Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from London and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk.

Ian Blackford's six step guide to untold riches

31 March 2022 11:15 pm

Inflation. Energy spikes. Tax hikes. Low growth. It’s a tough time for hard-pressed Britons at present. The cost of living…

Now the statue-topplers come for abolitionists

30 March 2022 7:36 pm

Susan Aitken, we meet again. The worst council leader in Britain is back in the news. What, pray, is it…

David Cameron gets an honour

24 March 2022 8:01 pm

When you’ve held the highest elected office in the land, subsequent honours might all seem a bit trivial. Gongs, trophies,…

Gary Neville moans about taxes

23 March 2022 10:40 pm

The political journey of Gary Neville continues to delight and astound. The former England right back now finds himself on the…

Hacks in uproar about Nazanin briefing

22 March 2022 9:40 pm

Welcome home Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, released after six years imprisonment. The 43-year-old returned to the UK last week after the government settled a…

Operation Ark returns to haunt Boris

22 March 2022 12:08 am

Boris Johnson is doing rather well on Ukraine at the moment, thanks to Britain’s role in sending arms and training…

Parliament full of vermin: official

21 March 2022 6:30 pm

It was Nye Bevan who claimed that the Conservative party was ‘lower than vermin.’ But in today’s House of Commons,…

Does Twitter think Trump is worse than Russia?

19 March 2022 2:25 am

Who decides what gets counted as ‘misinformation’? For the increasingly large number of people who get their news from social…

Why do Russian tennis stars need to condemn Putin?

16 March 2022 9:14 am

Nigel Huddleston is Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, hardly the biggest job in government. Yet…

Macron, the reverse Zelensky

15 March 2022 5:12 am

Which Western leader has been the most shameless when it comes to Ukraine? America’s Vice President ‘Calamity’ Kamala Harris is another…

Mail man changes his 'Russian-sounding' name

9 March 2022 10:40 pm

Sanctions, boycotts, bans, penalties of all kind: there’s no end to the punishments being slapped on Moscow. But amid the…

Labour flounders to define the word 'woman'

9 March 2022 1:30 am

Happy International Women’s Day! To mark this auspicious occasion, the Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour today hosted a conversation between…

Now JK Rowling takes on the critics

8 March 2022 8:40 pm

Away from the scenes in eastern Europe, a very different terf war was playing out on Twitter yesterday between JK…

KitKat-loving MPs consume £250k in snacks

3 March 2022 11:15 pm

After surviving his Covid scare in spring 2020, Boris Johnson was positively evangelical about the importance of weight loss. Launching…

Now Lebedev turns on Putin

1 March 2022 1:30 am

Looks like this war isn’t going terribly well for Vladimir Putin. The Russian dictator now finds himself something of an international pariah, with…

Harry and Meghan speak out on Ukraine

25 February 2022 11:30 pm

Amid all the gloom, a sliver of light has emerged from the rubble of Ukraine. As Sun-Tzu said: ‘In the midst of…

The Globe adds Shakespeare anti-Semitism warnings

22 February 2022 2:50 am

Mr S enjoys a good show: many of the best dramas are to be found on the Westminster stage. After all, what…

The New York Times takes aim at J.K. Rowling

18 February 2022 9:50 pm

It looks like the New York Times is at it again. In recent years, America’s least-reliable news source has developed a…

Poll: UK wary of sending troops to Ukraine

17 February 2022 9:45 pm

Another day and another wait to see what, if anything, will happen in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin still has thousands of soldiers…

Will Prince Andrew fuel a republican boom?

16 February 2022 10:06 pm

So that’s then. After years of claims and counter-claims, Prince Andrew has settled with Virginia Giuffre for an eight-figure sum…

Does the Bodleian really need a race adviser?

11 February 2022 4:40 am

It’s a difficult time for libraries. Budget cutbacks, online competitors and rival forms of media all point to a grim…

Why is the BBC saying Boris’s Savile claims are false?

10 February 2022 12:55 am

Is Boris Johnson’s claim that Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile ‘false’? The BBC certainly thinks so. During the…

Mob hound Starmer outside parliament

8 February 2022 6:40 am

An uneventful Monday was enlivened this evening by some rather unappealing scenes outside parliament. Walking back from a Ministry of…

SNP councillor: 'Prosecute Jimmy Carr's audience'

8 February 2022 1:13 am

Oh dear. It seems that the most illiberal party in Great Britain is at it again. In the nationwide haste…

New No. 10 press chief: Boris is 'not a complete clown'

7 February 2022 11:14 pm

If Boris Johnson thought his new No. 10 hires would be less high-profile than their predecessors, he might want to…