Cambridge
The Spectator’s Notes
In deciding whether or not to wear a mask after 19 July, I am sure Boris Johnson is right that…
Cambridge deserves better than Stephen Toope
Regular readers may be aware that in recent months I have been having a running-spat with a Canadian lawyer called…
The Spectator’s Notes
It is poetically fitting that the resignation of the chairman of the National Trust, Tim Parker, was announced on the…
The first Cambridge spy
For his 15th novel, the espionage writer Alan Judd turns his hand to the mystery of Christopher Marlowe’s death. The…
Why is going to Oxford being held against me?
Should going to Oxford be held against you? In my experience, some employers think it should. A month before the…
The campus Churchill delusion
Was Winston Churchill a racist? For students like me who attended Churchill College, Cambridge, it’s a question which barely even…
Respect vs rigour
Professor Toope, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge university, had proposed a motion ordering all members of the university to ‘respect’ each…
Cambridge academics have just won an important battle for free speech
Academics at Cambridge won a cheering victory for free speech today when they voted by an overwhelming majority to reject…
The Spectator’s Notes
Last month, writing elsewhere, I quoted the website of the China Centre at Jesus College, Cambridge: ‘Under the leadership of…
The English clergy at their oddest – a compendium
As the wordy title of this book and the name of its author suggest, this is a faux-archaic, fogeyish journey…
My encounter with the self-righteous cry-bullies of Cambridge
There’s a Tracey Ullman comedy sketch about the extreme and ugly form of political correctness afflicting the youth. It’s set…
Our great universities are struggling – but not because of Brexit
British universities have serious problems. The recent strikes protesting against a sudden reduction in pension rights were unusually effective, and…
Lemons and pebbles are as important to Kettle’s Yard as the art
When I first visited Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, I was shown around by Jim Ede, its founder and creator. This wasn’t…
Leave Brexit alone and get on with governing
I return often to Cambridge and was there recently. Julian Glover, my partner, was talking to the History Society at…
We’re all poorer for the loss of our small rail lines
To me, the strange words ‘Marsh Gibbon’ once meant I was nearly home. My heart lifted as we creaked and…
The Queen and Prince Philip’s 70th anniversary party sounds glorious
Windsor Castle on Monday night sounds like a children’s party magnified. The rooms were filled with golden-leaved trees. A giant…
Greater Oxbridge
Oxbridge is an ivory-tower state of mind, perhaps, or at least two ancient rival universities, but how about this: in…
‘Mother says I look like a sick ostrich’
Most modern biographers feed off celebrity like vampires let loose in a blood bank. That is why their books sell:…
Is it art or science?
William Henry Fox Talbot had many accomplishments. He was Liberal MP for Chippenham; at Cambridge he won a prize for…
Emma Thompson’s wrong, and not just about the EU
At first glance, Emma Thompson’s intervention in the Brexit debate earlier this week didn’t make much sense. Asked at the…
Cold comfort for Gibbons fans
One of the great fascinations of a ‘lost’ work by a famous name dredged up out of the vault after…
A Horrible History of English Hymns
Given that for much of English history the country’s main musical tradition was that connected with the church, it is…
The Spectator’s notes
Because, it says, of its ‘liberal values and respect for human dignity’, the Economist has put out a film about…
Watery depths
I learnt to splash about in watercolour at my grandmother’s knee. Or rather, sitting beside her crouched over a pad…
Degrees in disaster
From Greece to Kenya, the worst economic ideas come from alumni of British universities
