Columnists

Why cheap oil could mean a Labour victory

7 February 2015 9:00 am

BP’s profits are down, and the oil giant is slashing up to $6 billion out of its investment plan for…

With one push of a button, political interviews have become interesting again

5 February 2015 3:00 pm

The other night on Channel 4, I watched the best political interview I’ve seen all year. It was with Nick…

The NHS needs the politics of envy

5 February 2015 3:00 pm

‘Let’s make the rich pay more.’ Does that sound so right-wing? To me it has a positively socialist ring. It…

How Labour lost Scotland (and could lose the Union)

5 February 2015 3:00 pm

Listen http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_5_Feb_2015_v4.mp3 Just four months ago Scotland was the scene of great cross-party co-operation — unprecedented in peace-time politics. Gordon…

They want a gender-neutral pronoun? What’s wrong with them?

5 February 2015 3:00 pm

Isn’t it about time the English language got itself a gender-neutral pronoun? This was the clarion call from the Guardian…

'Black,' 'coloured', 'BME' - any kind of label is essentially racist. It's time to move on

31 January 2015 9:00 am

How should we refer to non-white people, and foreigners in general, given that of course we do sometimes need to…

Do I really care about Ebola? Do you? Does Oxfam?

31 January 2015 9:00 am

It’s strange how quickly we all forgot about Ebola. Speak for yourself, you might say — and I will. Until…

The hottest year on which record?

31 January 2015 9:00 am

Did you know that 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded in the entire history of the world? Probably you…

What’s good about austerity (whatever the Greeks think)

31 January 2015 9:00 am

The only question I remember from my Oxford moral philosophy paper was ‘What is integrity and is it a virtue?’…

The hottest year on which record?

29 January 2015 3:00 pm

Did you know that 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded in the entire history of the world? Probably you…

Do I care about Liberia? Do you? Does Oxfam?

29 January 2015 3:00 pm

It’s strange how quickly we all forgot about Ebola. Speak for yourself, you might say — and I will. Until…

Benedict Cumberbatch and what’s really offensive

29 January 2015 3:00 pm

How should we refer to non-white people, and foreigners in general, given that of course we do sometimes need to…

George Osborne’s 13 tests for an election victory (and how many he’s passed)

24 January 2015 9:00 am

These days George Osborne is rarely seen in public without a hard hat and a hi-vis jacket. But he used…

It’s all kicking off in the Islamic world. Nothing at all to do with Islam, of course

24 January 2015 9:00 am

They have been burning churches and murdering Christians again in Niger. You’d think that they’d have more immediately pressing concerns…

The Stonewall dinner left me with one question: why are volunteers so horrible to one another?

24 January 2015 9:00 am

I watched the video with some trepidation. Stonewall (the campaigning gay and lesbian equality organisation) had just sent me the…

Maybe it’s a problem when all artists are like James Blunt. But it’s worse when Labour MPs are like Chris Bryant

24 January 2015 9:00 am

What should we do with James Blunt? This is what I have been asking myself. And I am not looking…

Why Switzerland should have listened to Hong Kong on currency pegs

24 January 2015 9:00 am

The Swiss National Bank usually ticks away as quietly as one of its nation’s more expensive timepieces, but when the…

Let posh people run the arts – if it means they stop running the country

22 January 2015 3:00 pm

What should we do with James Blunt? This is what I have been asking myself. And I am not looking…

Why are volunteers so mean to one another?

22 January 2015 3:00 pm

I watched the video with some trepidation. Stonewall (the campaigning gay and lesbian equality organisation) had just sent me the…

Can the Tories pass George’s 13 tests?

22 January 2015 3:00 pm

These days George Osborne is rarely seen in public without a hard hat and a hi-vis jacket. But he used…

It’s all kicking off again in the Islamic world

22 January 2015 3:00 pm

They have been burning churches and murdering Christians again in Niger. You’d think that they’d have more immediately pressing concerns…

Why the Greek election could decide Britain's next government

17 January 2015 9:00 am

Before the eurozone crisis, Greek elections didn’t receive much attention in Westminster. At the moment, however, the polls from Athens…

Everyone says they’re Charlie. In Britain, almost no one is

17 January 2015 9:00 am

Je suis Charlie indeed. This is the problem with placards — there is rarely enough room to fit in the caveats,…

The real reason GPs are grumpy: the robots are coming for them

17 January 2015 9:00 am

There’s something wrong with the relationship between patients and their GPs. I’ve spent much of this winter in my local…

Standing firm is the price of civilisation. Are we still ready to pay it?

17 January 2015 9:00 am

Reading Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, as I have recently, you cannot help but be struck by what a perfectly…