Crime
The true cost of the convenience economy
‘Where’s the car?’ said my wife Alice, interrupting my Zoom meeting on Saturday morning. ‘It’s where you left it,’ I…
The shooting of a journalist – and the dark world of Dutch organised crime
In an attack that has rocked the Netherlands, a leading Dutch crime reporter is fighting for his life in hospital…
Why night-clubbing in New York is a risky business
New York The acerbic writer Gore Vidal was once asked which period of history he would choose to have lived…
New York resembles a war zone
New York The Big Bagel is getting so bad that even the baddies are demanding the fuzz do something. As…
Trans offenders are skewing crime statistics
Tonia Antoniazzi’s speech in the House of Commons this week was remarkable, not because of what she said – the…
Seldom less than gripping: Banged Up podcast reviewed
Prison-based podcast Banged Up, now in its second series, is far more uplifting — and less soapy — than its…
How to get a police record (without committing a crime)
I couldn’t quite believe it when first I read the newspaper subscriber’s letter. Columnists for the Times and Spectator do…
My return to New York is a mixed blessing
New York Ha, ha! What London turned down, the Bagel accepted with alacrity, namely the poor little Greek boy. And…
Is Jed Mercurio bored with Line of Duty?
When a drama begins with news of a ‘Chis handler’ receiving ‘intel graded A1 on the matrix’ that causes a…
The politicisation of Sarah Everard’s death
A woman called Jenny Jones, now elevated to Baroness Moonbeam, or something, in the House of Lords has proposed a…
Has Neil Ferguson been proved right about Covid?
Calculated risk It is a year since Neil Ferguson’s Imperial College team published the paper that inspired the government to…
The conservative appeal of drug gangs
According to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, the easing of lock-down will be accompanied by a rise in crime…
‘Britain’s Dreyfus Affair’: a very nasty village scandal
It has been described as Britain’s Dreyfus Affair — the wrongful imprisonment in 1903 of a half-Indian solicitor George Edalji…
Beware the hobby bobby
‘Anything you say may be given in evidence. Do you have anything to say?’ I looked at the baby-faced police…
Is the hottest new podcast, The Apology Line, worth sticking with?
With the arts world still largely in hibernation, the launch of a big podcast is as close as we get…
Cruelty and chaos in Karachi
Karachi, Pakistan’s troubled heart, is known to cast a seductive spell over residents and visitors alike. In Karachi Vice, the…
Is it time to reopen technology’s cold cases?
One of the staples of crime drama is the ‘cold-case squad’. This allows programme-makers to add period detail to the…
Who killed Jane Britton in 1969?
The problem with telling stories about Harvard is that Harvard, if it teaches anything these days, teaches distrust of stories.…
Why New Yorkers are fleeing the city in droves
New York Back when people used to read newspapers, they called it a ‘human interest’ story. Now it appears as…
I’m now considered a freak in New York
New York It’s nice to finally be in the Bagel, a place where the cows have two legs and no…
New York is a paradise for criminals
New York New York, New York, once a wonderful town/ The people are crap and the mayor’s a clown/ The…
Bas Javid: Why I joined the police
There’s no such thing as a typical week in policing and this last one was no different. It started on…
A murderer among us: I was Dennis Nilsen’s boss
I was Dennis Nilsen’s boss
Letters: We must sing again
Growing pains Sir: James Forsyth (‘Rewiring the state’, 4 July) shocked this loyal Spectator reader with the following: ‘Even before…
Extra, extra — read all about us!
Instead of telling us about America, or even the world outside, American journalists now tell us about other American journalists. The…
