Melanie McDonagh

Melanie McDonagh is a leaderwriter for the Evening Standard and Spectator contributor. Irish, living in London.

Britain will be a lesser nation without the Queen

9 September 2022 4:10 pm

The loneliest thing about being as long-lived as the Queen, at 96, is that you have few or no contemporaries.…

The horrifying truth about Liz Truss

7 September 2022 3:00 am

Was it just me or was Liz Truss actually smirking during her statement outside Downing Street, the one littered with…

Jeremy Clarkson should be the next host of University Challenge

18 August 2022 5:00 pm

The bad news of the week is that Jeremy Paxman is retiring from University Challenge. The worse is that most…

Children are the big losers from the decline of marriage

11 August 2022 2:28 am

Funny, isn’t it, the way people bandy the word ‘bastard’ nowadays, without any notion that it pertains to the condition…

Could Russia stoke conflict between Serbia and Kosovo?

10 August 2022 5:34 am

The prime minister of Kosovo has been talking about a possible war in the country, with Russia as the instigator. In…

What’s the matter with Disney?

23 July 2022 5:07 pm

If there’s one thing that gives a bad name to gender stereotyping it’s the Disney princess: a combination of hideous…

The lost art of letterheads

16 July 2022 9:00 am

One of the pleasures of the letters from unhappy ministers to the Prime Minister last week (though not, presumably, for…

Can Oxford’s new Vice-Chancellor fix the university?

10 July 2022 4:30 pm

There’s a new Vice-Chancellor taking over at Oxford later this year. She’s Irene Tracey, warden of Merton College, and an…

A mess: British Museum's Feminine Power – the Divine to the Demonic reviewed

4 June 2022 9:00 am

The point at which the heart sinks in this exhibition is, unfortunately, right at the outset. That’s where we meet…

Is Nancy Pelosi's communion ban unfair?

27 May 2022 5:00 pm

The Eucharist has, to use the current jargon, been weaponised in the standoff between Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US…

Enjoyably plummy and male: Battleground – The Falklands War podcast reviewed

14 May 2022 9:00 am

The Battlegroundpodcast on the wars of the 20th century, said presenter Saul David happily, ‘will have lots of bombs and…

Roe v. Wade and Britain’s non-existent abortion debate

4 May 2022 12:13 am

Judge Samuel Alito was incontrovertibly right about one thing in his leaked, draft ruling on Roe v. Wade: ‘Abortion presents…

Justin Welby is wrong about Rwanda

18 April 2022 12:31 am

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Easter sermon was quite something; forcefully delivered, arrestingly put. At the heart of it was his…

How Mother’s Day became big business

26 March 2022 9:00 am

As ever, the Romans got there first. Their version of Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day was the feast of Juno…

What Madeleine Albright got right – and wrong – on Kosovo

26 March 2022 3:43 am

Unsurprisingly, it’s Kosovo where Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State, is remembered with particular gratitude: today there’s an official…

The foie gras and fur ban was never really about animal suffering

20 February 2022 12:43 am

Well, too bad Carrie and Zac. It looks like the government is going to drop its commitment to banning imports…

We could learn a thing or two from Swiss democracy

14 February 2022 11:55 pm

There was another referendum in Switzerland over the weekend. This one was about protecting the young from the evils of…

The Pope is right: it is selfish to choose pets over children

8 January 2022 7:00 pm

Well, we’ve been terrifically amused and amusing at the expense of Pope Francis, who this week declared at a Vatican…

The churches must stay open

26 December 2021 6:00 pm

Hooray for Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who used the one day of the year when his pronouncements are amplified by the…

Children’s books for all ages: the best of 2021

11 December 2021 9:00 am

She’s done it again: J.K. Rowling has written a captivating children’s book. The Christmas Pig(Little Brown, £20) is about a…

What the BBC show trial of Michael Vaughan tells us

29 November 2021 7:37 am

After dropping Michael Vaughan in punishment for what he said (or might not have said) many years ago, the BBC…

How the pumpkin hijacked Halloween

30 October 2021 9:00 am

You see them everywhere in vast orange mounds: pumpkins, piles of pumpkins, large enough to be turned into a coach…

Why is it so hard to live without a mobile phone?

23 October 2021 9:00 am

Why is it so hard to live without a mobile phone?

It’s time for James Bond to die

30 September 2021 9:09 am

I saw the new James Bond last night, but after reading today’s reviews I’m not sure I watched the same…

Why incels aren’t terrorists

15 August 2021 10:03 am

Sometimes, a nutter is just a nutter, even when he’s a homicidal nutter. In the case of Jake Davison, the…