China
China’s growing influence over the Commonwealth’s armies
On Monday in the city of Bridgetown, Prince Charles will be forced to witness the spectacle of Barbados officially becoming a…
Fears over Mandarin shortage in Whitehall
‘China Spy Blitz’ blared the Sun this morning: ‘UK spooks hiring Mandarin speakers in cyber war.’ Spy bosses, the paper…
Peng Shuai appears in sinister ‘proof of life’ video
The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai sits in a crowded restaurant surrounded by friends and her coach, who is going…
Letter from Taiwan
Normally, if the response to a speech of mine was that it had been a ‘despicable and insane performance’ from…
British MPs in the dark about Beijing’s threats
Following the killing of Sir David Amess, there has been much discussion in recent weeks about the safety of elected representatives. But…
Cold War, hot planet
Chelyabinsk is one of the most polluted places in the world. On 29 September 1957, an explosion ripped through the…
The Spectator’s Notes
At the National Trust’s annual general meeting last week, the voting was much more unusual than the public will have…
Don’t let China’s climate sins cloak its crushing of Hong Kong
China’s failure to bring anything new to COP26 surprised no one. The world’s worst carbon emitter offered no advance on…
China’s great log forward
Every year, China plants trees over an area the size of Ireland. The country may be the biggest polluter on…
Peng Shuai and the limits of China’s #MeToo movement
China’s #MeToo movement has taken a step closer to the centre of power in Beijing, after sexual abuse allegations by…
India is going to keep polluting. They can thank China
Mumbai India is the last major global polluter to set a date to go carbon neutral. In a surprise announcement…
China’s energy crisis
The absence of Xi Jinping from COP26 in Glasgow this weekend should strip away any illusion that China is a…
The rise and fall of Jack Ma
Jack Ma used to give rock star performances for his employees at Alibaba, Asia’s biggest online commerce company. He once…
Wuhan clan
The price I paid for my lab leak exposé
COP out
For China, the climate is a useful bargaining chip
Xi threatens Taiwan because he’s weak
Over the weekend, China sent waves of warplanes racing towards Taiwan in numbers not seen before, forcing the democratic self-ruled…
Paperless tiger
The rise of the digital yuan
Portrait of the week
Home The crisis of the week was a shortage of fuel at garages. ‘There is no need for people to…
Gas crisis offers hard choices: market mayhem or limitless subsidy
Will my bath water still be hot by Christmas? That’s not a question I’d normally feel a need to share…
Dangerous waters
The case against Aukus
The Spectator’s Notes
Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, has begun this academic year by announcing it will be his last in the…
The Covid blame game
Are you ready to relive 2020? That’s what Adam Tooze is offering as he tells the story of Covid-19 through…
China’s obsessive attempts to subvert the West
Most people who think themselves well informed know little or nothing about China. They – or I should say ‘we’…
Xi Jinping is weaponising China’s sex scandals
Zhou Xiaoxuan was in tears when she emerged from the Beijing court around midnight on Tuesday. ‘I’m really sorry there…
China’s war on effeminate men
A rectification notice from China’s state censor earlier this month included a peculiar admonition to ‘resolutely oppose’ effeminate men on…
