Iran
High life
I switch personalities at Spectator parties, depending who the guests are: for our readers’ tea party, I am a warm…
Death metal
We in the West may snigger at heavy metal, but in some parts of the world its practitioners face the death penalty. Karen Yossman reports
Linked in
What makes the World Service so different from the rest of the BBC? I asked Mary Hockaday, the controller of…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, decided to allow ministers to campaign for either side in the referendum on membership…
Why we have to stand by the foul, brutal Saudis
The Saudis have got the new year off to a busy start, haven’t they? The authorities executed 47 people, including…
The caliphate strikes back
Isis could be on the brink of creating a terrifying new world order
Iran’s hidden war with the West – and what we can do to fight back
It’s up to Britain to ensure that the nuclear dealdoes not allow a greater threat to the Middle East
Letters
Don’t write off Assad Sir: Ahmed Rashid refers to our ‘Arab allies’ supporting al-Qaeda (‘The plan to back al-Qaeda against…
Gambling on Iran
Iran is, beyond doubt, a sponsor of terrorism and this week it has been made much stronger. It has (again)…
Portrait of the week
Home The government postponed a Commons vote on relaxing the Hunting Act in England and Wales after the Scottish National…
A deal for the good of the world, but in Vienna rather than Brussels
As an occasional lecturer on the abstruse topic of the efficacy of sanctions in conflict resolution, I find myself much…
Shifting sands in Saudi
Why America’s once-cautious ally suddenly looks so skittish
Smash Isis now
Assassinate its leadership, destroy its sense of destiny
The real Iran deal
While Obama talks centrifuges in Geneva, Iranian-backed militia are redrawing the map of Iraq
Portrait of the week
Home The man seen in several Islamic State videos of hostages being beheaded, nicknamed Jihadi John by the British press,…
Beautiful losers
The ‘Great Kings’ of Persia were renowned for their good looks and imposing stature, but they will always, throughout history, be eclipsed by the Greeks, says Tom Holland
Good luck finding goodies and baddies in Iraq
If there’s a bright spot in the murky mess of Iraq, it’s that finally we have a war that it…
Hard times for Hamas
The party is out of favour with its foreign neighbours and with ordinary Gazans
Armageddon awaits
Sunni vs Shia, Saudi Arabia vs Iran. A new great war has begun
The Navigators
The 2014 winner of The Spectator’s award for unconventional travel writing
Diplomatic meltdown
President Obama’s flagship foreign policy of ‘leading from behind’ has had some surprising consequences. Not least among them is that…
No country for old men
‘Is he a good writer? Is he pro-regime?’ an Iranian journalist in London once asked me of Hooman Majd. Majd…
The good Iranian
If President Hassan Rouhani is anything like his mentor, peace has another chance
