Thatcher
The vicious genius of Adam Curtis
In an interview back in 2021, Adam Curtis explained that most political journalists couldn’t understand his films because they aren’t…
Impeccable history of the free market – and from the BBC too
The launch of Radio 4’s Invisible Hands series has been both blessed and cursed by timing. It tells the story…
Thatcherism is a cult the Tories should not follow
Friedrich Nietzsche may not be the most fashionable member of the conservative canon, but doubtless he wouldn’t care much. He…
Inflation is a social evil, so why don’t our leaders care?
It was a ‘destroyer of society’, a ‘tax on ordinary people’s savings’ and a threat to social order. You don’t…
Weirder and weirder
The only impersonation I can do is my Jimmy Savile impersonation. This is not uncommon among people of my generation:…
How Margaret Thatcher helped inspire my transgender journey
The gender debate has generated plenty of heat, but as a trans person – and keen supporter of the Conservative…
Thatcher was completely right about the Euro
It was a ‘rush of blood to the head’. Its central bank would prove to be hopelessly ineffective. And cultural…
A Grantham statue is the least Margaret Thatcher deserves
Grantham in Lincolnshire has an interesting history. Newton went to school there. Turner produced several paintings of local scenes. During…
What would Margaret Thatcher do about Brexit?
‘What would Margaret Thatcher do about Brexit?’ people keep asking me. Why do they think I would know? If I…
An exceptional dystopia that’s made for TV: The Phlebotomist reviewed
The Phlebotomist by Ella Road explores the future of genetics. Suppose a simple blood test were able to tell us…
Helen Parr’s intimate portrait of the Parachute Regiment – Our Boys – captures the essence of modern Britain
On the night of 13 June 1982, Dave Parr was hit by shellfire on Wireless Ridge. He was 19, a…
Washed-up junkies, Trump the director and a cash giveaway: Edinburgh Festival round-up
Trump Lear is a chaotically enjoyable one-man show with a complicated premise. David Carl, an American satirist, has arrived on…
If only the Tories understood economics
‘I don’t think I’m quite as Austrian as you are,’ a Tory minister said to me the other day. And…
Letting terror win
Publicity and panic make us all accessories to jihadi murders
It’s the Labour moderates who need to get real
It has become commonplace to remark that there exists in Britain a mainstream political grouping that seems to be dwelling…
The four men who averted the Apocalypse
Robert Service’s account of the greatest turning point in modern history is unlikely to be bettered, says Sherard Cowper-Coles
Blue is the collar
Stephen Crabb, the working-class Welsh Secretary with a fondness for Margaret Thatcher
Death by politics
Dead Sheep is a curious dramatic half-breed that examines Geoffrey Howe’s troubled relationship with Margaret Thatcher. Structurally it’s a Mexican…
The rare joy of the commonplace book
Among the gifts that have come my way this Christmas season, none has given me pleasure more immediate or more…
Bombs away!
The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is an eager interventionist
Home is where his heart is
Roger Scruton is that rarest of things: a first-rate philosopher who actually has a philosophy. Unfortunately at times for him,…
Bad bad acting
It’s taken a while but here it is. The Play That Goes Wrong is like Noises Off, but simpler. Michael…
Pride and prejudice
1984 and all that. Which side were you on? The side of Margaret Thatcher, her hairdo and person standing rigid…
A ladder for everyone
Justine Greening says that the Conservatives will not win big until they really home in on social mobility
The Spectator’s Notes
This must be the worst reshuffle since Mrs Thatcher demoted Geoffrey Howe in 1989. Unlike that one, its errors are…
