Bring back beef dripping!
For several years, a debate has raged (mainly on Twitter, now X) over whether animal fats are actually better for…
There are no Ubers in the wilds of West Cork
My American guest kept telling me he was going to call an Uber and I could not persuade him that…
Sole meunière: simple one-pan sophistication
Picture the scene. The year is 2004. The setting, a British field or maybe a beach. There is a small…
I just don’t get P.G. Wodehouse
I have a confession to make, which may upset many readers. Having only a passing acquaintance with his books, I’ve…
Survival of the hottest: evolution’s fun side has been long overlooked
The theory of evolution is dominated by the utilitarian logic of natural selection: adapt or die, survival of the fittest.…
The death of touring
Touring’s not what it used to be. When I were a lad, even big bands would do 30 or 40…
Don’t write off literary fiction yet
I don’t intend to start a feud. Most of Sean Thomas’s essay on The Spectator’s website last week, titled ‘Good…
Who wants a ‘girl boss’ Snow White?
Disney’s new Snow White is a live-action remake of the beloved 1937 classic that was cinema’s first full-length animated feature…
The downfall of climate change poster boy Michael Mann
Even if you’ve never heard of Michael Mann, you will have felt his baleful influence on your energy bills. He…
Ukraine is just one part of Trump’s Great Game
Washington D.C. For Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, it’s a case of today Ukraine, tomorrow the world. In their much-hyped…
How the Romans handled rival religions
A hadith attributed to Muhammad said that there would be 73 sects of Islam (of which only one would reach…
The shape-shifting Labour party
It is difficult to gauge who is the more discombobulated by the Labour government’s recent Damascene conversion to a political…
‘Austerity is back’: Inside Labour’s emergency budget
Dominic Cummings may have left Whitehall but his spirit lives on. Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,…
Irresistible: Clueless, at the Trafalgar Theatre, reviewed
Cher Horowitz, the central character in Clueless, is one of the most irritating heroines in the history of movies. She’s…
Inside Team Kemi’s plan for power
In elections, as in wine, lesser years can still produce good vintages. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown first won their…
Putin is outwitting Trump
In the incessant conflicts of life and politics, people who know what they want tend to win. That is why…
What Donald Trump told me about Keir Starmer
Two months into President Donald Trump’s second term, the habitual liberal hysteria about his rollercoaster presidential style is reaching shrieking…
Portrait of the week: Welfare war, gold prices soar and gang jailed for toilet heist
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, entertained 29 other national leaders online to seek a way of guaranteeing the…
Kemi’s stance on net zero is courageous – and correct
Kemi Badenoch secured the Conservative leadership on the basis that she would confront her party and the country with uncomfortable…
Something is rotten in Stratford-upon-Avon
Almost every nation has a national poet. The Russians have Pushkin. The Persians have Ferdowsi. The Albanians have Gjergj Fishta.…
It’s time for Rachel Reeves to stop gambling
Next Wednesday Rachel Reeves will stand up in the House of Commons to deliver what she is calling her ‘spring…
Does China have Vatican City in its sights?
Last Sunday the Vatican released the first photograph of Pope Francis since his ordeal began. He was wearing a stole…
