School closures leave parents with a serious headache
Well, thanks a whole lot, Gavin W. The announcement that schools would close in England from Friday was pretty well…
In praise of President Trump’s positive thinking
An opinion piece in the Washington Post by Helaine Olen suggests that President Trump believes that the coronavirus can be…
Why we should welcome a Sinn Fein government
There are those – most of my acquaintance in Ireland, frankly – who can think of nothing worse than Sinn…
The puzzling thing about Harry and Meghan’s big announcement
Let’s not get carried away. The Queen’s younger grandson may be decamping to North America with his lovely wife and…
Angels and daemons: Children’s books for Christmas
Sometimes I have to admit the reason I read children’s books with pleasure is that I’m essentially puerile —and look,…
Prince Andrew’s fatal error
Well, they’ve got their scalp. Prince Andrew is retiring from public life. But before he did, he said in his…
A Citizens’ Assembly on climate change is the coward’s way out
So is it good news that Citizens’ Assemblies are to sit to decide on how best to address the issue…
Children’s literature has become horribly right-on
There was a spat the other week about a children’s book, Equal to Everything: Judge Brenda and the Supreme Court,…
![Parents and children demonstrate against the No Outsiders programme at Parkfield School in Birmingham in March [Photo: Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Melanie_McDonagh.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Should Muslim parents be allowed to challenge LGBT lessons?
We saw two different worlds, or at least two different value systems, collide in the High Court in Birmingham this…
Desert Island Discs has completely lost the plot
There’s a cultural problem at the BBC, isn’t there? The Corporation is trying to attract under-35s — the sort who…
A child’s-eye view of the world: The Curse of the School Rabbit, by Judith Kerr, reviewed
Is there a more perfect children’s writer for this generation than Judith Kerr? She started with a tiger — The…
The Sussexes’ complete lack of self-awareness
There’s no stopping the Sussexes, is there? Right after they get up everyone’s nose by saying their son’s christening is…
Boris has to get out of Camberwell
Well! Just when it looked like the only political question anyone would be talking about is the start of the…
The Pope is wrong to change the Lord’s Prayer
Is the pope a Catholic? You have to wonder. In the old days, a pope’s remit was modest: infallible, but…
Why the First Wives’ Club should cut Boris a bit of slack
Well, very obliging of Donald Trump to back Boris Johnson – ‘a very good guy…he’d be excellent…I like him very…
Is the Guardian practising what it preaches on climate change?
The Guardian has an advertisement today from Sainsbury’s. Nothing wrong with that; respectable paper, respectable retailer. It’s the nature of the…
How an anarchist music student become of the fashion greats: the life of Christian Dior
Strange to think when you visit the Christian Dior show at the V&A that his time as designer was so…
Family favourites: children’s books for Christmas reviewed
There’s no shortage of magical rings in the children’s canon, the sort of things that usefully make you invisible or…
A new exhibition gives us the real Tolkien – not his awful legacy
To no one’s surprise, the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibition at the Bodleian in Oxford, where J.R.R. spent so much…
Who really wants to read feminist children’s books?
A friend of mine who commissions book reviews has added a sub-category to the list of titles coming up: ‘femtrend’,…
The greatest French museum you’ve never heard of
Imagine a French museum that’s second only to the Louvre when it comes to paintings, with an eye-watering collection of…
The Catholic Church is absent in Ireland’s abortion referendum
The Irish referendum on abortion takes place in just under three weeks’ time, and while the polls suggest a hefty…
This V&A show, about fashion’s fascination with the natural world, will seduce and appal
One of the prettiest pieces in the V&A exhibition Fashioned from Nature is a man’s cream waistcoat, silk and linen,…
The captivating art, science and politics of hair: Beehives, Bobs and Blow-dries reviewed
One of the best things about Beehives, Bobs and Blow-dries — yep, an exhibition about hairdressing — is the reaction…
Fairy tales for feisty girls
This being the centenary of women’s suffrage, there’s an unmissable feminist aspect to children’s books right now. Stories about strong…
