Letters: Don’t overlook the Trumpisms
Canterbury tales Sir: Having opened my copy of The Spectator upon arrival in the post, I read your article ‘Welby’s…
Quarantine and the freedom paradox
Who would have thought, this time last year, that the British government would be planning to detain British nationals at…
Are there any mountains left unclimbed?
Bad service Economic growth fell by 2.6% in November, the month of the second lockdown, compared with falls of 7.3%…
Letters: The Church of England’s Covid shame
Paradise lost Sir: After reading Jonathan Beswick (‘Critical mass’, 16 January) I am writing to express the shame I feel…
Portrait of the week: Vaccination, inauguration and a food box denunciation
Home The government undertook to offer a first dose of vaccine to the adult population of the UK by September.…
Christmas 2020 crossword solution
The winners The first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of Word Perfect by Susie…
To reopen schools, we need to vaccinate teachers
At the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Chris Whitty often made the point that a pandemic kills in two ways:…
A tighter lockdown risks being a less effective one
When lockdown was first proposed in March, one of the many arguments against it was that people would tolerate being…
2487: Birthday boys - solution
December 12th was the birthday of Gustave FLAUBERT (1D) and Frank SINATRA (15). Examples of their work are MADAME BOVARY…
Letters: Lockdowns ruin lives
Lockdown damage Sir: I am sick and tired of people taking the moral high ground and looking down on ‘lockdown…
How close have protestors got to entering parliament?
Parliamentary objections The US Capitol was raided by Donald Trump supporters trying to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election…
Portrait of the week: Queen gets vaccinated, Trump supporters riot and gorillas catch Covid
Home The government, in the face of overwhelming numbers of people with Covid-19 being admitted to hospital, told everyone to…
Sir David Barclay, 1934-2021
When Sir David Barclay, along with his twin brother Sir Frederick, bought The Spectator in 2004, the magazine came as…
What have we learnt from this pandemic?
So great have been the government’s failures over Covid that it would be easy to forget to give credit where…
Letters: Is cycling really conservative?
Veritas vincit Sir: Professor Dawkins eloquently and engagingly defines true truth for us (‘Matters of fact’, 19 December). It seems…
How quickly could we vaccinate the entire country?
A ferry tale Gerry Marsden, who died aged 78, was credited with making the ferry across the River Mersey world-famous.…
Portrait of the week: New year, new lockdown
Home Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced harsher coronavirus restrictions in England, resembling those last March, except that bubbles continued.…
2486: Ghost Companions - solution
Unclued lights are nicknames of works by Beethoven, born 250 years ago. The title referred to the Ghost piano trio,…
Why Brexiteers should support this deal
When Britain voted on whether to leave the EU or remain within it there were valid arguments on both sides.…
Portrait of the year: Coronavirus, falling statues, banned Easter eggs and compulsory Scotch eggs
January Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, signed the EU withdrawal agreement, sent from Brussels by train. Sajid Javid, the Chancellor…
Letters: The case for immunity passports
Joy Sir: Alexandra Coghlan identifies the coincidence between the rise of recording and broadcast technology and the flourishing of the…
Ring out, wild bells: 2021 will be a year of renewal
Save for those old enough to have lived through the second world war and its immediate austere aftermath, it would…
Do divorces really increase after Christmas?
Now and then Were households allowed to mix at Christmas during the plague? Samuel Pepys’s diary entry for 25 December…
The highlights of history: a Spectator Christmas survey
Which moment seems most significant or interesting?
2485: Triplets - solution
Each of the unclued lights includes the same letter three times in succession. First prize Tom Rollinson, Borehamwood, Herts Runners-up…
