Just how bad are Nato’s armies?
Given the relative sizes of their economies, one might conclude that Russia would quake before the military might of Europe’s…
‘J.D. Vance was right’: Is Europe finally waking up?
Munich, Germany The organisers of the Munich security conference weren’t subtle. A large statue of an elephant stood in one…
The truth about Britain’s hollowed-out armed forces
When Keir Starmer was told his pledge to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP in the next…
The best and worst of French civilisation
We always try to spend Valentine’s Day weekend in Paris. My wife has held on to a tiny apartment in…
All aboard the last bus out of Mousehole
It was lucky that the bus was behind schedule – mainly because the driver had stepped out to take his…
Portrait of the week: Gender in schools, election U-turns and the ‘truth’ about Navalny
Home Pupils will be allowed to change gender at school, according to guidance issued by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary;…
How the Romans picked their friends
What a lot of friends Jeffrey Epstein appears to have had! But what did friendship mean to him? Was it…
Does Sadiq Khan approve of colonising?
How to report Iran? It is a huge story. Perhaps as many as 30,000 people were recently murdered there by…
Don’t underestimate the ‘stop Farage’ alliance
So Thursday came and Oxford went to the polls And made its coward vote and the streets resounded To the…
The thinking behind Nigel Farage’s shadow cabinet
There is an old joke about Nigel Farage, put about by former colleagues. ‘Why is Nigel like a beech tree?……
Can Keir Starmer keep us safe?
‘Shape without form, shade without colour. Paralysed force, gesture without motion.’ T.S Eliot’s lines from ‘The Hollow Men’ sum up…
Why is Hope Not Hate out to get me?
Hope Not Hate is up to its usual tricks in the Denton and Gorton by-election, keeping Britain safe from fascists.…
Spectator Competition: Wintry look
Competition 3437 invited you to submit a passage or poem incorporating the line ‘Why, what’s the matter, That you have…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my friend from ruining books I love?
Q. Our daughter is very keen on a young man from her office whom she has brought home to stay…
Like dining with Elrond in Rivendell: Corenucopia reviewed
Corenucopia by Clare Smyth is in Belgravia, amid a line of interior-design shops, and it is prettier than all of…
Britain’s right is falling into the same trap as the left
As I have suggested here before, there are few joys in life equal to that of watching the left fall…
