History
Who dares lies
Why do so many men (including Sir Christopher Lee) fib about serving with the SAS?
Political memorabilia
My first reaction on hearing of Margaret Thatcher’s death in 2013 was: ‘Great — now my autograph from her will…
Barometer
The spirit of 1945 No one would have been more surprised at the sight of 100,000 people marching in London…
The Spectator’s notes
People write about ‘Grexit’ and ‘Brexit’ as if they were the same, but they need not be. Grexit is about…
The devils’ advocate
Jeremy Hutchinson was the doyen of the criminal bar in the 1960s and 1970s. No Old Bailey hack or parvenu…
Barometer
Dropping the Clangers The Clangers made a comeback on BBC television. Some Clanger facts: — The actors doing the voices…
A lot to ask
David Cameron is now facing the biggest challenge of his leadership: how to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU without…
The surfer, the sailor and the horseman: prosperity is all about personal stories
The tectonic plates of economic life rumble and shift. As ever, market watchers are obsessed by big themes — and…
A warrant for exit
The European Arrest Warrant is incompatible with our tradition of justice
Facing their Waterloo
The French would still prefer to think of Napoleon’s last defeat as a moral victory
From ambrosia to zabaglione
This Oxford Companion ranges from the sweet to the decidedly salty, while being the most politically correct reference book you will ever consult, says Paul Levy
Barometer
First test The driving test celebrated its 80th anniversary. The first person to take the test, R.E.L. Beene of Kensington,…
Barometer
Steam privatisation Cunard celebrated its 175th birthday by sailing three liners down the Mersey. The formation of the Cunard Line…
Living history
It has been a while since the BBC really pushed the boat out on the epic history documentary front. Perhaps…
Demob unhappy
The ex-officers left behind after VE day
Children of Gomorrah
The carpet-bombing of Hamburg killed 40,000 people. It also did good
The devil’s devoted disciple
It is ironic that this weighty biography of Hitler’s evil genius of a propaganda minister is published on the day…
The British public is about to make a big mistake
On the weekend of 25 April 2015 I started to believe that the party I supported might not win an…
Letters
Enemies within Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much…
The boy David
Lunch with a young Cameron on polling day, 1992
Remembering Raymond
Laughter, bird-watching and erudition with Raymond Carr
Passionate pioneers
If Mary Wollstonecraft, as she once declared, ‘was not born to tred in the beaten track’, the same with even…
Some watcher of the skies
We live in an age of astronomical marvels. Last year Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft made a daring rendezvous with the comet…
A rum encounter
For many years, the Central American republic of Guatemala had a grievance against the United Kingdom. It claimed sovereignty over…
‘You are always close to me’
Hitler’s adoring notes to Unity Mitford – and her family’s campaign to stop my book
