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Full circle
How the left thought they were right to fight the war on terror
Letter from Kabul
The Taliban Cultural Commission sounds a contradiction in terms but for all foreign journalists it’s the first stop in the…
Life, love and alienation
The millennial generation of Irish novelists lays great store by loving relationships. One of the encomia on the cover of…
Lack of personality cult
How ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ took over China’s classrooms
Diary
In football, you are always stronger in numbers. With a shared focus, people from different cultures, nationalities, races, sexual orientations,…
The protest test
The concept of normality has been so disrupted over the past 18 months that the Extinction Rebellion protests — usually…
Diary
I’ve been to two of my favourite book festivals recently, Chalke Valley History Festival and Charleston, and the experience has…
I blame Tony Blair
The Americans may have pulled out, but luckily the Afghans have the world’s vibrant community of witches intervening to save…
#XiToo
Can the CCP control China’s harassment scandals?
The Orwell Foundation has let Orwell down
George Orwell would not have been surprised by the brouhaha surrounding Kate Clanchy. Two years ago, Clanchy published Some Kids…
Diary
Kabul I’ve been to the front line in Iraq, Syria and Libya and witnessed all kinds of crazy, unlikely…
It’s not just Biden who’s kidding himself
One of the most interesting aspects of President Biden’s speech on the American withdrawal from Afghanistan is that it shows…
No saintly innocent
The Sins of G.K. Chesterton demands our attention because, as Richard Ingrams notes in his introduction, the literature on this…
Zero tolerance
China’s Covid policy can’t last
A character assassination too far
Revisionist biographies of Churchill are nothing new but this one lays the hostility and contempt on with a trowel, says Andrew Roberts
Still life
Lloyd Evans finds the newly returned Edinburgh Fringe quieter, more low-key — and all the better for it
Letter from America
There are many in Donald Trump’s inner circle who have tried to read his mind these past four years, together…
Liberté, égalité, vacciné
France’s revolt against Covid passports is just beginning
Diary
For obvious reasons, stocks in ex-editors of The Spectator are experiencing an all-time low. But my own complaint is with…
‘I’m plagued by worries of disaster’
Dominic Cummings on asteroids, AI and leaving No. 10
Have we herd?
Covid is meeting a wall of immunity
A fevered mind
Philip Hensher finds Robert Burton’s perception of the world and the human condition endlessly fascinating
Writer’s notebook
When, three years ago, I announced my retirement from writing fiction, the only thing that surprised me was the surprise…
Diary
I’ve always been a Spectator reader, so I’m delighted to be writing a diary about the Olympics from Tokyo. My…
Diary
The past week has seen another media splash about the self-exiled Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Following the recent ruckus…
