France
Applause for the Beeb’s new leading lady – but did the male runner-up deserve such a kicking?
Hats off to Rona Fairhead, the former Financial Times executive who will succeed Lord Patten as chairman of the BBC…
Diary
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
Europe hopes for magic from Draghi but should listen more carefully to his words
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi secured a place in history by his demonstration, on 26 July 2012, of the…
Australian letters
Placing refugees Sir: Tony Abbott seems to have fooled The Spectator. Your editorial (23 August) gives plaudits to the Australian…
You don’t have to be a left-wing think tank to believe the bosses’ pay boom is unhealthy
The FTSE100 index stands precisely where it did in the first week of December 1999. Whichever way you look at…
My summer advice for graduate job-seekers: try the City last, and steer well clear of PR
August is the season for conversation about career choices. Every holiday party seems to include new graduates or next year’s…
A challenge for Centrica’s new boss: persuade the public we need to get fracking
Iain Conn, who will succeed Sam Laidlaw as chief executive of Centrica, would have been a dead cert for the…
Where have all the leaders gone?
No one wants to pay the price of speaking for the free world
Napoleon’s last victory
If you visit Waterloo today, there’s no question which general comes out on top
The kindness of strangers
It is with a heavy heart that I pick up anything to do with the Holocaust. Not because it’s wearisome…
Australian Letters
Old cabby’s tale Stephen Rommei’s London cabby story (Diary, 7 June) reminded me of catching a cab one cold night…
French suicide
The desperate state of its politics seems to signal the end of the Republic
Resistance and reprisal
Published to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Vercors, perhaps the most famous stand of the French Resistance…
Liberté, égalité, austérité
How France learned to love cuts
A dying language
Why I won’t let my children be taught French
Investment: Love for shale
Here’s how to get a slice of the fracking action
The hapless stationmaster watches France’s future prosperity depart
I’ve always respected stationmasters, but that sentiment is not universally shared. A distinguished friend of mine across the Channel described…
Mobile phones with a touch of tweed
I wouldn’t worry much about the future of the British economy. Because I have a simple plan to make the…
The making of the myth
Writing about Napoleon is a risky business. It exposes the author to the brickbats of the blind worshippers for whom…
Notes on …Skiing in Val d’Isère
First things first. Yes, Val d’Isère does have a reputation for being expensive — and it is, especially if you’re…
Not just a pretty dress
Every fashion era has its monster and in ours it’s Karl Lagerfeld, a man who has so emptied himself on…
How our rich new neighbours can help solve the affordable housing shortage
The mega-rich are best housed behind high fences, on wooded estates patrolled by dogs; that way, they don’t have to…
Low life
This time last year the postman delivered a picture postcard depicting a village square in Provence. The photograph on the…
Low life
Hotel Trepaner, St Raphael, French Riviera: I have read all ten reviews on this site. The overall rating (given by…
Every little helps as the big banks continue to clean up their act
By and large it was a good week for the big banks — underpinned by encouraging news from the wider…
