Boris Johnson
Diary
I made a welcome escape from sweltering Warsaw to the cloudy cool of Bodø, halfway up the coast of Norway,…
Demosthenes on Johnson and Salmond
The ancient Greek word for ‘ambition’ was philotimia: ‘love of high esteem in others’ eyes’. Both Boris and Alex Salmond…
Stand
‘Boris Johnson broke cover yesterday to declare that he will run for parliament,’ the Times reported last week. The Mirror…
Boris jumps in
The next Tory leadership battle has just begun
Promises, promises
Choosing the right seat is only half the battle for Boris
Letters
Sugar added tax Sir: Julia Pickles (Letters, 14 June) suggests a sugar tax to combat the obesity epidemic and discourage…
A bacon bap isn’t Miliband’s problem. We are
That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was the cause…
The Spectator’s Notes
On Friday night, I went to Althorp, childhood home of Diana, Princess of Wales, to speak at its literary festival.…
Australian Letters
Old cabby’s tale Stephen Rommei’s London cabby story (Diary, 7 June) reminded me of catching a cab one cold night…
Why picking holes in Piketty might help stop Miliband’s mansion tax
The postman at the door is stooped by his burden like an allegorical statue of Labour Oppressed by Capital. His…
Diary
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Rise of the mayors
The power to effect real change may lie with dynamic city halls rather than ossified national governments
Gove’s friends are out to get him
From the moment he took his job, Michael Gove knew that he would make energetic and determined enemies. The teachers’…
You shouldn’t lose your children for disagreeing with Boris Johnson
Do your children have a bleak and nihilistic view of the world? It’s hard to tell, really, when they spend…
Diary
When visiting Britain and Australia last November, I discovered that the mayor of Toronto, Robert Ford, is now the world’s…
Why I’m on board for the homophobic bus
London has long since lost its allure for me — altogether too many cars, foreigners, cyclists, middle-class liberals and people…
The Spectator’s Notes
Boris Johnson’s Margaret Thatcher Lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies attracted attention for its remarks about IQ, but the…
Low life
Theresa May must have been a little disappointed. Her government limousine rolled silently to a halt at the rear entrance…
Waiting for Waitrose
Five years ago I joined forces with some local worthies to object to the opening of a strip joint on…
Rise of the man-hug
Have we gained from abandoning the handshake?
Is this amazing railway going ahead? Not if Boris and Mandychops can help it
‘Does anyone seriously doubt that this amazing scheme is actually going to go ahead?’ boomed Boris Johnson last week. ‘No…
A Fisherman’s Notebook
You remember the climax of Jaws — the primeval moment when Quint the crazed Ahab-like fisherman goes mano a mano…
