The Spectator’s Notes
The joy of our village Christmas play
We are just recovering from the village play. This annual Christmas event was taken over last year by our son…
The origin of The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year Awards
Forty years ago, a whisky company, Highland Park, which advertised its Famous Grouse in The Spectator, approached us with a…
Farmers aren’t miners
A parallel is being drawn between the Tories and the miners in the 1980s and Labour and the farmers today.…
Justin Welby shouldn’t have resigned
There is no proper reason for the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. No iniquity was proved against…
The fascinating life of Sir Henry Keswick
Sir Henry Keswick died on Tuesday, aged 86. Under his proprietorship, from 1975 to 1981, The Spectator recovered, and began…
Has the assisted dying lobby considered the guillotine?
My young friend Dr Cajetan Skowkronski has helped me resolve a question that has been worrying me. Why do supporters…
The 38 candidates to be Oxford’s chancellor
Being Cambridge, I thank God that we have no nonsense about electing our chancellor. We have had a blameless, unchallenged…
Why won’t David Lammy help Jimmy Lai?
As I write, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, is flying to China. So I am only guessing when I say…
Who will dress Keir Starmer now?
It is worth upholding the stuffy point which should have prevailed at the start. It was always improper and unethical…
The Tories’ Greek tragedy has reached its catharsis
I write this as I leave the Tory conference in Birmingham. I have covered most of these events (and many…
Who’d be an MP now?
Sir Keir Starmer offered a sausage to fortune when he let Lord Alli bankroll half the cabinet. One’s heart does…
Do you have a ‘story’?
As someone who worked full time in the office for 24 years and has now worked full time from home…
Rachel Reeves is right to cut the winter fuel payment
Gordon Brown introduced the winter fuel payment shortly after becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1997, following his party’s landslide…
Starmer’s double standards
Sir Keir Starmer’s readiness to do ‘whatever it takes’ to support Ukraine seems to be qualified by his fear of…
Starmer’s specs appeal
No doubt Lord Alli should not have been given a 10 Downing Street pass, but that is true of most…
Who will stand up for France’s aristocrats?
When it was recently announced that 40,000 people, the great majority civilians, have been killed in the Gaza conflict, I…
Joe Biden was never quite all there
As President Biden sank more deeply into the mire this month, kind friends kept urging me to write in his…
In praise of Pat McFadden
There is a small section of the Labour party which I greatly admire – those on the party’s right, often…
What the Tories got wrong on housing
Sir Keir Starmer may be our first atheist prime minister, but his manner in parliament resembles that of what, in…
I will miss my vote
I feel as if I first took part in a general election even before I was born. My father was…
The problem with flexible working
Lots and lots and lots of fuss about betting on the general election. Less attention is paid to the biggest…
Ukraine’s greatest, yet least publicised success
Odessa Our conference here is about Black Sea security, where I am the guest of UK Friends of Ukraine. Its…
What tax rises are Labour planning?
The Tory manifesto is ‘a clear plan’ promising ‘bold action’. Rishi Sunak uses the word ‘bold’ three times in two…
Sunak seemed the challenger; Starmer the establishment figure
I watched Tuesday night’s leaders’ election debate with fellow guests at a party to launch Conservative Revolution, a book to…
Could Michael Gove support Labour?
Now that Sir Keir Starmer has reaffirmed he is a socialist, interviewers are asking other leading Labour figures if they…
