Diary
Anthony Horowitz’s diary: Keeping James Bond’s secrets for the Smersh of publishing
It was quite fun being named as the new writer of 007 — although actually I’d make a lousy spy.…
Jeremy Vine’s diary: Zipcars, hipster milk and the word that means I’m losing an argument
Last Tuesday I tried to sign up to a new life. My wife and I argued, slightly. ‘I don’t think…
Tom Bower’s Diary: Resuming hostilities with Richard Branson
This week marks another milestone in my 15-year battle with Richard Branson. Ever since he unsuccessfully sued me in 1999…
Mark Amory's diary: Confessions of a literary editor
Until recently I used to claim that I had been literary editor of The Spectator for over 25 years; now…
Tom Holland's diary: Alex Salmond is the Scottish referendum's answer to Shane Warne
I feel a bit about the Scottish referendum as I did about the 2005 Ashes series. In both cases, those of…
Paul Wood's diary: From James Foley's memorial to gunfire in the streets
Lebanon The Beirut press corps gather to remember the murdered journalist Jim Foley. People stand for a minute’s silence, drink…
Andrew Marr’s diary: Seeing shadows of Syria in Limousin’s ghost village
No, no, no, you don’t want a house abroad — the paperwork, the taxes, the piping, the cost of the…
A.N. Wilson's diary: The book that made me a writer – and the pushchair that made me an old git
Like many inward-looking children, I always doodled stories and poems. Knowing one wanted to be a writer is a different…
Radek Sikorski's diary: Show Putin what you think of him – eat a Polish apple
I made a welcome escape from sweltering Warsaw to the cloudy cool of Bodø, halfway up the coast of Norway,…
David Frum’s diary: When Hamas shoots at Israel, they’re shooting at my kid
Wellington, Ontario A British visitor to this village might be disoriented by the flags. They look almost exactly like the…
Miriam Gross’s diary: As a qualified teacher, I say let in the ‘untrained’
I knew that the historian Sir Richard Evans was a rather abrasive and quarrelsome man, but I was staggered by…
Simon Barnes’s diary: A sportswriter is never without a big subject (unless it’s golf)
Sport is like love: it can only really hurt you if you care. Or for that matter, bring joy. You…
Anthony Horowitz’s Diary: Dinner with Saddam, anyone?
I have written a play, but a month after it was sent to half a dozen theatres, I have heard…
Joan Collins’s diary: Why I gave up on Ascot – and where I go instead
Can there be anything more perfect than early July in London, when the sun is shining, the sky a cloudless…
From jailbird to social butterfly – the return of Conrad Black
The former proprietor of this magazine, Conrad Black, is in London at the moment with his gorgeous wife Barbara, and…
John O'Sullivan's diary: A grand reunion for the revolutionary class of '89
I’m an old conference hand going back to the Tories’ annual get-together of 1958. My headmaster, an Irish Christian Brother…
Dan Snow's diary: Making World Cup history
Could there be a more timely advert for the Better Together campaign than on the field of sport? What the…
Robert Harris’s diary: My accidental war with Tony Blair
To Paris, for the launch of the French edition of my novel about the Dreyfus affair. As we land, I…
Irvine Welsh’s diary: ‘Remember to get the Jesus aliens in, Irv!’
I’ve been heading east in a circle around the world from Chicago, taking in New York, London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol,…
Peter Mandelson’s diary: The accomplishments of George Osborne – and Vladimir Putin
My trips to meet Russians in Russia these days are a little less controversial than my encounter with them in…
Peter McKay’s diary: Is Kate and William’s Scottish trip a pro-union initiative?
Having dampened local republican ardour during their recent tour of New Zealand and Australia, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge…
Christopher Buckley's diary: Do you have to be American to love Downton?
My wife and I spent the winter in Worcestershire. This allowed me to tell everyone back home in the States:…
Paul Johnson’s diary: Boris would make a great PM – but he must strike now
I feel an intense antipathy for Vladimir Putin. No one on the international scene has aroused in me such dislike…
Sam Neill’s diary: Back in Blighty, remembering drinking binges of yore
I am back in the UK for work. Great time to turn up — after the grim, grey grind of…
Joan Collins’s Diary: Springtime in the City of Angels
Ahh! Spring has sprung at last! Or has it? Leaving a warm and sunlit London last month we expected balmy…
