High life
Writing my High Life column made a man of me
As Cole Porter might have said, only second-rate people go on and on about their inner lives. Self-analysis, according to…
The joy of pumping iron at 83
Gstaad So the days — and months — drift by. This once peaceful Alpine town is packed with rich refugees…
The way Greece has conducted itself in this pandemic is an example to us all
Aristophanes was a comic genius long before the Marx Brothers, but he also gave good advice to the Athenians: stop…
Covid-19 shows us that virtue trumps freedom
Look at it this way: we’re all doing Desert Island Discs nowadays, and unless you’ve got the bug, it’s a…
How tennis went socialist
Desperately boring times but very healthy ones. No parties, no girls, not too much boozing, lots of smoking and reading…
The joys of social isolation
No use datelining any more, I’m here for the duration. Even the ski lifts have been ordered to close: chiuso,…
America has turned into a bad joke
Gstaad Rumours about the virus are flying around this village. First there was talk of a hotel being temporarily…
A meditation on death
Gstaad I shoulda been a weatherman: no sooner had I announced snow to be a Gstaad rarity than it…
Why Spectator readers are the nicest people
Gstaad It feels like a sepia-tinged melodrama, one directed by the great schlock master Sam Wood. Driving along the winding…
Why Bloomberg will be president
Gstaad I was not aware that there is a group of Spectatorfans who meet in French-speaking Switzerland. They contacted me…
The appeal of ugly men
Gstaad Lenin Moreno is in trouble, despite his very unchristian first name. For any of you unfamiliar with the name,…
The golden age of nightclubs
I find myself detached from mainstream culture. It started with the demise of nightclubs like Annabel’s and the arrival of…
My fellow dinner guests made me feel like a combination of Messalina and Lady Macbeth
I was walking up St James’s and happy to be in London. For a change I was not rushing but…
Why do monsters make such good writers?
Did any of you know that most of the 20th-century monsters — Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Ceausescu, Duvalier, and even the…
Two books that made me forget everything else
Gstaad I’ve been hitting the books rather hard lately, the ritzy-glitzy crowd having gone the way of natural snow. There’s…
The Middle East for dummies
Gstaad The French have a saying: ‘Il n’y a rien de plus bête que le sourire du gagnant.’ In…
Why 2019 has been a wonderful year
I received my Christmas present earlier than usual. It was a message sent via The Spectator from a gentleman who…
My friend Margaret Thatcher
By the time you read this it will all be over, but will it? I’ve had a bad feeling all…
The TV show that rots young minds
How can I phrase it without sounding pompous? When very talented people dine together, it sometimes turns into a contest…
Prince Andrew and me
No use piling on where Prince Andrew is concerned. It’s a sorry business, and he’s not among the brightest either.…
The cops are impotent in lawless New York
New York Things are heating up, in both London and Nueva York, as this place should correctly be called.…
I’d rather live under communism than the tyranny of social media
At the time it felt like a century, but it was only 12 years. I began this column in 1977…
My present abode is one of the great deco houses left intact in the Bagel
New York What follows will bore the pants off you, but at least it beats another piece on Brexit.…
![[Photo: debyaho]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2Novhighlife.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Alcohol is the perfect cure for deafness
New York A busy ten days, or nights rather, with some heroic drinking thrown in for good measure. Hangovers…
![Angourie Rice, who stars in Bruce Beresford’s 2018 film Ladies in Black [Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/26Octhighlife.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
The most uplifting film ever made
New York Should art mirror the world as it is, or does an artist fail the public if the…
