Winston Churchill
The rewards of being the ‘asylum capital of the world’
Matthew Lockwood traces Britain’s long history as a haven for refugees and argues that the nation has benefitted greatly over the centuries as a result
When Stalin was the lesser of two evils
Churchill detested Stalin, but Britain and the US needed his help against an even worse enemy. Giles Milton reveals the true nature of the Big Three’s dysfunctional relationship
The circus provides perfect cover for espionage
As he flew his plane between circus acts across Germany in the 1930s, Cyril Bertram Mills gained vital aerial intelligence about the Nazis’ rearmament programme
The dirty war of Sefton Delmer
Anything to break German morale was allowable in Delmer’s broadcasts from Wavendon Towers – which purported to come from a disgruntled character within Nazi Germany
Why was the British army so ill-prepared to fight the second world war?
After 1918, the general staff ceased to focus on who they might have to fight next and how, leading to the abysmal performance of the army in Norway and France in 1940
In the dark early 1960s, at least we had the Beatles
The first half of the decade saw towns bulldozed, the Beeching cuts, everyday racism, political scandal and the threat of Armageddon. But there was also Beatlemania…
Out of the shadows
Unlike his attention-seeking brother David Stirling, Bill was a careful planner, responsible for many successful intelligence-gathering operations behind enemy lines
‘We cannot turn back’ from the League of Nations, said Woodrow Wilson – but did just that
His fateful intransigence over the negotiations has been variously ascribed to a Christ-complex, an unhappy childhood and even latent homosexuality
Why I love Her Majesty
I’ve often wondered whether Her Majesty the Queen glances through The Spectator from time to time. And if she does,…
Why men of a certain age love to get naked
Why men of a certain age love to get naked
British horse racing’s debt to the Middle East
A joyful Saturday at Ascot recently reminded me that when the old Hurst Park Racecourse (near Hampton Court Palace) closed…
Is Cambridge university ashamed of Winston Churchill?
When I first started at Churchill College, Cambridge, I was proud that I had joined an institution whose very existence…
All great fun: Mary Churchill dances through the war
The famous photographic portrait by Karsh of Winston Churchill as wartime prime minster personifies heroic defiance and grim determination. His…
How Starmer can beat Boris
How should Keir Starmer deal with a problem like Boris Johnson? Despite the Prime Minister’s mistakes in the handling of…
The sweet smell of success: the story behind Chanel No 5’s popularity
This is a curious book, by turns profound and whimsical. Karl Schlögel, a professor of Eastern European history at Frankfurt,…
Churchill’s enigma: the real riddle is why he cosied up to Stalin
The real riddle is why he cosied up to Stalin
The campus Churchill delusion
Was Winston Churchill a racist? For students like me who attended Churchill College, Cambridge, it’s a question which barely even…
Why you can’t trust supermarket cheese
We were celebrating the end of lockdown by talking about war and deer stalking — over a business lunch, naturally.…
Watch Andrew Marr stare at places where stuff happened: New Elizabethans reviewed
Congratulations, everyone! It turns out we’re much better than those bigoted old Brits of the 1950s. After all, they were…
It’s time for Boris to channel Churchill
How Boris can get Britain’s Covid fight back on track
Is Britain a nation in fear of safetyism?
It should come as no surprise that Britain’s city centres remain, in the words of CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn, ‘ghost…
The Democrats want a Cold War, but will they get a civil war?
With the Swamp lovingly tended under the Obama/Biden administration, the Democrats sense a chance to end President Trump and carry…
It was Bevin, not Bevan, who was the real national treasure
Alan Johnson pays tribute to Ernest Bevin, a towering political figure too often forgotten
Toppling a statue isn’t erasing history – it’s writing it
I couldn’t disagree more with Sir Keir Starmer (it was ‘completely wrong,’ ‘it shouldn’t have been done in that way’)…
Why is the Labour left so averse to Winston Churchill?
It has become a ritual almost as traditional as the Changing of the Guard. During a weekend of mostly peaceful…
