Good memoir-writing should also be self-critical
A book about breaking confidences, not to mention friendships, rather begs the same in return. Reading Anne Applebaum’s brief memoir…
My fears for the future of my church have been realised
The only memorable argument I have ever heard in that tedious debate about whether Shakespeare was a Catholic came from…
What is the point of the New York Times?
Earlier today, Bari Weiss resigned from the New York Times and published a devastating letter of resignation on her website…
Trump is taking on the historical revisionists
Donald Trump is fighting back against America’s historical revisionists
Don’t play a game you can’t win
Of all the people who have made cash in the past month, few can have raked it in like Robin…
What isn't being said about the Reading attack victims?
Imagine if on Saturday evening a white neo-Nazi had stabbed three men to death. Imagine, furthermore, if in the wake…
The new inequality
It is a strange habit, the American one of making talk-show hosts into preachers. There is no good reason, after…
This could have been a great opportunity for the Church
During these months of inertia, I confess to having on occasion made illicit trips to churches in the English countryside.…
Can’t stand free speech? You’re fired!
Since the whole world is in crisis, a crisis in the world of publishing might seem like a niche issue.…
In defence of liberalism: resisting a new era of intolerance
Our public figures must rediscover the true spirit of liberty
What the response to London's young graffiti cleaners reveals
Further Black Lives Matter protests took place yesterday in the UK, in response to the death of a man at…
Why are street protestors exempt from the corona clause?
It is nearly four years since Black Lives Matter had their first major protest in London. Emulating their US counterparts,…
Why should Cummings be sacked for protecting his family?
There have been an enormous number of positive attributes on display during the lockdown. Family members keeping an eye on…
X days to save the economy!
I wonder what the Labour party will use as its scare slogan at the next election? After all, the usual…
It's time to take a stand against Chinese bullying
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in the magazine how the Chinese Communist Party has been trying to bully…
Hugging China hasn’t done us any favours
Like nearly everything named a ‘scandal’, ‘affair’ or given the post-fix ‘gate’, almost nobody now remembers the Dalai Lama affair.…
Do Joe Biden's supporters still ‘believe all women’?
There is an obvious attraction in certain simple claims. ‘Believe all women’, for instance, is easy to utter, beneficial to…
I love my fellow hacks – even when I disagree with them
It’s one way to keep in touch with people. Each morning, somewhere between the first coffee of the day and…
Monkeys, bats and our national trust
There was always one key flaw in our species. Which is that someone always shags a monkey. I have expressed…
Four of the best Spectator pieces I've ever read
One of the things that lockdown allows you to do is not just to read but to re-read. Obviously the…
In this strange new world, where do we find purpose?
Perhaps we are at least past the beginning of this crisis. The phase where the hunt for multipacks of loo-rolls…
The Guardian's trans rights civil war rumbles on
At times of great stress it is necessary to find your enjoyments where you can. And as I mentioned in…
Will the NHS drop its trans obsession when peak coronavirus hits?
As coronavirus sweeps across the country, I am sure people will be reassured to know that the NHS is doing…
Don’t tell me what I can read
At least none of us will have to pretend that we read Woody Allen’s memoirs. This week the publishers Hachette…
How Sinn Fein got away with murder
The online world should be credited when it gets something right. And on Twitter an account titled ‘On This Day…
