Features
I’ll do anything to keep Zack Polanski out of Kentish Town
On the morning of the 2005 general election, the young man who sat opposite me at work asked, ‘How did…
Is Abdul El-Sayed America’s next Obama?
Twenty years ago, as America fought in the Middle East, a junior Democratic senator from the Midwest, a forty-something man…
Burnham’s bet: is the Prime Minister planning to call an election?
On 1 September, Andy Burnham gathered Labour MPs in No. 10 for a rousing speech. ‘We are a fighting force,’…
The strange world of professional mourners
MournMate is a new online market-place that promises to connect bereaved families and funeral homes with professional mourners in the…
The wealthy person’s guide to fleeing Britain
Behind the scenes of The Spectator’s wealth tax debate this month there were lots of nervous whispers. ‘Wealthy people we…
Is the West ready for the undersea war?
Last spring, a Chinese icebreaker turned up in the tropical waters of Palau. That was after Chinese research vessels arrived…
Forget Piddington, here are the real micronations
While last week’s majority vote by the inhabitants of Piddington in Oxfordshire to seek independence from Britain was a stunt…
From Playboy pin-up to prohibitionist: the man taking on British gambling
The August 2004 cover of Playboy features a topless Eva Herzigova (‘The supermodel is supernaked’) and promises a piece about…
Revealed: Ed Miliband ignored MI6’s warnings over Israel sanctions
When Andy Burnham was quizzed at PMQs last week about his and Ed Miliband’s decision to sanction the Israeli government…
The autistocracy: the men on the spectrum who rule our world
Ben Delo, the source of one half of Reform’s £72 million mega-donation, wrote in The Spectator last year about being…
I’ve found the perfect school for Harry and Meghan
As the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, I have to acknowledge that I still have some…
The secret to creating instant atmosphere in your novel
‘In the distance a dog barks.’ When I read that sentence recently, in Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo, it…
Don’t fear the manosphere
I don’t pry too much into the online life of my son. At 13, Sam is a good boy. He…
How I became a Canadian nationalist
This is how I became a Canadian nationalist. I did it on the rebound. I never wanted to, and it…
Death at the Athenaeum
During the 1980s my friend Canon Brian Brindley was arguably the ‘highest’ clergyman in the Church of England, celebrating Solemn…
The impossible dream of a clean white shirt
I have no wish to sound like a worn and bitter hack, sand-blasted by weltschmerz, but I don’t have many…
Labour must go further and faster in the North Sea
John Healey stood in front of two giant robotic arms this week and promised to ‘make Great Britain Growth Britain…
The Israeli settlements lie
There are few phrases in international affairs repeated with greater confidence or subjected to less scrutiny than ‘illegal Israeli settlements’.…
The death of biblical literacy
We are often told these days, most recently in James Marriott’s much talked about book The New Dark Ages, that…
The fraught world of dinner party presents
‘Oh, why do the middle classes feel they must bring a present?’ Those words were spoken by Lady Charteris when…
Are you ready for Labour’s war on Middle England?
The socioeconomic duty (SED) might not sound sexy but bear with me: this is the tool the Labour party plans…
Can Britain learn from Sweden’s immigration crackdown?
There is a decisive shift occurring in European politics. It’s happening across nations – and parties. It lies behind the…
Is reading really dead?
I get up early and head to Liverpool Street. Meet Isabelle Ralphs and Amy Batley from Hutchinson Heinemann publishers and…
Forget sturgeon caviar – go for lumpfish
Pity the poor lumpfish. It’s lumbered with an unflattering name, or its equally unattractive moniker: ‘Sucker fish.’ It also looks…
How social media ‘clippers’ are shaping politics
When Mel Stride put out a YouTube Short last month, it got zero views. That, surely, is worth repeating: zero…
