Life
Sussex pond pudding: the perfect January pick-me-up
I always feel pulled toward citrus at the start of the year. Initially it was subconscious: I’d just find myself…
Better than the original: Scott’s Richmond reviewed
Scott’s, Richmond, is a fish, champagne and oyster bar, and a new branch of Scott’s, Mayfair. The original Scott’s was…
Is Eddie Jones’s fate written in the stars?
Something is happening here, and you do know what it is, don’t you Mr Jones? Stargazers – and even some…
When did Steve Baker become a social justice warrior?
About ten years ago I thought seriously about becoming a Conservative MP. I jumped through a series of hoops and…
Our toxic relationship with the NHS
The nurse fixed me with a disapproving stare: ‘Why is there such a gap between these prescriptions?’ I had gone…
The atmosphere of the surgical unit was that of a cocktail party half an hour in
Standing at the door was a hospital porter. He was resting an elbow on the back of a heavily padded…
Aussie life
Anyone reading this magazine for the first time, unaware of its dual citizenship, might easily form the impression that it…
Language
For some time, the universities of the world have been at the forefront of cancel culture—trying to put woke blinkers…
Spectator competition winners: cheerful poems for 2023 after Tennyson
In Competition No. 3281, you were invited to provide 16 lines of cheerful welcome to 2023 in the metre of…
The case for maths to 18
Recently Chinese 11-year-olds faced the following question in a maths exam. ‘If a ship has 26 sheep and ten goats…
My fall into sobriety
I am occasionally teased. In a column devoted to drink, which in practice usually means wine and often the products…
