France
Christianity is our best defence
It has become normal to think of the Islamist attacks in Europe as attacks on a secular way of life.…
Portrait of the week
Home Wales, entering a 17-day ‘firebreak’, closed most shops by law but then tried to stop supermarkets selling ‘non-essential’ items…
Portrait of the Week
Home After ten days spent trying to persuade Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, to accede to the city…
Tiphaine Auzière and the panic inside the Élysée
Will the presidency of Emmanuel Macron open the door to a political dynasty in France? He has no children, so…
Low life
My French friend André speaks perfect English and is the kindest of men. After reading last week about my futile…
Letters
Misplaced Trust Sir: Charles Moore is as ever bang on target (The Spectator’s Notes, 26 September). National Trust members have…
Lockdown fatigue
From the vantage point of Downing Street, Boris Johnson may feel reassured that the further measures against Covid-19 he imposed…
Low life
Feeling oddly confident, clairvoyant even, I entered a bar to place a bet on Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.…
Low life
Scotching my bright idea of a stiff gin for Dutch courage in the bar across the road, Catriona bounded straight…
What cinema is for
Cuties is the subject of a moral panic and a hashtag #CancelNetflix. It tells the story of Amy (Fathia Youssouf),…
Low life
Hairpin bends in a stony forest. Downhill. Steep, then steeper. Smooth frictionless tarmac. I’ve got the car barely under control.…
Low life
The old dog was in a companionable frame of mind and she trotted along at my side, glancing up now…
The Atlantic twists the truth
The Atlantic has stunk up an otherwise beautiful Labor Day weekend with a uniquely ugly story. Anti-Trump editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg claims that…
Low life
The Moulinards had inhabited the old stone hilltop house for centuries, ekeing out a hard living among the sun-baked boulders.…
A taste of the continent
Is it safe to visit the continent? On the one hand, abroad is likely to be less crowded this August…
Bonjour happiness
Soon, very soon now — even sooner than I imagined, if A Suitable Boy turns out to be as lacklustre…
Low life
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur Until January the foreign correspondent lived in a late-18th-century house with a vineyard, olive grove and vegetable garden…
Has France been naive in its handling of Huawei?
The controversy over the UK’s use of Huawei equipment in its 5G network has not abated, despite the government’s announcement…
Low life
Phone calls aside, the only human contact I had on my ten-day Somme battlefield tour was with the lady who…
Macron’s new sidekick
Is France’s latest prime minister just another fall guy?
Low life
Avid Spectator reader Mr Brown had endured the very strictest of lockdowns for family health reasons in Tunbridge Wells. Since…
Plan to fail
How was Britain so ill-prepared for a pandemic?
Low life
Chatting on the café terrace with my new friends Didier and Emile made me aware that certain political ideas, which…
Low life
I took a table on the terrace of the reopened bar and ordered une pression from the waitress. ‘Back to…
Low life
I walked to the salon in fiery sunshine. Gorgeous, zaftig Elody was wearing a short satin dressing gown of silver…
