Are tsunamis becoming more deadly?
Stumped again Were England always so hopeless playing Australia at cricket? Since the first match in 1877 there have been…
Letters: Our broken civil service
Beyond the party Sir: Rod Liddle is spot-on in arguing that the attitudes revealed by ‘partygate’ extend to senior civil…
2536: At rest - solution
The unclued lights (3 composers, 3 artists and 3 writers) are all buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. The name should…
Now Boris must make another admission: lockdown was a mistake
On 20 May 2020, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement on social media which summed up the conditions in the…
Letters: Unfair care costs will turn the red wall blue
Take care Sir: Your editorial (‘Counting the costs’, 8 January) makes valid points regarding the funding of social care. The…
Portrait of the week: No. 10’s garden party, Djokovic’s visa row and France’s vaccine protests
Home Boris Johnson admitted to attending evening drinks for about 40 staff in the garden of 10 Downing Street on…
When did the anti-vaxx movement begin?
No vax There is nothing new about the anti-vax crowds supporting Novak Djokovic. Organised protest in Britain began with the…
Counting the costs
Two and a half years into his premiership, Boris Johnson has enjoyed no more than a month of that time…
Barometer
Waiting for the gong Tony Blair was knighted, 14 years after leaving Downing Street. How long have other ex-PMs had…
Letters
Welcome changes Sir: Lloyd Evans’s sympathetic piece on the fate of Afghans once they arrive in the UK made for…
Portrait of the week
Home The warmest New Year’s Day on record saw a temperature of 16.3˚C (61.3˚F) in St James’s Park, London. A…
Solution to 2535: Triplets
Each unclued lights include one letter three times. The wording of the preamble precludes ALLYLS (2D which would be the…
Did the psychics’ predictions for 2021 come true?
Centenaries 2022 will see the 100th anniversary of: the BBC; Reader’s Digest; Ulysses by James Joyce; insulin treatment for diabetes;…
The best children’s books: a Spectator Christmas survey
J.K. Rowling Poignant, funny and genuinely scary, The Hundred and One Dalmatians was one of my favourite books as a…
How to cure what ails the NHS
Wrong cure Sir: In referring to the UK as the highest-spending European nation in healthcare proportionate to GDP (‘Hospital pass’,…
2534: Off-pitch - solution
The unclued lights are cricket fielding positions. The clues contain the names of 12 present and former England cricketers: Old,…
It's not too late for Boris Johnson
It is two years since Boris Johnson achieved one of the most remarkable election victories in modern history. The large…
Lockdown, protests, parties and Matt Hancock’s kiss
January The United Kingdom found itself in possession of a trade agreement with the EU. Coronavirus restrictions were tightened. The…
2021 Christmas quiz - the answers
Rather odd Mars Michael Jordan Tower Bridge Moscow’s Lightning Winston Churchill Russia Jenners Sri Lanka El Salvador Don’t quote me…
Boris’s Covid rules are coming back to bite him
In normal circumstances, no one would care if staff in No. 10 held a Christmas party. But last year, Boris…
Letters: the army should be used as an emergency service
Flood relief Sir: In my lifetime there have been at least two major flood emergencies when the armed forces have…
Portrait of the week: No. 10 parties, a ten-year drugs strategy and Burmese arrest
Home Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said that the Omicron variant of coronavirus was spreading by community transmission in ‘multiple…
2533: Monday’s Child - solution
‘From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began’ opens JOHN DRYDEN’s Song for ST CECILIA’S DAY (22 November, a…
The decay at the heart of the civil service
That Britain no longer has the capability to maintain peace in Afghanistan other than as an appendage of the United…
A new Covid variant, a Labour reshuffle and a Twitter resignation
Home In a nervous response to the entry into Britain of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 — B.1.1.529 — the…
