Letters
Rod rage Sir: Like most cyclists, who also own a car and pay road tax, I enjoy a pedal along…
The Speaker could soon be silenced
Not a natural for the job, Bercow is getting too curt and personal, especially with the Prime Minister
The Spectator’s Notes
Plus: Cheerio, Charles Letts; I know what to put on the fourth plinth; why Ed Balls should be called '12A'
Is it ever possible to fight a war in full accordance with the Human Rights Act?
Those pleading for leniency for Marine A are saying we can't fight properly and comply to the Human Rights Act
An old wound takes its toll at last
'I sat in the front on Dad's knee, bleeding all over his good suit, and he didn't care — which frightened me'
The real luck of the Irish is that they recognised the folly of the boom
Plus: Osborne must review green levies on flights; a curse prevents me from bidding for the Royal Exchange building
The real energy scandal
Costly green measures are behind our rocketing energy bills. But as politicians dither, an even greater crisis awaits
Victims’ justice
Coming next month to a courtroom near you: victims get the chance to say how bad they feel
The man who broke the silence
Paul Collier says the worst thing about immigration is that it impoverishes the nations that the migrants come from
Notebook
Plus: Thank you Valentino, Tom Ford, William Boyd et al for making my book-launch party so swell
Union man
'If you're not afraid, you should be' — Galloway's tub-thumping makes the government's campaign look like a pussy cat
Berlin: The best bar in the world
‘You were at the Fish, I hear,’ a Berlin friend told me. ‘I didn’t know you were an old hippie.’…
Notes on… Motoring in Greece and Italy
‘Buy on the bullets’ is the cry of the most ruthless stockbrokers — invest just before a war, after the…
Books of the Year
Favourites old and new from Paul Johnson, Roger Lewis, Philip Ziegler, Ferdinand Mount, Michela Wrong, Bevis Hillier, A.N. Wilson, Piers Paul Read and more
How to enrich your life
John Sutherland isn't known for subtlety, so use his Little History of Literature as a galloping guidebook
Spoilt for choice
The composer sent "I love you"s to just about everyone, as The Leonard Bernstein Letters reveal
Thirty years on
In Saints of the Shadow Bible, Ian Rankin's detective is still reliable, but not as robust as he was
For the fallen
Fabian Ware overcame every difficulty to create a colossal memorial, as David Crane recounts in Empires of the Dead
Strength in numbers
That, and other intriguing facts about integers, can be found in Barnaby Rogerson's Book of Numbers
Strong meat
Fans of Count Arthur Strong (and yes I know he’s so Marmite you could spread him on a cheese sandwich)…
