The Spectator’s Notes
The problems of a sick prime minister
It is good of President Trump to offer Boris Johnson his best wishes and the best American pharmaceuticals (though no…
Perhaps we are all communists now
‘I am a columnist for the Daily Telegraph,’ I began a text message to an NHS executive last week. Due…
The psychological and economic dangers of enforced idleness
‘Lourdes shrine closes healing pools as precaution against coronavirus,’ says a discouraging headline in the Catholic Herald. Jesus ‘made the…
Coronavirus has even kept the sex-strikers at home
When we left this Britain on Thursday last week, life was almost as usual. Shops and restaurants were open. The…
Coronavirus is a metaphor for our vulnerability over Huawei
Monday night’s Commons rebellion over Huawei was on a surprisingly serious scale for a new government with a big mandate.…
The government’s zero-carbon policies will do harm to Britain’s beautiful landscapes
The government is trying to get onshore windfarms going again, defying the damage they do to unique environments. I am…
Jean Vanier’s sad fall from grace
The fall from grace of Jean Vanier is truly a sad story. The founder of the L’Arche communities did extraordinary…
The perils of owning an erotic Nazi toy
My parents told me that their wartime childhoods were punctuated by the expression: ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’…
Does anyone really think HS2 will be good for the country?
How depressed should one be about the HS2 go-ahead? The cost is stupefying. The offering to the north — considered…
The real reason Glasgow’s UN climate summit will be a nightmare
Regardless of one’s views on climate change, one should welcome the fact that Boris Johnson removed Claire Perry O’Neill from…
Philip Pullman is right about the Oxford comma
It was with regret that I read that Albert, retired King of the Belgians, has finally had to admit, following…
I won’t be applying to be director-general of the BBC
Despite huge public pressure, I shall not be applying to be director-general of the BBC. It was kind of Tony…
Anyone for a Sussex Royal potato?
Earlier this week, we accompanied our daughter-in-law, Hannah, to her British citizenship ceremony, she having passed the necessary tests. (Hannah…
Why bother joining the Labour party?
Now that there is yet another chance to vote for a leader of the Labour party, if you are prepared…
The mysteries of the Corbyn world-view
It is worth fixing for posterity the feelings which, on polling day, swirled in the breasts of many who wanted…
My run-in with Westminster’s TV news circus
Leaving an evening meeting in Westminster on Monday night, I walked to Charing Cross. Approaching the public path which runs across…
Six weeks is too long for an election campaign
The number of parties represented in national election debate multiplies. There are now seven crowding on to television podiums and…
All belief systems must accept the danger of ridicule and contempt
In the ‘whataboutery’ which now dominates British politics, no mention of Labour anti-Semitism is complete without a counter-accusation of Tory…
The silence of the Scottish unionists
We citizens of the small Sussex village of Etchingham are proud of our clan chief, Julie, who chaired Tuesday night’s…
Labour thinks that its trump card is Trump
On Wednesday morning, I was hoisted into the air of Whitehall on a cherry-picker. A century ago the proto-Cenotaph appeared…
The Tories are Boris Johnson’s Conservatives now
How much does Boris Johnson’s move to an early election resemble Mrs May’s disastrous one in 2017? In two important…
Nigel Farage had better hurry up and settle for a peerage
Last week, an angry Telegraph reader asked me why I had got through a whole column on Brexit without mentioning…
Donald Trump is key to Boris Johnson’s survival
There are so many problems confronting our polity this week that it is almost impossible to write about any of…
We selfish gits must wear the name with pride
I walked down Villiers Street to Embankment Tube station. In front of me were two Extinction Rebels, a mother and…
If Boris snogged Nick Robinson, would he be forgiven?
Manchester It could be caused by desperation, but this Tory conference is very jolly. At last there is something to…
