Introducing Spaff: The Spectator Project Against Frivolous Funding
All too often, the Prime Minister recently lamented, Britain’s public servants are happy languishing in the ‘tepid bath of managed…
Does Sadler’s Wells really need a lavish new building?
Arts Council England may be successfully clobbering the poor old genre of opera into the ground, but its sister art…
My impossible task as ‘minister for efficiency’
I am delighted that The Spectator is launching a campaign to highlight the grotesque levels of financial waste in government.…
Strangely moving: Bridget Jones – Mad About the Boy reviewed
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the fourth outing for our heroine as played by Renée Zellweger and I…
Pride in Britain? It’s history
A poll out this week found that only 41 per cent of those aged 18 to 27 are proud to…
The ancient art of making friends in high places
‘I get along with him well. I like him a lot,’ Donald Trump has said of Sir Keir Starmer. ‘He’s…
The dark heart of South Africa’s Expropriation Act
Cape Town How damaging will South Africa’s Expropriation Act be? The legislation, which allows the state to seize private property…
Will ‘The Seeker’ find the truth about the Covid lab leaks?
At the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, where ghosts of British nabobs look out over the racecourse, my neuroscientist wife spoke…
Drinking with The Chemist – and God
Dante’s Beach, Ravenna The closest I get to a social life these days is when I sneak off into town…
The art of war
On his deathbed, the Austrian writer Karl Kraus remarked of the Japanese attack on Manchuria: ‘None of this would have…
The magic of early radio days
Beaty Rubens takes us inside the British home 100 years ago as the glamorous new device becomes central to family life
The mysterious life of John R. Bradley
Working at The Spectator brings you into contact with intriguing people. One who stands out is John R. Bradley. He…
The perils of poaching: Beartooth, by Callan Wink, reviewed
Two impoverished brothers from the Montana backcountry are tempted by the prospect of a daring heist in Yellowstone National Park
Smoking is sexy again
It’s a summer’s day in Suffolk, some time in 1992. My best friend Rebecca and I are both 14 and…
Tarot isn’t very old or esoteric – but it does work
Among my many fake and useless skills, I’m a reasonably decent tarot reader. I can do one for you now…
The truth about surrogate babies
I was a twin when I was born, but this was in the days before decent scans and proper neonatal…
The art of the anti-love song
Tracey Thorn released an album in 2010 titled Love and Its Opposite. When it comes to songwriting, it’s the ‘opposite’…
Is work really more fun than fun?
Wouldn’t it be marvellous if instead of going to work every day we could contract out the tedium to avatars…
Let Trump buy the Chagos Islands
Forgive me for returning in this column to Diego Garcia. The issue is too important to shrug aside: important not…
