‘We’re into 1973 territory now’: How bad could the energy price crisis get?
The energy price surge caused by war in the Middle East has sent shockwaves through Westminster. It has pushed up…
Why the Green party abandoned its environmental roots
In the summer of 1972, Lesley Whittaker walked into a pub in rural Warwickshire. She had something for her husband…
I stand by my comments about Islamic public prayer
Following my appointment as shadow justice secretary, I was moved to a bigger office in parliament. Where once I enjoyed…
Portrait of the week: More migrants cross, government borrowing rises and Trump warns Iran
Home Iran fired two missiles at the British-American military base at Diego Garcia, 2,400 miles away, one being intercepted by…
The real reason the left hates Israel
‘Listen to what the man on the left of the camera has to say about Israel, the man who is…
How to brainwash the British public
During the Cold War I am fairly certain that films, TV dramas and other popular entertainment did not remain silent…
White working-class boys are being left behind
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of the report of Lord Sewell’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic…
The UAE and Oman could be the big winners from the Iran war
Sixty years ago, I first gazed out on the Strait of Hormuz from the Musandam peninsula of Oman. I was…
Dear Mary: Is my dentist profiting from my gold filling?
Q. I went to stay in the new house of a close, but not very close, friend. She put me…
Why engineers beat lawyers
I once asked my friend, the engineer Guru Madhavan, why engineering faculties at most universities were outliers in containing more…
Spectator Competition: Budding poets
For Competition 3442 you were invited to supply the opening of a memoir that would discourage the reader from reading…
Potatoes are one of life’s great simple pleasures
My wife found the list in the back pocket of my gardening trousers. That ought to have been a clue,…
We’ve already given up on novels
Late last year, I was notified that one or more of my novels might have been fed to an Anthropic…





