, it quickly became apparent that she was…
Could Jeremy Browne be the anti-Nigel Farage?
The ex-minister is seeking outsider appeal on the basis of unrepentant liberalism
The Spectator’s Notes
Plus: The need for real contrarians, and the sad fate of Lord Irvine’s wallpaper
I’m sick of weak women being praised as ‘strong’
Why are we supposed to admire ‘brave’ Kelly Osbourne checking into a clinic because of her weight gain?
Theresa May’s right: the police need radical reform. Here’s why
Maybe it's because they don't like us, either
The moral of Royal Mail: markets are capricious and bankers aren’t worth their fees
Plus: From golf courses back to farming in County Kerry
Single Mum
Scarborough 1939 Mum’s slipping on her see-through dress. Outside our council house a chauffered Rolls is waiting. It’s a beautiful…
Gone with the wind turbine
In cities, changes to the skyline are subject to careful planning. Not so here
Rise of the mayors
The power to effect real change may lie with dynamic city halls rather than ossified national governments
Book clubs
Everyone knows somebody who belongs to a book club. From informal gatherings of bookish friends in living rooms and cafés…
Power to the people
A review of Selina Todd’s ‘The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class, 1910–2010’. The working class may disappoint radicals, says Alan Johnson, but that doesn't mean their best days are over
Scones and Bloomsberries for tea
A review of Jan Ondaatje Rolls’ ‘The Bloomsbury Cookbook: Recipes for Life, Love and Art’. How to make Dora Carrington’s nectar of cowslip wine, Vanessa Bells’s scones or William Cobbett’s loaf
Jokes? Prayers? Fables?
A review of Lydia Davis’ ‘Can’t and Won’t’. Susan Hill finds flashes of genius in Davis’ latest collection of short stories but she’s not sure everyone will
An expert castle-squatter
A review of Nick Hunt’s ‘Walking the Woods and the Water’. Hunt retraces the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor across the suburban wastelands of Holland to the woods of Transylvania
A stranger in his own land
A review of Michael Oakeshott’s ‘Selected Writings, Vol VI: Notebooks, 1922-86’. Other nations know how to honour their philosophers – and this was a major philosopher
Noble cities of the dead
A review of Ingrid D. Rowland’s ‘From Pompeii: The Afterlife of a Roman Town’. The dead city is still capable of changing lives – Ingrid Rowland proves it
A powerful inspiration
A review of Jeremy Treglown’s Franco’s ‘Crypt: Spanish Culture and Memory Since 1936’. A lot of the great art and film made under Franco’s regime has been unfairly tainted by association
The little dictator
A review of Peter Ackroyd’s Charlie Chaplin. His films may have been all sweetness and light – but Chaplin's ego had few limits
Don’t do as I do, do as I say
A review of Arianna Huffington’s ‘Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Happier Life’. You've seen the advice a thousand times. But the person giving it is something else...
Don Quixote of Kaszubia
A review of John Borrell’s ‘The White Lake’. An escape to the country for Borrell turned out to be a struggle for the soul of Poland
