Mineral reserves
St James’s Street is a repository of urban comfort. It contains majestic clubs, a gunsmith, a boot-maker, a barber, a…
Aunt
Catching up with the excellent biography of the 3rd Marquess of Bute (the man who built Cardiff Castle among other…
A delicate diplomatic dance
‘Few international problems in the postwar period have proved as difficult for Australia as the development of a friendly and…
Conrad Black’s diary: Sydney, Murdoch, Paxman and other stories
What a pleasure it was to be back in Sydney this month after an absence of 14 years. That city…
Australian notes
The protest rally across the road from Parliament in Sydney was no lynch mob. They were ordinary, mostly elderly people…
Apology and appeasement
Tony Abbott will be the latest Australian prime minister to kowtow to Jakarta
Brown study
Everyone was supposed to burst into howls of protest when the government announced last week that it was abolishing 20…
Notes from abroad
Flying across the Pacific, I am reading two new works from the recent explosion of books on the outbreak of…
What drought?
Victoria’s desalination plant is a reminder of the perils of making public policy in a panic
Images of war
Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War at the Imperial War Museum North (until 23 February) is alone worth a trip to…
Captain courageous
Andrew Strauss is a serious man and Driving Ambition (Hodder, £20, Spectator Bookshop, £18) is a serious book. It looks…
Mineral reserves
St James’s Street is a repository of urban comfort. It contains majestic clubs, a gunsmith, a boot-maker, a barber, a…
Twelve to Follow
Women truly are different. Recovering in a spare bedroom from the wonders of a hip replacement (don’t ever jump on…
Retrofitted arguments
Some people are gay. Get over it’ — this was the slogan for a campaign against homophobia. A series of YouTube…
Images of war
Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War at the Imperial War Museum North (until 23 February) is alone worth a trip to…
Captain courageous
Andrew Strauss is a serious man and Driving Ambition (Hodder, £20, Spectator Bookshop, £18) is a serious book. It looks…
Cameron’s war on porn is a pointless stunt
What people don’t seem to realise is that the geeks are winning. Actually, scratch that. They’ve all but won. The…
Is even Radley not safe from the lentil-eating progressives?
For two blissful days last week I was at Radley College — what you might call the posh person’s Eton — as…
Australian notes
The protest rally across the road from Parliament in Sydney was no lynch mob. They were ordinary, mostly elderly people…
Diplomatic meltdown
Behind American and British optimism over Tehran's nuclear intent lies a startling naivety
Portrait of the week
Home EDF Energy said it would put up prices by 3.9 per cent. BT Sport spent £897 million on the rights…
Diary
'So this is it,' I thought to myself, as I found the Four Seasons Hotel receipt for two in his pocket
Barometer
Plus: Cameron's relief; who walks in to walk-ins; how Prince Charles is like a million other people
