The sad demise of Brooks Brothers
New York Our own Douglas Murray is the canary in the Bagel coal mine as of late. The left controls…
The age-old story of strongmen
The only good news, after the massacres in Ukraine, is that so many ugly behemoth super-yachts have been seized and…
The art of the witty riposte
One hundred or so years ago, a down-in-the-dumps Joseph Roth wrote to Stefan Zweig: ‘The barbarians have taken over.’ Later…
My lack of schadenfreude worries me
Something has been bothering me of late, and that is my total lack of schadenfreude. The malicious pleasure at someone’s…
In praise of amateurs
Two weeks ago in St Moritz I ran into both Nicolas Niarchos and Nikolai von Bismarck, two talented young men…
The folly of Nato enlargement
If western universities were not brimming with leftist professors, the present situation in Ukraine would surprise no one. History would…
The books that made me who I am
Gstaad This is my last week in the Alps and I’m trying to get it all in – skiing, cross-country,…
St Moritz is unique among ski resorts
St Moritz Once upon a time, not that long ago, St Moritz was the world’s greatest resort, an exclusive winter…
The moral courage of P.J. O’Rourke
Was it Socrates who said that chaos was the natural state of mankind, and tyranny the usual remedy? Actually it…
The perils of a sex party
Gstaad I cross-country ski the old-fashioned way, not skating but on machine-made narrow tracks. It is known to be the…
The crazy, corrupt world of the Beijing Olympics
Gstaad OK sport fans, have you been enjoying the concentration camp Olympics? I’m sure the Uighurs in the Chinese gulag…
The joylessness of Joan Didion
Gstaad Joan Didion, who died last December, took herself extremely seriously. American writers tend to do that, especially those…
The rise of the new autocracy
Gstaad Dinner parties are no longer verboten here, so I posed a question to some youngsters my son had over:…
In praise of January
Gstaad According to a little bird, Boris has gone from brilliant to bawd, and according to me this village has…
Why we should study literature, not science
Gstaad Who was it who said good manners had gone the way of black and white TV? Actually it was…
High life
Gstaad It is hard to imagine that we have reached the year 2022 and are still imposing completely irrelevant…
A brief history of the death of God
A few weeks after Friedrich Nietzsche bragged to an admirer that he had completed a ruthless attack on our Lord,…
America is a nation divided
New York Imagine a European country today in which a newspaper in its most populous city launches a mendacious project…
After a lifetime in nightclubs, now I party at home
New York It’s party time in the Bagel, and it’s about time, too. Good restaurants and elegant nightclubs are…
The Kushner conundrum
Gstaad I have two special girlfriends, Lynne and Fiona, the ladies who guard The Spectator’s entrance against the outraged #MeToo…
The joy of being cancelled
New York I’ve never met anyone called Othello, certainly not in Venice nor in Cyprus, but perhaps there are men…
I’ve been back one week and the good old US of A has never seemed more depressing
New York Don’t let anyone tell you the Bagel is worse off than Kabul, where three people were recently shot…
Lord Lucan, Joan Collins and the greatest dinner ever
There’s a narrow stretch of Chelsea, south of the King’s Road from Oakley Street to Ormonde Gate, that reminds me…
Michael Mailer’s new film is Chariots of Fire on water – and it’s great
New York I find most films nowadays as fascinating as a lengthy history of orthodontics but then I’m spoilt rotten,…
The poor are too busy trying to make a living to be angry about the global rich-poor divide
New York ‘The City of London is hiding the world’s stolen money’, screams a Bagel Times headline, as bogus…
