Features
Can Netanyahu pull off one more great act of survival?
Tel Aviv The Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Hatikva is everything Israel’s critics across Europe fail to understand. This run-down suburb…
Sod the state: the middle-class race to go private
Postwar Britain can be defined by a bargain made with its middle class: pay for public services but benefit from…
Donald Trump will never be a lame duck
Of all the rotten clichés in American political discourse, ‘lame duck presidency’ is arguably the worst. It ought to be…
Trump is cynical and shocking about Ukraine – but is he also right?
What does ‘victory’ in Ukraine mean – or ‘defeat’? Can there be lasting peace without justice? Direct talks between Russia,…
The revolutionary past of Miatta Fahnbulleh’s father
Labour may have removed hereditary peers from the House of Lords, but the party has its own dynasties. This government…
A goth’s guide to witches
Being a goth has its advantages, not least the opportunity to meet lots of witches. One is River Jordan, who…
Why are there suddenly so many dessert cafés in London?
Fifteen years ago, if you were eating at 239 Brompton Road in Kensington, just over from the Oratory, you may…
Who’s who in Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s revolutionary guard
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the riots’ chief instigator and leader of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI), is currently ranked second in…
Revolting France: The riots are driving the country’s politics to its extremes
Paris The wonderful thing about electric bikes, if you are fighting with French riot police, is the way they burn.…
‘Boring does not prevent it from being dangerous’: What to expect from Burnham’s first Budget
Don’t tell John Healey this is a boring Budget. ‘We have to get people out of this frame of mind…
Lucy Powell’s ‘oracy’ plans are meaningless
Whenever a government minister cites the advent of artificial intelligence as the justification for a policy, you can be certain…
What Spinoza got right – and wrong
The scrupulously maintained traditions of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation in London, where I worship, still forbid the rabbi…
Generals must not dictate our foreign policy
Is Britain becoming an army with a country, instead of a country with an army? Who is actually making national…
You can thank The Spectator for the letter box
A detail of daily life – scarcely noticed because it is taken for granted – was added to our houses…
Does Andy Burnham actually have a foreign policy?
It often takes an outsider to see us most clearly. When I had breakfast with the ambassador of an EU…
The growing rebellion against screens in schools
In the late 17th century, Europe’s greatest intellectuals were consumed by the quarrel of the ancients and the modern, satirised…
Meet Jared Cooney Horvath, the neuroscientist taking on screens in schools
‘I’ve been here a week, and I can’t figure it out,’ says Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, neuroscientist, teacher and now…
Why are people surprised when animals defend themselves?
Should Altai the tiger be euthanised? Hardly the cheeriest way to start, I know, but since he mauled a man…
Has Trump changed sides?
Has Donald Trump effectively changed sides in the Ukraine war? Over just a few tumultuous days, Trump’s already rocky relations…
We cannot trust our AI overlords
It is no longer an exaggeration to say that the digital apocalypse is at our door. The advance of artificial…
After years of socialism, is Spain about to turn to the far-right?
Good-looking and always smartly dressed, Vito Quiles sports a wristband with the red and gold of the Spanish flag. It…
In defence of Staines
Ten years ago I moved to Staines and my mate Kwasi Kwarteng took me on a pub crawl. Kwasi was…
How Swindon became Britain’s drone hub
In July 2021, the Honda factory in Swindon closed after 36 years. Three thousand jobs were lost. One young apprentice…
The anti-Semitic alliance between Restore and the Greens
Johann von Leers was one of Goebbels’s most industrious propagandists: 27 books in 12 years, among them Jews Are Looking…
