Notes from abroad
When someone ten years your junior asks you to drop your pants you know it’s going to be an interesting…
The way it was
There is a test in Canberra which applies to the quality of political commentary. It is called the ‘Blue Poles’…
An appalling hypocrite
By speaking out in favour of gay marriage and the republic, the GG shows she was not fit for high office
Australian Letters
Soft on crime Sir: One of my favourite Spectator Australia columns is Peter Coleman’s. His insightful and calm articulation can…
What a life
If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don’t you think you’d get a little bit psychotic? Well, yes,…
The restaurant lobby
One Canada Square was the original glass house in east London’s Gotham City, a thrilling tower with a flashing pyramid…
England learn their lesson
My friend Miles was bowling in a festival of wandering cricket clubs in Oxford the other day. First wicket down…
What a life
If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don’t you think you’d get a little bit psychotic? Well, yes,…
Cranko’s legacy
Stuttgart Ballet’s rapid ascent to fame is at the core of one of the most interesting chapters of ballet history.…
A corner of Australia that is forever Bournemouth
Nations seek their souls in the strangest places. We English, for instance, have illustrated ourselves to the world and to…
Australian Notes
Tony Abbott is right. Too much is being made of the Governor-General’s ‘injudicious’ support for republicanism and gay marriage. It…
Is addiction a disease?
Yes Trinny Woodall I’m Trinny, I’m an alcoholic and I’m an addict. When asked whether addiction is a disease, I…
Alex Salmond’s economic policies would drive an independent Scotland into the ground
While the SNP flirts with economic liberalism, it remains a high-spending party of the left that will impoverish the people
Portrait of the week
Home The government announced proposals for the National Health Service, including a law to criminalise wilful neglect by doctors and…
Diary
Plus: Honouring the men — and 75 women — who flew from RAF Tempsford; thank you, Sachin Tendulkar, for your photo
Aristotle on the age of consent
Rather charmingly, he wanted both parties to reach the end of their reproductive cycles together
Letters
No middle way Sir: Ask not whether Iran wants to negotiate with us; ask whether we want to negotiate with…
How long can the Eds keep it together?
The two Eds are trying to make things go smoothly — but do Cameron and Osborne need more friction?
The Spectator’s Notes
Plus: The PCC finds against the Guardian; Mrs T to a T; my book as a drug haul; this is your pilot Prince William speaking
Go on, own up: which of you female TV stars is secretly a godawful novelist?
I've ruled out Wark and Coren, the Guardian thinks its Vorderman or Robinson — the question is why the author fears using her name
Is even Radley not safe from the lentil-eating progressives?
From primary school onwards, we're handed this starter pack of right-on notions — and if we question them we're regarded as pariahs
Cameron’s war on porn is a pointless stunt
Plus: There is no need to ask whose fault it is when a cyclist dies; here's how we can have bike-only streets without building any
The naughty Methodist is a comic sideshow: it was professionals who ruined the Co-op
Plus: Thriving northern companies that disprove the 'north-south divide'; one night with bankers at Imelda's palace for the Pope
An icon of our time
Sustainability. Tick! Inclusivity. Tick! Fairtrade. Tick! All that mattered to Labour was the Crystal Methodist's show of liberal piety
