Letters
A fat lot of good Sir: Max Pemberton is right that obesity is a terrible problem in western society (‘The…
Cameron must soften if he wants to keep the Lib Dems loyal
Education and tax policy may be on the table — along with state funding of political parties
If we stop stigmatising fat people, we’ll have lots more of them
The last thing our gargantuan, slobbering masses need is for self-serving charities to indulge them
Religious sceptics deserve better enemies
Piers Paul Read did not make a good case for miracles. Let me do it for him
America makes a fool of itself with another episode of debt-ceiling drama
Stop concocting debt-ceiling crises to imitate the cliffhangers of screen fantasy
Carry on warming
Don't panic! The scientific consensus is that warmer temperatures do more good than harm
Skymap Says We’re Nowhere Near Home
In Economy’s cramped haul it’s all I ever watch. Our course is laid on screen before me, a dotted line…
The first cut
Foreskin-envying hippies and Eurocrats are waging war against an age-old tradition, under the guise of 'human rights'
Extreme measures
The ex-leader of the English Defence League on politicians, police, the press — and beheading threats
Movement
Ten minutes — or less — before we step down at one of the ‘London Terminals’, ploughed land restarts and…
Notes on … Skiing in Switzerland
There’s a myth in the Spectator office, which I’ve never discouraged, that I’m Yorkshire’s answer to Franz Klammer — a…
Divinely decadent
Evil figures may lurk in your arty Christmas cards, as Alexander Lee's The Ugly Renaissance shows
To cull or not to cull?
Patrick Barkham tries badger stir-fry and weighs the culling debate in Badgerlands
Darkness at dawn
Ian Buruma's Year Zero remembers the generation that rose from the ashes of world war two
Not endearing, just wince-making
Bridget Jones in Mad About the Boy is unrecognisable — and why is she weighing herself in pounds, not stones?
Hidden gems
Marc Allum's The Antiques Magpie looks at French forks, poison dresses and Lord Ashcroft's VC hoard
Cheering for Shirley
Shirley Williams had the best of intentions for schools, according to Mark Peel's admiring biography
Running on sex and chicken nuggets
Usain Bolt has one critical physical advantage, says the pacy memoir Fast as Lightning
Old hippies never die
Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash rose to fame on sheer hard work — only to become a hippie
