The Spectator

God save the Queen: the monarchy has become more valuable than ever

4 June 2022 9:00 am

Rarely has a public figure taken a promise so seriously as the vow that Her Majesty the Queen made on…

Portrait of the week: Jubilee celebrations, energy bill discounts and a trade deal with Indiana

4 June 2022 9:00 am

Home The Jubilee for the Queen’s 70 years on the throne was marked by two days of public holiday, 16,000…

2555: 6 x 2 mixtures - solution

4 June 2022 9:00 am

The paired unclued lights (2/25, 4/16, 5/28, 10/20, 13/17 and 15D/41) are anagrams of one another. First prize Trish Baldin,…

Letters: Who’s responsible for Putin’s rise if not Russians?

4 June 2022 9:00 am

Russian misrule Sir: Your editorial (‘Sanction Schroder’, 21 May) laments that western sanctions may be harming ordinary Russians, given that…

How profitable are Britain’s biggest oil companies?

28 May 2022 9:00 am

A slip of the tongue George W. Bush condemned a political system where one man could wage a ‘brutal and…

Boris Johnson’s guilt

28 May 2022 9:00 am

An ability to survive narrow scrapes has been one of Boris Johnson’s defining qualities. The pictures of Downing Street’s lockdown…

2554: Going, going... – Solution

28 May 2022 9:00 am

The unclued lights were all extinct species. PTERODON was an acceptable variation at 5 Across. DODO was to be deleted…

Letters: The true state of Oxbridge admissions

28 May 2022 9:00 am

Applying myself Sir: It was interesting to read David Abulafia’s rather damning critique of the Oxbridge admissions process (‘Who’s out’,…

Portrait of the week: Sue Gray reports, ScotRail slashes trains and monkeypox spreads

28 May 2022 9:00 am

Home Sue Gray starched and ironed her report for publication after the Metropolitan Police wound up its own enquiries into…

Letters: Banning Russia’s culture only benefits Putin

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Don’t ban Russia’s culture Sir: It is uncouth, illiterate and actually beneficial to Putin when theatres, opera houses and other…

Portrait of the week: Inflation’s 40-year high, Tory MP’s rape arrest and monkeypox in Britain

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Home The annual rate of inflation, impelled by energy costs, rose to 9 per cent, its highest since 1982. Unemployment…

When did footballers’ wives become ‘WAGs’?

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Wagtime Footballers’ wives Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney are locked in a libel trial dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’. The term WAGs,…

2553: Island alien - solution

21 May 2022 9:00 am

The unclued lights when arranged as 12, 11, 43, 5, 24, 1D, 1A form Chambers’definition of MULLET at 30D. First…

Sanction Gerhard Schröder

21 May 2022 9:00 am

From the start of the war in Ukraine, the democratic world has shown striking unity in the economic boycott of…

Letters: What happened to hymns in schools?

14 May 2022 9:00 am

Disarming by default Sir: Underpinning Rod Liddle’s amusing article on use of nuclear weapons last week is the reassurance provided…

Solution to 2552: 😀

14 May 2022 9:00 am

The emoticon which formed the title of the puzzle suggested George Smiley, Le Carré’s nemesis of MI6 moles, ordered as…

The problem with Macron’s vision for Europe

14 May 2022 9:00 am

The Ukraine crisis has transformed international affairs, forcing countries the world over to rethink their alliances and interests. New patterns…

Portrait of the week: The Queen’s Speech, Sinn Fein surge and an £184m lottery win

14 May 2022 9:00 am

Home The Prince of Wales delivered the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament sitting on a throne next…

How hard is it to see an NHS dentist?

14 May 2022 9:00 am

Biergate Sir Keir Starmer was facing the scandal of ‘beergate’. Biergate is a lane in the Lincolnshire village of Grainthorpe.…

Read: Vladimir Putin's victory day speech in full

9 May 2022 10:38 pm

The following is The Spectator’s translation of Putin’s speech for victory day 2022. Most respected citizens of Russia, dear veterans,…

Can anything save Boris Johnson?

7 May 2022 9:00 am

As Boris Johnson faced the possibility of a no-confidence motion earlier this year, a large number of Tory MPs decided…

Who’s heard of Lorraine Kelly?

7 May 2022 9:00 am

The right to buy The Prime Minister floated the idea of granting housing association tenants a blanket right to buy.…

Letters: an artist’s work shouldn’t be judged by how he leads his life

7 May 2022 9:00 am

Wrong is right Sir: Having spent most of my working life in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), I never pass up an…

Portrait of the Week: pornography, ‘sulky livers’ and abortion

7 May 2022 9:00 am

Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced £300 million more in military aid for Ukraine. Speaking by video to the…

2551: Madness - solution

7 May 2022 9:00 am

The four-letter word was BAND. Unclued lights suggest bandicoot (7A),bandh (11), banda (41), bandana (1D), bandoneon (3), bandook (7D), bandar…